A Solid Addition to the Legacy of Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2013)

Peter Jackson's second installment in his Hobbit trilogy is a solid fantasy/adventure film. Overall the film is visually appealing, contains plenty of exiting action scenes, and reinforces the overarching theme of good versus evil. We're introduced to some new type of elves in this chapter, and gain some insight into the history of Legolas. A new elf character named Tauriel who adds some depth and compassion to the the image of elves is introduced. There are some very cool battle scenes with the elves and dwarfs, even with the 160 minute run-time all the action keeps it entertaining the entire way through.
There are a few critiques I have, mostly concerning the dragon Smaug. I don't think they got the voice quite right, and he came off as being more of an over sized cocky lizard than a sinister dragon. Also, the amount of blatant foreshadowing done with the "black arrow" was just way too much. It was done in a way that was so obvious the end of the movie could not have been a surprise. That whole aspect of the film should have been done in a much more subtle manner.
Overall the movie is satisfying and extremely fun. Anyone will be entertained, adults, families, children (definitely with parents) and well worth paying the ticket price to see. A great performance from all of the actors, particularly Ian Mckellen as Gandalf and Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Bringing the Tolkien's world of Middle Earth to life is no easy task; Peter Jackson, cast, and crew do this with overall success. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is great, and I would definitely recommend going to see it.