[Thenamir]

I am not at all sure that a 3-D Hobbit would necessarily be a bad thing. I have seen none of the major 3-D flicks of recent times, but I vivdly remember seeing, during a trip to Disney World (Orlando) circa 1995, a full-color 3-D Muppet film presentation which was utterly smashing! It did require special glasses, but not the old-fashioned red/blue ones. I don't know how they achieved the effect, but the effect astounded me at the time -- very convincing indeed. And with 10+ years to improve the effect, I can only imagine that it has gotten better.

Now, don't mistake me for wanting to overuse the effect just because you can -- the Spy Kids 3-D movie was, according to my kids, an excuse to abuse the effect in virtually (no pun intended) every scene. But as an extra measure of realism in a well-made movie, used with restraint, I would endorse such a move entirely. I get giddy imagining a 3-D Smaug in aerial assult against Lake-Town.