The continued character development is another perk of the patience of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 17, 2024

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was anything but impressive. Just because you have the resources and abilities to do anything with CGI, doesn’t mean you should go crazy with it.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 19, 2024

This sequel compensates and amply exceeds its predecessor. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 9/10 | Dec 7, 2022

The special effects are superb, the action sequences had my heart racing, the stakes are high, and we spend more time with these wonderful characters.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 21, 2022

Until hindsight allows us to reflect on the complete Hobbit trilogy, Jackson’s second entry is a satisfying tale that breezes by at 2 hours and 41 minutes.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 19, 2022

It does the job that every middle movie should, that is it sets up the climax of the story perfectly.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2021

There's no shortage of story threads, of hard to remember names but Jackson weaves it all together seamlessly - with some "Walking Dead" style battle scenes... lots of arrows in the head - and has made a big handsome movie to get lost in.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 1, 2021

The adventure is undoubtedly epic and would likely suffer little from excising excess bits of winding tracking shots through Byzantine structures.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 3, 2020

Meanwhile, back in Middle-earth, everyone is displaying worrying symptoms associated with the dreaded plight known as Middle-film Syndrome.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 2, 2020

A vast improvement upon its predecessor.

| Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 10, 2020

The whimsical and light-hearted approach has gone, replaced by a tonally darker film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 16, 2020

Overlong, bloated, and tedious, Jackson even did something that I'd have thought impossible, he made a giant, fire-breathing dragon voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch boring as hell.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 8, 2020

The Desolation of Smaug is a definite improvement upon An Unexpected Journey. While I did like the first chapter, I am not above admitting it had its faults

| Jun 30, 2020

'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' is a good fantasy adventure that is responsible for giving us a more visceral, visually amazing and entertaining film chapter than "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 25, 2020

Peter Jackson keeps The Hobbit franchise intact with this latest chapter! Fun, Fantastical and Fantabulous!

| Jun 9, 2020

The Desolation of Smaug is much better than its predecessor, and is one of the best films of the year. The special effects are magnificent; the work accomplished with the Smaug character is incredible. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 30, 2020

The Desolation of Smaug has a few beautiful moments, but...these two Hobbit films feel like one of those Star Wars spin-off novels where they take place in the same universe as the main storyline, but don't actually feel like a true part of it.

| Original Score: 2.8/5 | Nov 21, 2019

The Desolation of Smaug doesn't disappoint. Despite its questionable plot lines and dialogue, it ticks the boxes as an action-packed, visually stunning feature.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 21, 2019

While it's saddled with being the bridge between two other films, The Desolation of Smaug wholly succeeds where An Unexpected Journey did not in that it makes us look forward to the final installment.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2019

Hobbit haters get dragon-forged coal for Christmas.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 27, 2019