OK movie, superficial compared to the book

Rating: 3/10 (10 April 2015)

The book The Hobbit is less than half as big as each of the books of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. Yet it was milked out to three movies. This seems to be for no other reason than monetization. Three movies from a strong franchise, sure to rake in money, is better than one or two. Yet it also demonstrates that the first and foremost concern isn't about telling the story. Much less so than it was of the LOTR movies to my opinion.
The central theme of The Hobbit is a story of personal development and maturation of Bilbo, the hobbit after whom the book was named. Yet it is this character development that is lost in the movies. No matter how well the actor tries, so many stuff was added to stretch the story to three movies, that the personal development just got lost in translation. Worse, parts of the story that are details to the event progression but essential for the personal development, such as Bilbo being unconscious during the battle of five armies in the book, were altered to make up more stuff. Another theme that's important to Bilbo's development is his friendship with Thorin. The first two movies did a good job of showing that, but this movie goofs it up with unnecessary simplifications from the book in how Thorin himself develops. Stretching a small story out over three movies should have given ample space for depicting it properly.
Some quotes were literally taken from the books, yet there are some major changes that are just odd. In the books there is no mention of orcs at all, they're called goblins. Yet in the movie there are only orcs, which are very different from the goblins encountered in a previous movie. Apart from such major changes, there are all kinds of details that just don't make sense and feel like superficial stereotypes. Bard's family, for example, is perhaps meant to draw us into his character further, but they feel clumsily weaved into the story. Radagast never appears in the books, but he has appeared throughout the Hobbit movies. In this film appearance feels even more contrived than in the other movies. He just appears at two moments, not adding anything to the story.
For those who saw the previous movies, this movie will be the OK conclusion of the trilogy. But it won't please anyone who also read the book and enjoyed the journey and maturation of Bilbo.
To me, this whole movie seems more like a superficial means to earn money with tons of special effects, than a medium through which the brilliant story of the book is told. is properly told.