I was looking forward to the next Hobbit movie after An Unexpected Journey and we got this. More dwarf action and more of Bilbo Baggins, plus those elves. We also get action and suspense and some new faces plus some familiar ones. All of the costumes and the props were well done and the special effects were good, if a little overdone. But keep going and you'll enjoy yourself!

This movie is pretty boring, and its accolades pretty much ride on the success of LOTR and the first movie. The best scenes were throwbacks to LOTR. Overall feels like long periods of dull atmospheric build up punctuated by scenes of gratuitous orc-killing. Some neat scenes. As a movie does not stand on its own. As an episode, however... As a movie it feels too much like filler. "The Hobbit" probably should have been two movies, IMO.

Unfortunately, The Hobbit did not know what it wanted to be. It jumped between being the fun adventure that the book is to being a dark brooding setup for the LOTR trilogy. Far too many extraneous side stories found their way into this overly long and bloated children's story. The film should have been cut down to one 3 hour or, at the most, two 2 hour movies. Filling up some extra minutes with some Middle Earth backround information was ok, but a lot of extra junk that was unnecessary was thrown into this trilogy and especially into the Desolation of Snaug. In all honestly the best parts of these films were the stuff that was taken directly out of the book.

I love the book. and I am not real convince of the opportunity of its adaptation. this film confirms that for me. because "The Hobbit" is admirable for special effects, for the effort of actors, for specular images but it remains expression of the ambition of director to give another ~Lord of Ring", ignoring, in too many occasions, the difference between the serie and the book. sure, all is great, seductive and fascinating. but Smaug of Tolkien is more alive than the perfect monster of Peter Jackson. and, after the end of film, admiration and respect of viewer has as object the hard work more than artistic virtues.