Extended edition was fairly good for the first 40 minutes.

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2015)

After the disappointment of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", I hadh fairly low standards for the second film. It started off incredibly well, but then spiralled into a mess of deus-ex-machinas, disrespectful book deviations, and unnecessary heterosexual romance.
The pros:
The cinematography and visual design. From the caverns of Erebor to the Halls of the Woodland King, the film's artistic direction is so amazingly detailed. Again, the filmmakers use the beautiful scenery of New Zealand to create the world of Middle-Earth. It's honestly breathtaking.
Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Thorin's (Richard Armitage) character development stories are coming along great. Bilbo is becoming braver and more proactive; Thorin is starting to respect him. Both actors, in my opinion, are perfect for their roles - Freeman is natural in his lightness and often comedic relief, while Armitage carries a gravity well-suited to Thorin's pride and severity. Ian Mckellen has always been brilliant as Gandalf, and always will be.
I cannot stress enough how amazing the Mirkwood scenes are. The visuals of the forest, the dim lighting, the slow cameras and the illusionary special effects create the forest's heavy and stifling atmosphere perfectly. The feeling of wrongness was so strong and so well- crafted.
But then it all went downhill.
The cons:
I can pinpoint the exact second when everything started going wrong: when Legolas and the other Elves slide down the branches to kill the giant spiders.
The very inclusion of the Elves, in my opinion, was a mistake. It heavily detracts from Bilbo and the dwarfs' story. The whole Elf- Dwarf superiority complex is incredibly irritating - the film always portrays Elves as the pinnacle of civilisation while the Dwarfs are crude, greedy and unskilled in combat. It's not a good idea to antagonise thirteen of your main characters. And Legolas' appearance seems to be just for the sake of pulling in viewers.
Tauriel and Kíli. Oh boy, where do I begin? Firstly, it undermines Legolas and Gimli's friendship in "The Lord of the Rings". Secondly, they lack chemistry and their romance is so forced and cringeworthy. Thirdly, how Tauriel goes from, "Do not think I will give you a weapon, Dwarf" to going all moon-eyed over Kíli in the time frame of a few hours. I could go on.
Tauriel herself is written fairly badly. I liked the idea of a badass elf lady, but everything she does is for Kili's sake. Jackson and co. have obviously neglected to research (or more likely, deliberately ignored) Elven history with her red hair and attraction to Kili. Tolkien worked so hard to create a wonderful fantasy world, and it's been destroyed in the matter of a few minutes by Jackson and co.
The Company splits up. That's right. Fíli, Kíli, Bofur and Oin remain in Lake-Town, while the rest of the Dwarfs march on Erebor. Why? It doesn't add anything to the plot, except to develop Kíli and Tauriel's grating, unrealistic romance by romanticising Kíli's injury.
There were so many unnecessary plot lines. The scenes with the orcs' point of view don't add anything. There's too much focus on The Master and Alfrid. There shouldn't be this much emphasis on secondary characters when not all thirteen Dwarfs have their own personalities yet.
The alright:
The Dwarfs taking on Smaug. It makes their vendetta a little more personal, I guess. They did fairly interesting things to try to kill him, and we get a good look at the insides of Erebor. Gandalf and the Dol Guldur subplot were alright. It was nice to see him doing more magic, as we didn't get that much in "The Lord of the Rings".
Overall, the film was quite poor. It started off wonderfully and then just began deviating too much from the book to be a good adaptation. Even though the tone was much more consistent than the first movie, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" treats Tolkien's world and works in an unapologetically dismissive and disrespectful manner.
I'm sorry to say that "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" is much worse. If you found this film unengaging, you will certainly find the last instalment unbearable.