While this second Hobbit movie was better than the first in some ways, it had many of the same problems.

As a huge Tolkien fan, I will admit I was a little bit disappointed.

It had many spectacular moments that were unfortunately overshadowed by its length. The movie was WAY too long and there was a lot of stuff that should’ve been left out completely. The love story between Kili and Tauriel was COMPLETELY unnecessary, however to Peter Jackson’s credit, it does work. It could have been another Anakin/Padme debacle but it luckily avoids that.

Thorin is a huge jerk and I have been even further disappointed by his character’s portrayal.

Side note: I’m not a huge fan of the films surreal “video gamey” cinematography.

The barrel scene was tons of fun, Gandalf’s encounter at Dol Goldur was really awesome, Smaug was terrifying (albeit the Smaug scene was drawn out forever) and Legolas and Tauriel kicked some major butt, killing everything in their path the most stylish way possible. These moments were when I really enjoyed myself. Beorn the Bear also makes a great impression but lets you down when his appearance in the movie only lasts what seemed like only about five minutes.

one of my favorite LOTR moments

I must stress though to big fans of the series like myself: don’t have too high of expectations going into the movie. Honestly, I had a little bit of that let down feeling that i had after the 1st movie.

There were several portions of the movie where I just got bored. Granted, we went to the midnight premiere and I was tired, but I’ve been to midnight premieres that kept me awake a lot better than this movie did. Fortunately I didn’t ever fall asleep (though my wife did several times.)

There were a couple moments where I thought, “what the heck?” Like some of King Thranduil’s behavior, where the scene just completely fell apart and just felt silly and a little awkward.

Smaug was beautifully crafted and wonderfully voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, but unfortunately his time in the spotlight was overdrawn. The Smaug scene occupies the last 30 minutes, at least. It felt so drawn out that it kind of ruined the experience.

One last strong point to the movie that I will add was the acting of Martin Freeman in the role of Bilbo. He was perfectly casted for this role and does a spectacularly wonderful job as the timid, simple, yet courageous Bilbo.

Ultimately, the movie polarized my feelings on a lot of things I felt unsure about from the first movie, and I just couldn’t shake the feeling and thoughts I had over and over the whole way through the movie that “this could be so much better if….”

I would compare my emotions to what I felt after seeing Star Wars Episodes 1,2 and 3. I will still love it because I feel obligated to as a huge fan of the franchise, but I felt extremely let down.

I rated the movie 4/5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes.