Different from the book, Still a good adaptation!

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2013)

I went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on its opening day and it totally made my day. Firstly, I must say it is quite different from the book. All the middle chapters are there, but the details are different, and there are many additional scenes apart from the book. The additional scenes of Gandalf and Legolas served well as a connection to LOTR, while the addition of Tauriel character seems to serve fan girls and add some love story to the adaptation. In my humble opinion, the additional scenes work pretty well. However, let's wait and see how it will unfold in the third film.
Now that I've seen the film in both HFR3D and 2D, I'd say I recommend the HFR3D. The images are far crisper. The action scenes look more thrilling, especially the spiders scene and the barrel-riding scene. However, the 2D version is also good for the dramatic scenes. I tear up a bit when watching the dwarfs finally back in their home, Erebor.
I can say that fans of Legolas, Thranduil, Kili and Bard will be happy watching this second Hobbit film. They have lots of scenes. A little disappointment may be for Beorn fans (actually myself included). Beorn scene is quite short, compared to his long chapter in the book. But that's understandable because film is different from book. Anyway, it would be better if they reduced some air time of Smaug and give it to Beorn. The Smaug scene, though important, is somewhat overlong.
Overall – 9.5/10 This is a great film, so please go watch it with your own eyes. :)