Movie Was a Waste of My Time and Money

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2015)

Hobbit: The Battle of the 5 Armies started out well, but sputtered to a miserable halt by the end. I was hoping to see Beorn, the half-man, half- bear pulverize Bolg (the great orc) during the final part of the battle as takes place in the book. Beorn is one of the most awesome forces of nature in JRR Tolken's book, yet Peter Jackson minimized his role just like he did in Desolation of Smaug, but thought it would be cute to add the bats and giant earthworms that were never in the book to begin with instead.
Jackson kills off at least 3 main characters that never died in the book, including King Thorin of Oakenshield who dies from fighting a Pale Orc that never existed in Tolken's tale either. Then, as if the ending of the movie weren't anti-climactic and depressing enough, Peter Jackson pencils in Bilbo coming home to an empty house because they (his fellow Hobbits in the Shire) thought he was dead and decided to auction off everything he owned. Seriously?
Parts of this movie were enjoyable, but this is a good example of a movie that started out well, but was ruined by an ending horrible enough to bring it down. My advice to Peter Jackson when bringing something like this to the Big Screen: Don't pollute a good story by someone like JRR Tolken with your excessive additions and deletions. Let it stand on its own as it is. That's why he's the author of this classic tale and you're not.