My wife and I watched it this weekend. I'm a huge fan of the trilogy books and movies but never read the hobbit so I can't comment on the relationship between the book and the movie. As far as the movie goes, I thought it was worth a rent. I wasn't so keen on the fighting mountains but liked the movie overall. Kinda neat to see Saruman talking with Gandlalf, Galadriel, and Elrond telling him that Sauron has been defeated and cannot come back. Little foreshadowing there.