DOS, Peter Jackson continues to surprise his audience

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2013)

After having read Tolkien's books twice, seeing the LOTR trilogy countless times and even watching AUJ a couple of times, I was still very surprised with what Peter Jackson did to this second installment. But don't get to excited about the 8/10, because part of my surprise isn't meant to be positive.
Let me start by saying that I entered the cinema with completely different expectations than I did more than a decade ago when The Two Towers came out. I remember being very excited en completely dragged into the plot in no-time back then. Yesterday, none of this excitement was there. This may partly be due me growing up, but mainly because of the expectations set by 'An Unexpected Journey'. With the weird (mainly slow) pacing and many deviations from Tolkiens story in AUJ, I was hoping Peter Jackson wouldn't screw up in this part.
First of all, the scratches in my 3D-glasses and the color-filters (I was blinking all the time) kept me from emerging into the plot for the gross of the film. But I will look beyond that when I discuss the story.
The opening scene with Peter eating a carrot (did you spot him?) made it very clear that this second part would be HIS interpretation and, again, quite different from the book. Furthermore, the flashback in the opening scene served as a fine introduction, adding cause to Thorin's quest and paying us a nice re-visit to Bree.
A lot has been said about some scenes from the book not getting enough screen-time and too much focus being on the ring or Gandalf's quest. I personally think some of the adaptations serve as a good set-up for the LOTR films. We see that the ring is affecting Bilbo as well and actually showing Sauron in it's weak form adds great suspense to the film.
For the implementation of Legolas and Tauriel, I hold a different opinion. I think it's great to add a strong female character, since AUJ missed out on this part completely. Evangeline Lilly is very well casted and a convincing elf. Still, the romance felt kind of forced into the plot. Legolas, however, should have been left out of this part. Apart from the fact that he isn't in the original story, this plot doesn't need another hero and his scenes feel forced to resemble the ones in LOTR. Moreover, he looks very different from the Legolas we come to learn and love. His age, eyes, and character are completely out of tone.
About the dwarfs, this part ignores the character development in the first scenes of AUJ (in Bilbo's house). The gross is just wandering along and adds nothing to the story. I understand that 13 different characters are a pain to develop, but then why spending all this time on doing so in the first place? I think they definitely deserved more attention and development in this part.
Beside these remarks, the movie looks absolutely stunning and the scores and decors are wonderful. I even left the cinema excited for the final part.
In summary: The Desolation of Smaug continues to deliver and doesn't fail to meet the expectations set by the first installment. Although there are even more deviations from the original story than in AUJ, most of these changes are beneficial to the suspense of the film. The only problem with the Hobbit films, in my opinion, is that Peter Jackson tried too hard to add LOTR features to the story. Although I like to see some for the sake of continuity between the two trilogies, and some are even funny, most of the times it feels forced and out of place.
So for movie standards a 9/10, but since Peter Jackson tried to measure it with LOTR, a 8/10 for LOTR standards.