Worth a watch, but doesn't live up to its potential.

Rating: 7/10 (13 December 2013)

Let me start off by saying that I have been a Tolkien fan my entire life. I grew up reading the books and watching the movies. That is part of the reason I was disappointed. This movie had the potential to be one of the best movies of the year, but fell flat. While I am not sure if it was the studio or Peter Jackson who made the decision to split The Hobbit into three 3-hour long movies, whoever it was made the wrong decision. While I appreciate the additional characters and subplots introduced, the entire movie just felt like it was being dragged out. I think had they decided to either split The hobbit into two 3-hour movies or three movies of a normal length, this movie would have been excellent. Instead,I spent most of the movie wishing the plot would speed up and something interesting would happen. In addition to the movie dragging on way longer than it should, at several points in the movie the acting seems stale and forced. The highlights for me were Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug and Luke Evans as Bard. The movie is by no means bad, and is relatively enjoyable, but it does not live up the Lord of the Rings. Its slow plot progression and forced acting definitely take away from the final product.