yeah, and what's all this crap about Star Wars "raising the bar"? :-P
Just got back from seeing it con mi madre. I gotta tell ya, this movie was fantastic. I was nervous, scared(yes Bilbo's transition was frightful) excited, happy, and sad. There were more than a few times that my eyes welled up.
Yes, there were sacrifices for the sake of the film translation, but they take away very little.
I love Cate Blanchette. I mean, in general, I love her :)
Most importantly, it's easy for people to say that "nothing compares to imagination," except if that were true all directors would be equally visionary and creative, and none of us would watch films. Sometimes the visual effect is more stunning than anything you could imagine. The swarming orcs in Moria(the pillars!Look at the pillars!) is but one example of how a 2-D image in your mind can seem wooden next to the "reality" of the screen.