So I finally got round to seeing the new Hobbit film today. And I have something to confess... I preferred An Unexpected Journey. Yup, that's right. The first film was leagues ahead of Desolation. Here's why I didn't enjoy DoS that much: -Poor pacing. I know everyone was pissed at the first film how they spent too much time in the Shire, but at least when they depart the movie picks up a bit. DoS was all over the place. Two and a half hours in and we finally see Smaug, the barrel scene was drawn out, the whole elaborate, complex plan to cover Smaug in, uh, gold? Yeah that was weird. It just was not properly paced at all. -I did not care for Laketown/Esgaroth. I understand it was canonical, but it was so poorly done I didn't enjoy any of the scenes at all. The vibe was completely differing to the rest of the movie it was actually kind of jarring. It felt Georgian rather than Medieval. I didn't particularly care for Bard or his backstory either. He just felt complimentary. -Legolas/Tauriel. I had no idea what Jackson/whoever was behind this idea was thinking. They aren't in the book, and in the movie they're just cheap rectifying plot devices for the characters. Oh, Orcs are on our tail? Legolas will eliminate them like some hyper lethal super soldier. Kili's dying? No worries, Tauriel's here to save the day. They were unnecessary, excess characters that didn't enhance the movie at all. -Thorin's still a dick. We get it. He was pissed at losing his home. I understand that he's going to be a little grouchy. But I thought we had gotten over this in the first film after Bilbo saved him. Nothing's changed in the sequel. I thought he was going to be the Dwarf iteration of Aragorn but it turns out he's just the jock of Erebor. Nothing is likeable about him at all. "lol f*ck Bilbo even though he saved my ass" "muh jewel" "muh army" I still enjoyed it as a popcorn flick, but I expected better. Especially after JeremyJahns hyped it up to be the immaculate bloody conception. TL;DR: Unexpected Journey was IMO, better than Desolation Of Smaug.