Pure entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2013)

I really enjoyed the first Hobbit, but definitely agreed that the first hour or so could be cut (save it for the boring extended cut). This film doesn't suffer from that as much. It's a fast paced adventure film. Did it take a few liberties, yes. What book to movie adaptation doesn't though? As for the love triangle, who cares? I could do without it, but it wasn't a detriment to the story and hardly took up any screen time anyways. It's a trade-off...you deal with a love triangle, but you get Legolas and more elves into the mix...I'm cool with that. It brings some excitement to the story. There were some problems I had with the movie however.
THE GOOD: - Great pace and action level.

Great special effects.

Amazing set design and costuming (on par with the original LotR series).

Though not part of the Tolkien canon, I liked the female elf as well as the addition of Legolas. I thought it added a layer of entertainment to the story.

THE BAD: - Some of the dragon bits got kind of boring. Like shut up already and burn some stuff.

Smaug NOT killing the dwarfs before leaving the mountain makes no sense...that's one thing the movie NEEDED to adapt from the book.

What was up with the song from the end credits? Completely not in line with the rest of the score or anything in the movie.

The Sauron (sorry, "Necromancer") tie in takes away from the main goal of the Hobbit films and just gets annoying at times. Gandalf is also a terrible companion for a journey... :]

Yes, the special effects, rotoscoping, animation, and cinematography are Oscar worthy, but at times it is simply too much. I LOVED the river scene, but it looked more like a video game than a film. Too much CGI is definitely a double edged sword; expands what you can do story wise, but limits what you can realistically portray.

THE UGLY: - Making this series into 3 films is not a good idea. Trim the fat from the first two films and you could easily add enough material to nix the third one and make TWO very good Hobbit films which tell the full story.
I think this will end up being the best of the Hobbit films. Mark my words.
P.S. Note to Peter Jackson: You don't NEED to create scenarios to tie the Hobbit in with the LotR...It already takes care of that with Bilbo finding the ring and all...leave it there. You try too hard to "Lord of the Ringize," (sp?) every little thing in the Hobbit. Give it its own distinct style.