Loved it when it first came out

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2019)

It was all the way back in 2012 when me and my friend went to see the prequel to one of our favorite fantasy stories of all times, The Lord of the Rings. And back then I quite liked the movie, so much in fact that I bought a DVD as soon as it came out. But having watched the extended version just now something has changed. Maybe because my attitute towards the whole franchise in general has changed over the years. I was glad to be back in Middle Earth and to revisit Bilbo, Gandalf and many many characters' cameos from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it felt nostalgic and still like a part of a familiar and a bigger story once told to me that was fresh in my memory. But something was missing. Maybe I didn't like Martin Freeman's Bilbo as much as I loved Ian Holm's performance (which made the beginning of the movie almost perfect); maybe the whole set-up for the story was too far-fetched; maybe I wasn't fond of dwarfs' singing segments but I do know one thing - I still enjoyed the movie very much and turned on "The desolation of Smaug" right after this one ended. Cinematography, score, landscapes, most of the actors' performance are of highest level but I will not be getting back to this movie ever again because of how unnecessary, uninteresting and pointless this whole story feels while watching. Did we really need the prequels?