So, yeah..

I thought it was flat and uninspired. I couldn't get over how many story elements were stolen from such fantasy classics as Willow and Krull. Most of the world setting seemed lifted directly out of various Advanced Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks, with little attempt to hide the audacity of the theft. I even caught some stuff I'm sure they must have stolen from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Whoever wrote that story, shame on you!

Additionally, I felt as if they were trying to force too many confusingly named locations on us. The bridge of something or other, the tower of this and that. It's too hard to keep track of. My suggestion to the filmmakers would have been to choose one or two locations, perhaps a vast dry sandy desert and a jungle world, and set the whole story there.

Furthermore, Jackson obviously doesn't understand his core audience, because he inexplicably neglected to include a single fart, burp, or stepping in poo joke. Heh, stepping in poo! People eat that stuff up.

The special effects, for the most part, were too subdued. The whole point of a special effect is to get in your face and say "Look! I'm special!" You don't just throw special effects away on background images and subtle ambient feel that nobody is looking at anyway. You have to throw in wacky aliens and robots and CGI everywhere!

In short, Peter Jackson just can't build a franchise success.