Not LOTR.....

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2013)

While this is a fairly enjoyable film, and well-worth seeing, the second Hobbit film is marred by over-reliance on CGI that either looks fake (molten gold anyone?) or, applied to the characters, unrealistic. It is jarring to be distracted from the narrative when during a fight scene one is presented with the impossible contortions of the Nimble Ninja Elves as they take out what should be over-whelming gangs of powerful enemies. There was some of this back in the battle scenes in the LOTR films - but there now is an over-reliance on CGI to the point of distraction in this film (seen in 2D).
Back to that CGI gold - Thorin in one scene travels quite a distance precariously balanced on a metal shield that neither heats up or melts as it floats on a trough of molten gold. Really? All that raging fire and molten metal in the climatic scenes and not one dwarf or Bilbo looks even flushed from the heat? And - what would make Thorin think molten gold would harm a dragon that generates fire from within? C'mon! That said - Smaug himself was a successful CGI creation, and looked (and sounded) very real. Which reminds me of the LUDICROUS shot of Thorin balancing on the dragon's snout....just because you can do ANYTHING with CGI doesn't mean you should! Such an unbelievable predicament just jerks the viewer OUT of the story/film! (Like the ludicrous stampede in King Kong where none of the principals gets stepped on - does no one tell Jackson "No, boss, bad idea" anymore?)
What I did like about this film, apart from Smaug, were the introduction and use of Tauriel, and showing Bilbo's growing "attachment" to the Ring. Martin Freeman's Bilbo is one of the best parts of this film. However - so far neither of the Hobbit films is of the stellar caliber Jackson achieved with the LOTR trilogy. Sigh. I fear the third film will simply be more CGI battles at the expense of real storytelling.