Gandalf seems pretty dubious about this whole thing.
The Hobbit (book version) is shorter than any single volume of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You don't need three 3 hour movies to unwind Bilbo's ring finding adventure. It's a two movie story, max. Two movies, though, make fewer DOLLARS than three, because stamping LOTR on anything is pretty much a license to print money. Thus, we were treated to a pretty severe snoozefest with The Hobbit last winter. I feared the same for Desolation. And then the first two hours *blew my mind*.
For 110 of it's 161 minutes, Desolation rolls really, really hard. Thorin and Bilbo and the boys cross swords with orcs and elves and spiders and a giant bear guy, and it works. Is it LOTR caliber? No, but the unfortunate reality is that The Hobbit, even in it's finest moments, lacks the weight of the ring trilogy. A movie can only be as good as it's source material.
Part of my initial "this is gonna be boring" anxiety stemmed from reports that Peter Jackson & co were inventing new content (lets get Legolas in here!) and characters (foxy new characters!) to stretch out Desolation. And while the additions aren't canon, they are fun. Displays of elvish badassery are always good for spicing up a dwarven adventure.
And then...the last 51 minutes. Ugh. They're not bad, exactly. But they're bloated. Bilbo and the dwarves entire encounter with Smaug (pronounced "Smowg" and voiced by Bennedict Cumberbatch making him Hollywood's sexiest dragon to date), stretches forever and cuts at the exact moment it was set to get interesting. Maddening, but such is the price of turning two movies into three. Stupid Hollywood and it's perfectly understandable desire to make cash dollars. I DEMAND TO BE BETTER ENTERTAINED.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is better than it's predecessor. It's still not as good as the original trilogy, but then few things are. I'll take it.
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian Mckellen, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly (seriously. best elf.), Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch
You Should see it if: You've seen the other ones. It'll be pretty confusing if you haven't.
