The Hobbit: Early Screening

[Christiana]

(Wow it's been a long time since I've been here!)

I saw the midnight screening Thursday night. I'll post my detailed opinions of specific scenes and characters once there's a thread for that, but right now here's my first impression (no spoilers other than for tone):
Lots of fun! I really want to see it a second time because it wasn't until partway through that, on a gut level, I realized I wasn't watching another LotR film (and it's not trying to be). I felt like Peter Jackson once again did a great job of sticking to the spirit of the book -- which in this case is a rollicking good tale of adventure and magic and epic quests, not a grim struggle against an imminent threat of worldwide darkness and evil. Although characters get in dire straits and are tested and tried and there are plenty of nailbiting moments, it has a fundamentally different tone than the LotR movies, as the book is different from the trilogy.