The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
9.7/10
Easily the best movie I've seen this year.
Lol looks like my excitement go the better of me back then, I give it a good 9/10 after multiple viewings, not because I found flaws with it but only because I think a few areas could have been slightly improved upon, and by few I mean very very minor ones (unlike the Dark knight rises where by now I realize the movie though quite good had some real issues which includes plot holes, bad writing in some parts and most of all lost opportunities of scenes that could have been improved upon a lot). The Hobbit still retains the best movie of the year position for me and here are some reasons why where I would also explain why vast majority of critics reviewing this movie are wrong.
First off the story. The Hobbit is mainly about a halfling who goes on a quest to help a company of Dwarves to reclaim their homeland and treasure. The story revolves mainly around them and only the immediate consequences of their actions, it is basically an adventure. It is also set during a time where the evil has been kept at bay for awhile and hence a lighter/brighter tone for the environment and everything surrounding the quest, for the most part. The LoTR however is more of an epic, the ultimate battle between good and evil and is set in a time which is quite dark. Given this, I fail to see how and why many try to compare The Hobbit with The LoTR? Yes it is a prequel and yes that's perhaps what people (critics mainly, the hobbit is doing astoundingly well at the box office) are expecting, but they should realize that it is a different story set in the same world/setting, it cannot be compared. It's like trying to compare TDKR with the Avengers, if you catch my drift.
Now for the movie. At first I was skeptical as to the three film decision but now I'm satisfied, this was the right decision to go by, anything more than what we got to see would seem really rushed, as in too many events occurring one after the other without a good prelude, I'm glad the movie ended where it did though as squirrelpion mentioned I really wanted to see a lot more. I also personally feel that a fairly truthful adaptation of the first six chapters of the hobbit that would at the same time make sense as a film, really can't get much better than this.
As for the Dwarves I feel PJ has done a fantastic job. Bringing 13 protagonists on screen, making them distinguishable, relatable and likable was surely a challenging task especially when they could have gone the easy route and cut out a number of them out. Even in the book a large chunk of them served only as background characters and besides maybe Thorin, Balin, Bombur and a few others, Tolkien never really physically described them other then them having different colored hoods. PJ adapted that well with his own interpretation I feel.
As for the pacing I felt it was alright. I guess it's maybe because I know/assume for the most part what each of the events/scenes will lead to in the coming movies and and thus i feel it has to be sufficiently explained, especially the story arc involving the Necromancer. I'm pretty sure I and others as well will appreciate the seemingly slow scenes a lot more when the next films releases.
All in all a great movie, the best cinematic experience I've had so far.