I guess what those criticisms boil down to is that those aspects of The Hobbit are nonconformist when it comes to our tradition of storytelling, but I agree that is in a large part what makes it so enjoyable. Bilbo (and the Hobbits by extension) are very much the little people, the non-Heroes, but even they have their stories, and those stories are worth telling.

This reminds me of a story I have long since abandoned, but it was written from the perspective of the mother of the Prophecied Hero, and focused more on her journey and struggles in raising a future saviour than on his fight against the Big Bad. It had lots of things I wouldn't do in a story now, but the premise was fun! The sidekicks definitely deserve their own stories :D