Good movie but works as part of a series rather than stand-alone

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2013)

The special effects were good. It has a lot of action in it. It's part of the series and the plot doesn't really work as a stand-alone movie. It's open-ended so it's a bit disappointing. Gandalf goes off on an adventure of his own and intends to meet Bilbo and the dwarfs later but doesn't. Bilbo goes into the mountain to retrieve the Arkenstone but doesn't manage to get it and tells the dwarfs this, but then nobody says anything further about the matter. They all battle the dragon in a very long fight scene but are unable to defeat it and it flies off to attack the town. It would have worked better as a stand-alone movie if the adventurers (erroneously) believed that they had killed the dragon, and if they retrieved the Arkenstone, and Gandalf then rejoined them to celebrate.