If there was going to be annoying sidekicks, we'd have seen it in the Lord of the Rings. This is Peter Jackson we're talking about, he doesn't pander the way other directors do. That said, while it was an odd decision to break the Hobbit up like that, you have to also remember all the flack he got over the content he removed in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Mind you, he removed the very stuff that's been fearfully expressed here as, "possible inclusion", like Tom Bombadil. Jackson is likely doing his best to defuse any future flack by not leaving anything out this time. If there is something in the Hobbit you will hate, then it will likely be the source material that's to blame and not Jackson's direction.

I've never gotten around to reading the Hobbit... But, honestly, even if they mess a few things up, it'll still be great - Even the crap Lucas did to Starwars was decent... And there's actually a pretty decent crew, working on The Hobbit..

its a reference to how something like jar jar is going to pop up

Well any nerd whose anybody's going to see it but will jar jar binks start flopping around across the screen and we be angry nerds saying how they ruined it.

From what I've seen and heard so far, I don't think it will be bad at all.

Sure, the metacritic reviews are kind of bad, but it's metacritic. And I'll still see it regardless.