I found this video on Comic Book Movie.com, I was quite surprised to learn that Guillermo Del Toro was originally going to direct the Hobbit movies, after watching this video I am disappointed that he didn't stay on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQD7ux80OFM
I will say that the continuity in the LOTR universe is nice, and some parts of the Hobbit trilogy benefitted from Jackson knowledge of the material and his imagination.
However, other than the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo, and the look of Smaug, The Hobbit trilogy is kind of all over the place.
It would have been great to see Del Toro's vision of Middle Earth, but it was never meant to be, sadly.