Not a Tolkien fanatic.

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2014)

A love a good fantasy novel and a great movie, but I have never been one to worship in the church of Tolkien; I've read the three volumes of Lord of the Rings and consider him a master storyteller, but they hardly changed my life and frankly after all these decades, these books really show their age.
I am a huge fan of Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, maybe the finest work of movie fantasy next to STAR WARS and THE MATRRIX, so there was no way I would miss Jackson's version of THE HOBBIT. In my view, THE HOBBIT makes a good movie, but it's probably better if the viewer has not read Tolkien's original story, which is after all, a rather slim (by LOTR standards) children's book. While AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY set things up with a lot of introduction and exposition, THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, lets the action rip, as the band of dwarfs, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf race toward the Lonely Mountain and their eventual encounter with the fierce dragon, Smaug.
Lots and lots of liberties with the book have been taken as it was expanded to a three part epic. This has brought down upon Jackson and company the wrath of the church of Tolkien, who are quite vocal about such blasphemies as having the elf Legolas appear in the movie, when he doesn't in the book. That, along with a romance, seem to have driven the Hobbit devotees up the wall and across the ceiling.
They need to understand that any movie version of any literary work is simply a version of the story set in an alternate universe: it's the same characters, but they may well be doing different things. Just enjoy the ride for what it is. That is way Stephen King explained the changes made in UNDER THE DOME when it was adapted for CBS television.
For me, THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG contained the kind of great set piece scenes we go to the movie theater to see in the first place, especially the battle between the dwarfs and the Orcs as the former attempt to flee by floating down a river in barrels. Then there is Bilbo's climatic encounter with Smaug under The Lonely Mountain, a great use of CGI in combination with Benedict Cumberbatch's vocal contributions. Not to mention the encounter with the spiders in Mirkwood. All well worth the price of a ticket; and again all very different from the book.
There are a lot of things wrong with THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG: the pacing is uneven as the running time is stretched to nearly three hours; it's still hard to keep track of who is who among the band of dwarfs other than Thorin the leader; some of the romance is clearly just shoe horned into the story; a truly abrupt ending that leaves way too many loose threads; what's with Evnangeline Lilly's way too large Elf ears? And why does Thorin turn on Bilbo at one point, thus negating the moving final scene of AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY.
Still Peter Jackson does an magnificent job of creating a fantasy world that lives and breathes, a place that has a lot of history. Same with many of the characters, such as Lee Pace's Thandril, the Elf King, whom we sense have stories in their past that would make for an epic movie all by themselves. That goes for Ian McKellen's Gandalf, the original wise old wizard; it's great to see him back in the role that, along with Magneto, made him famous to millions worldwide. Martin Freeman, as Bilbo, more than holds his own against the other great talent on the screen. But I miss Christopher Lee's Sauromon and there is only a brief glimpse of Cate Blanchett's Galadriel.
So enjoy the movie for what it is, then read the book and do the same.