I like it a lot more than I thought I would, but I can see why some people don't.
For me it didn't really pick up until you start running into the Black Waltz guys. Around that point the character development ramps up and most of the cast is surprisingly charming and well written for a Final Fantasy game. Unfortunately, around Disc 3, all the interesting ATEs and character development stops, and you're left with a fairly uninteresting plot trying to carry it to the end. I think if it didn't bottom out so severely around Disc 3 it'd be a strong contender for my favorite of the entire series. It has a lot of the kind of humor I like. Great scenes like Eiko cooking with Moogles, love letter winding up in the wrong people's hands, Zidane grabbing Dagger's ass, Quina seeing Cid as a frog. I also like the quirky Wizard of Oz art style it has. It makes things like Moogles not look so out of place.
Anyway, my save has 65 hours, but I did everything in the game except collect rare cards. I did some grinding at points too (which turned out to be completely unnecessary). You can only get Exalibur if you have under 12 hours played toward the end of the game -- so its possible to get through it pretty quickly if you wanted to.