This is not a review. My review will go up on At-A-Glance Film Reviews hopefully later this afternoon. Until then, suffice it to say that I have not been so breathlessly enraptured in the theater since this past summer's Moulin Rouge, and before that, I don't even remember when.

Anyway, here are some observations I made, some about the film itself (spoiler free), but most about the circumstances behind it.

1. The first showing at the theater we go to was at 11am. At 10:30, there was already a line waiting on the street but not so long we didn't have a comfortable chance to get good seats. At the head of the line, a troupe of college aged women were dressed up in Tolkienesque garb, and there was at least one guy in a hooded cape (and jeans, which sort of ruined the image). By and by, they started chanting, "We want Tolkien! We want Tolkien!" The chanted demands of college-aged women do not sound very forceful. But maybe it was just these particular college-aged women, because when they stopped chanting and instead sang "Bilbo Baggins" together -- that horrid pop song from the sixties that Leonard Nimoy sang -- it was a rendition so toneless as to make the original song sound good. Which is no easy feat, believe me. They mercifully skipped the bassoon solo. Afterward, they engaged in chantings of various lyrical works found in Tolkien's books.

2. The visuals are stunning. Wow.

3. I won't say what the movie does about Tom Bombadil. I say only that I approve.

4. Playing Angband (a computer role-playing game based loosely on Tolkien's universe) added an interesting perspective to the movie for me. When Frodo is given Sting I thought, "Cool, +2 to attacks!" and when he was given the Star of Elendil I thought, "Now he has See Invisible! Yes!" I also wondered if killing Saruman would cause lots of enchanted equipment to come spraying out around his body.

5. Wow.

6. Leen hasn't read the books. She knew there were three volumes but didn't realize it was all one story. "I hate it when it's 'To Be Continued'!" she said. On the way home, I filled her in on all the references to things that happened in "The Hobbit." I loved that there WERE these things. The movie is obviously not as involved as the book is, because no movie CAN do justice to the breadth and depth of Tolkien's world. In fact, even the BOOK doesn't to justice to Tolkien's world. But the movie doesn't try to simplify the world just because it can't incorporate every detail. There is Bilbo's map of the Lonely Mountain and its environs. There are the elven and dwarven runes. There are other things whose backgrounds are not fully divulged in this movie (nor would be in the other two) that will be understood by those familiar with Tolkien's work while not troubling or losing those who aren't.

7. The credits indicate that the special effects were done by a company called "Weta Workshop," based in Wellington, New Zealand. Wetas are comically huge insects. This is a great name for a company.

8. Wow.