The end of an ultimately unwelcome return to Middle Earth

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2014)

The Hobbit Trilogy really has been blighted by the additional content added in, and it's ironic that these moments have come at the cost of vital sections of the book. It's even more ironic considering that many story lines that have fabricated/added to the story of their own creation are not resolved.
To say that "wait for the extended edition to judge how well it closes its story" is nonsense this book has already been super sized to three films, the fact Peter Jackson has managed to release extended editions for each of his Hobbit films astounds me.
Certain set pieces are given a build up and just left dangling in the air. When you walk out of the cinema you actually realise a lot has been cut out of the film when reflecting on what you have seen.
Whereas The Lord of the Rings Trilogy took to blending all forms of film making (physical props, miniatures, CGI, etc), The Hobbit has placed an overbearing of CGI. This dulls the spectacle and during the film I actually realised what I am watching is 70/30 animated CGI and live action respectively. This is jarring and is one of the few times I have found CGI getting in the way of the story the film is trying to get across.
Jackson's exuberance on building upon Tolkien's story and relying so heavily on CGI has hindered what truly made his LOTRs Trilogy a pinnacle in storytelling. Whereas The Hobbit could not provide material for 3 films, the LOTRs books have plentiful and a lot of the book has been cut out in the film adaption even when considering the extended editions. That is the main issue here - and a trilogy that is rife with filler has really hindered The Hobbit Trilogy and the titular character, in my opinion, has not been given the spotlight throughout the Trilogy and this film in particular.
Jackson has managed to steer this away from catastrophe territory (a la George Lucas with the Prequels) into "meh it's OK" territory. I feel this trilogy could be cut down to 4 hours and would produce a far superior film.
Although I reference The Trilogy of The Hobbit as a whole in my review the same flaws which runs through the first two instalments are even more present and prevalent in this instalment - for two films I have been tolerant but the issues have now overstayed their welcome and I'm glad The Silmarilion movie rights are unavailable to anyone as it will prevent the gloss from the movies 11-14 years prior being dulled and tainted even further.
I was the target age for this Hobbit series when LOTR came out and even I can see the drop in quality, this is a question of aesthetic - which Jackson changed for the Hobbit and he has forgotten what made his original trilogy so special.... Much like the Original Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy of the Star Wars saga.
I believe that the comments Viggo Mortensen made against The Hobbit films and Peter Jackson are valid after seeing these three films.