I also read the books once a year and have loved them since I was little so I'm an especially harsh critic. I'd say he did better with LOTR...so far. He still has two movies to release for The Hobbit so we shall see. And don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching The Hobbit and you should absolutely go see it. Just know that Jackson went a little overboard with the action sequences and CGI (IMO) and he did add some stuff that I'm not particularly fond of. Also, some of the stuff was just gross for now reason. But, the actors were all amazing - Martin Freeman is an awesome Bilbo and I liked all of the dwarves. Of course, Ian McKellan was great. And he did manage to make it more lighthearted than LOTR without it being too silly (for the most part). So, go see it, and I think you'll enjoy it but have some complaints like me. Hell, I had complaints about every LOTR movie but I still enjoyed them.
They seriously made The Hobbit a trilogy? Or did I read that wrong? Don't get me wrong a Trilogy allows more story to be added. But I am not anxious to have to wait 3-4 years to finish it lol.



