Hmmm....
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/25695/-hobbit-and-48fps-reviews-pour-forth
With fourteen reviews counted at Rotten Tomatoes it currently sits at a solid albeit unremarkable 71% and a 6.6/10. A lot more reviews will come in though so its score is entirely in flux at this point.
In regards to the 48FPS technology however, the reaction is notably less enthusiastic. Most of the reactions veering between 'distracting' to 'detrimental' and even a few wondering if the screening was suffering from projection issues. Here's a sampling of reactions:
"The results are interesting and will be much-debated, but an initial comparison of the two formats weighs against the experiment; the print shown at Warner Bros. in what is being called "high frame rate 3D," while striking in some of the big spectacle scenes, predominantly looked like ultra-vivid television video, paradoxically lending the film a oddly theatrical look, especially in the cramped interior scenes in Bilbo Baggins' home. For its part, the 24 fps 3D version had a softer, noticeably more textured image quality…" Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
"Disconcerting is the introduction of the film's 48-frames-per-second digital cinematography, which solves the inherent stuttering effect of celluloid that occurs whenever a camera pans or horizontal movement crosses the frame -- but at too great a cost. Consequently, everything takes on an overblown, artificial quality in which the phoniness of the sets and costumes becomes obvious, while well-lit areas bleed into their surroundings, like watching a high-end homemovie. A standard 24fps projection seems to correct this effect in the alternate version of the film being offered to some theaters, but sacrifices the smoother motion seen in action scenes and flyover landscape shots…" Peter Debruge, Variety
"I still don't know what I think. I'm half-convinced that there was a projection problem when I saw the film, because I have trouble believing that what I saw reflected the desires of Peter Jackson and his team. Throughout the entire film, there was a strange Benny Hill quality to sequences, with things that appeared to be sped up. It happened in both dialogue and action sequences, and the overall effect was like watching the most beautifully mastered Blu-ray ever played at 1.5x speed… The voices are off-pitch, and the pacing of scenes goes to hell when it's played this way. This is still recognizably the world that was created for "Lord Of The Rings," but it looks more like you're seeing behind-the-scenes footage that reveals it was all a real location instead of seeing something created for a movie. I think the 48FPS format actually makes the digital and practical work more seamless in some ways, but the overall impression takes a while to get used to as a viewer…" Drew McWeeny, HitFix
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/25695/-hobbit-and-48fps-reviews-pour-forth
