Fabulous but...

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2013)

I'm not keen on writing vast texts so I'll make it simple. + Powerful storytelling - I didn't understand how I got through three hours without actually looking on my watch. Beautiful setting - NZ rocks. + Smaug was wonderful in terms of character and visual design. The whole Bilbo and Smaug scene if incredibly fun to watch and enjoy. + Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield - again fan-tas-tic! Same goes for Sir McKellen and Mr. Freeman. Bravo! Now for the less joyful part. I didn't quite get the whole Tauriel, Legolas addition but I didn't mind. - I was a little tired of watching extended fight scenes - don't get me wrong I love action but it was overly stretched . there's so much stuff in the book that could have been extended in exchange for Hollywoodish action scenes. - Also some of the scenes felt like too expanded and on the other some scenes I really enjoyed seemed short. But that's of course personal notion for the most part. :)
At the end of the day it was a splendid experience and it was good to be back to Middle-Earth again.:)