If you didn't read the book, you'll like it a lot. If you read it, well... you'll struggle a little bit

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2014)

I didn't like the ending because it didn't have one, and I have mixed feelings about the fact that Peter Jackson took so many liberties adding stuff to the script. I'll write the rest of this paragraph as a hard core fan. Skip to the next one if you don't care about this. The true Tolkien-written extra features that only we know about, like the Dol Guldur story, were awesome. However, the made up, Hollywood-PG13- pleasing, radical changes to the plot; like the stupid, impossible love triangle, the added characters like Tauriel and the new not-so-scary- nor-relevant-to-the-plot bad guy, the decision to leave half of the Dwarfs in Esgaroth and the whole Dwarfs vs. Smaug scene; all made me do a double face palm so many times I grew tired of it. And let's not talk about the "too much" action sequences.
OK, back to normal mode. Other than that, the movie was very entertaining. Suspense is very well handled (I jumped from my seat twice). The Dragon is scarier than I ever imagined. Bilbo's transformation is crystal clear, especially when he faces Smaug. That was the best scene for me. Everything else was a preamble for this great moment. It surely didn't disappoint and was true to the book. The special effects are great. It doesn't feel like eternity at all. Too bad about the cliffhanger ending, but it leaves us on the edge of our seats until the conclusion of the story, There And Back Again, comes out; promising to be epic.