Impressions of "The Hobbit"

Just came from the cinema, where we watched "The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey". My expectations which were high from the very beginning, were greatly exceeded by this movie! I loved every minute of this movie and wanted it to last much longer than it did. First of all, what a nice adaptation of the story, it really stays through to it. In the beginning I could recall every single word of the book, so precise the scenes were. The song "Over The Misty Mountains Cold" gave me shivers. Even remembering the sound of it, does.

Perfect choice of actors - Martin Freeman (a big discovery for me) was funny and pompous as Bilbo; Thorin Oakenshield, played by Richard Ermitage, was simply epic. Good to see old'n'witty Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen, though time is not going to this actor's advantage. Hope they will make it to shoot all the scenes with him, until he feels like retiring! I would not imagine anyone else take his role as Gandalf. Smeagol looks creepily realistic, and... almost cute at times.

 The scenery and narrative is breath taking. I wasn't even able to absorb all the beauty. Talking about the visuals, it might be hard to get used to 48 per second frame rate - felt too sharp in the beginning, but later I didn't feel any discomfort as I got used to it. The pace of the movie is also very satisfying, despite the criticism, for me nothing felt too rushy.      
Glad they decided to brake the story down to a trilogy. It's impossible to put all the majesty of the story into a movie, but this was a great job.