I'm still very interested in The Hobbit and hope to see it at 48fps. Maybe because i've been a video gamer for most of my life, i actually enjoy higher frame rates. I watch 24fps movies and to me it looks like there's a lot of stuttering during camera movements, and it often takes me out of the moment.
Of course, i don't want The Hobbit to look fake, with obvious looking sets and all that. But if it does, it sounds like a problem other than the frame rate. I suppose PJ is learning, but i kind of hope 48fps (even 60) becomes the standard eventually, and film makers adapt and find ways to keep it from looking cheap.
Maybe not for our generation, because so many are used to 24fps, but for the next generations that grow up watching higher frame rates. They'd probably go back to watch 24fps one day and say "ow, my eyes!"
That's just me though, because i grew up following video games. They struggled with frame rates for a long time to finally reach a point where they could lock 60fps down. Now if a game dips below that, it's no good.
Games aren't movies, of course, but i can see what PJ and Cameron are thinking here.