Highly enjoyable film but the adventure stays in the book

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2014)

Having freshly watch this film in the comfort of my own home (I missed the cinema viewing) I have to be very honest.....I really liked it!
Much better paced than the first instalment and some really great performances all round.
Sadly again the film bears little resemblance to the wonderful book on which it was based. I honestly didn't recognise most of it bar the barrel scene and a few others which is a shame because the action overtakes what was supposed to be an adventure.
In saying that though, the film rips along and there is plenty to keep the attention.
The horrible dwarven makeup is much less apparent this time around and this adds heavily to the feel, although some of the dwarfs still look far too 'man' like for me and the CGI is once again over used but to better effect this time around depicting towns and views.
As much as I love the character, the crowbarring in of Legolas was more of a distraction than a welcome addition. Besides his completely unbelievable OTT combat skills his personality is completely different than what we know. People change yes but there is no trace of the cool skilled and warm elf that we know. Instead we get a moody, angry pain in the bum and while that is OK it would have been better served with a new and different face and character.
Going back to a positive note, special mention must go to Benedict Cumberbatch and Smaug, for the performance here is truly fantastic as is the CGI dragon itself. I felt sorry for Martin freeman though as he is meant to be the main character but hardly has any screen time at all. What he has though is excellent, I just wish there was more of it.
All in all it's a vast improvement over the first film but still not as good as any of the LOTR films.
It's a shame that the book on which it is based is barely recognisable in amongst all the made up filler but then again I thought the filler was pretty good. Being a sucker for a good love story the inter racial romance was quite enjoyable and there was plenty of nice lush things to look at and move the story along.
It's definitely apparent that we are not getting an adaptation of the book from this series at all. Why beggars belief as accuracy to source material in the comic, fantasy and sci-fi worlds are of utmost paramount and this is something that we all thought Peter Jackson knew and understood as he could have easily done the book accurately and well without almost completely re-writing it.
As a film though the Hobbit:DoS is a highly enjoyable adventure film with some rich characters and nice lore and is a very welcome addition in my collection, but if I ever want to properly visit the world and adventure that Tolkien wrote about then I'll have to read the book, for there it stays and it doesn't look like it will ever leave.