To me, this film wasn't 'The Hobbit.

Rating: 2/10 (14 December 2013)

This film upset me so much I cried, right there in the cinema. I really am a huge Hobbit fan, I saw the first film 6 times in the cinema, I went to New Zealand just to see it and go on the Lord of the Rings tours, I have seen the Lord of the Rings films more times than I can possibly count. Trust me, I'm pretty mad about it all. Anyway, I loved the first Hobbit, I loved it for the parts they changed (artistic licence right?) and even more for the parts they kept. I certainly wasn't expecting to see the dwarfs wash the dishes and riddles in the dark blew my mind! This second installment left me feeling like someone had destroyed something I had been waiting for since I was 10. They hurried through the scenes from the book, changing everything they could and cutting huge chunks out. They made everything with CGI (even Legolas' horse. What, they couldn't afford a real horse?) and added as many characters as they could. They did all this so that the second half of the film could be taken up with completely fictitious battles against the Orcs and Smaug that never took place in the book. I don't understand. I thought Peter Jackson loved this book? Why would he want to change it all? Book aside, I thought there was too much action and no indication of the time passing. Everywhere the characters go is rushed through and the film would lead you to believe they just pottered over to the lonely mountain in a matter of days! It's probably great for action lovers, especially children who have never read the book and I hope that Peter Jackson inspires the next generation to fall in love with Tolkien but after the non stop roller-coaster that is this film, I think anyone reading the book for the first time would be confused and disappointed by how different the book really is. There was easily enough material for this film without adding so much new material, and the only way they could fit that new material was to remove and change the original story. I feel so sad, this can never be fixed. As a Tolkien fan, I feel this film is not 'The Hobbit' at all.