I think anyone who truely loves middle earth will LOVE this movie, but I think the minutia is going to kill this movie for some.  I think its interesting that 3 of the dwarves are doing the voices for the trolls.  He has a habit of reusing actors for different parts.

 "Jackson is going to have to delve deep into Tolkien’s little details to fill his running time..."  Yeah, doesn't that seem to point out why we don't need three movies?

While I agree that these points cannot be screwed up if they want a successful film (or three films) I still have to ask did Peter Jackson screw up anything in the first three films?  With a resounding NO I can safely say that I fully expect another magnificient job from Wingnut.   This saturday I am there!

Folks, saw a critic screening last night in 48fps 3D- my stern warning is this: See it in 24 Frames Per Second first! Half of the scenes look like BBC Docudramas (though much more expensive). It's jarring and wrenches you our of what is otherwise a great film expereince (and it breaks the immersion often.

Sure, see it in 48fps for your second viewing, but don't let how bad it looks mar your first Hobbit experience.
-Chuck

SPOILER ALERT!

Gollum loses the Ring to Bilbo.

You didn't see that coming, did you?

 FerretJohn, I do have to say while I loved the extended and theatrical versions of PJ's LOTRs trilogy, he did screw up a couple of things.  Namely, the death of Saruman and that there was no scouring of the Shire.  Both I believe were crucial parts of the book...ok, mostly just the scouring of the Shire.  That's why they left...to make sure the evil didn't destroy their Hobbit way of life.  To think that they get home and nothing happened and it's just another day to all them, makes their journey a little less important...at least to me.