Enjoyable Enough for the Time Spent

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2014)

At a small inn in the town of Bree which borders the Shire, the dwarf known as "Thorin Oakenshield" (Richard Armitage) meets the wizard named "Gandalf" (Ian McKellen). While there Gandalf proposes to help Thorin obtain the "Arkenstone" which is the symbol of dwarf leadership and just happens to be in the possession of the dragon known as Smaug in his mountain lair where the dwarfs used to live. Obviously, since they cannot expect to simply kill Smaug and forcibly take the Arkenstone, Gandalf suggests that they send a burglar to steal it from him. This is where the Hobbit named "Bilbo Baggins" (Martin Freeman) comes in. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie was a bit more watchable than the previous film "The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey" due in large part to better CGI and action sequences. I especially liked the scenes involving the she-elf, "Tauriel" (Evangline Lilly) as she brought some feminine beauty to an otherwise male dominated cast. In any case, like its predecessor this particular movie adds elements to the story which the book did not contain so Tolkien purists might be a bit chagrined. However, like I mentioned in my review of "The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey", this film was based on a relatively small book compared to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and filler material had to be added if they were going to make 3 movies out of it-hence the number of action scenes and additional elements. Be that as it may this movie was enjoyable enough for the time spent and I rate it as slightly above average.