The Hobbit isn't a particularly interesting story. It's a fun book, I liked it, but there isn't much in there that will translate into a good movie. People on GAF are creaming over the prospect of the battle of five armies but come on: it'll be nothing more than a giant WETA battle. It'll be pretty, will look epic in terms of size, but still won't be anything truly amazing.
It's still a middle aged hobbit, an old wizard (who'll look even older consider Sir Ian isn't growing younger), and 12 dwarves. I guess Del Toro will make a few of them memorable (the angry one, the comic relief one, maybe one for gay subtext, etc) but there's no way that will be as interesting as the variety of the fellowship in LOTR