I was fortunate to attend the premier of the film last night. It wasn't as if I purchased my tickets three weeks in advance or anything *cough, cough*.
It was absolutely fantastic, I was elated for almost the entire three hours. There wasn't very much changed from the book to the film, but a bit was added. I know P.J. intends to add a lot to the Hobbit films from the extended lore and mythologies Tolkien wrote but wasn't able to include in some of his bigger works. That I am incredibly excited about.
What I loved most was that P.J. was really able to preserve the whimsical, and childish humor that was present in the book, while maturing some aspects for viewers like me who are adults now, but enjoyed the story as a child. The Dwarves are all fantastic characters, even the ones that are "sillier" in nature. Thorin is absolutely incredible, and they did a fantastic job with his character. ...in addition, don't even get me started on his FANTASTIC portrayals of Erebor and Dale. Absolutely gorgeous, and stunning.
Playing on Gimli's funny quip about Dwarf women from the LotR films, there are a few shown in the film, very briefly - no beards.