No longer a children's movie...

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2013)

If you found 'An Unexpected Journey' too childish, you can breathe more easily. 'Desolation' is more serious than its predecessor; gone are the silly songs and even then slapstick jokes have been reduced. Especially the Dol Guldur storyline and Lee Pace's portrayal of Thranduil add to the noticeably darker tone of the movie.
Evangeline Lily does a good job depicting the non-canonical Elf Tauriel, and while the resulting romantic tension might not have been necessary, it's good to see some variation among the Elves apart from the strict Sindar. Stephen Fry cuts a delightfully corrupt Mayor of Laketown and I hope we'll see even more of him in the next movie.
Book-purists might be somewhat miffed that a few plot details were changed, and some scenes were cut short while others, especially towards the end, were padded to ridiculous lengths, but that was to be expected considering the sheer size of the project. Needless to say it will be interesting to see how things play out in the trilogy's conclusion. However, once again it's great to see Dol Guldur, and the inclusion of this story feels natural and integrates well into the rest of the movie.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable movie that is more grown up than 'Journey', with good acting throughout.