The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: December 13, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 13, 2013
Visually stunning. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 12, 2013
There are, once again, too many busy, uninterestingly staged battles that lean heavily on obvious, sometimes distracting digital sorcery. But there are also pacific, brooding interludes in which the actors — notably Mr. Freeman, an intensely appealing screen presence — remind you that there’s more to Middle-earth than clamor and struggle. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 12, 2013
Much of the bloat is still there, but The Desolation of Smaug, the second film in the Hobbit trilogy, is a real improvement – filled with inventive action set pieces and dramatic face-offs that we (finally, at long last, hallelujah!) care about. Read full review
60
The DissolveTasha RobinsonDec 11, 2013
It’s hard to fight the feeling that The Hobbit simply isn’t an epic story, and the efforts to expand it into one leave it feeling like an anvil crammed into a sock: The sock is taking on some weird shapes, and it’s being stretched awfully thin. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 11, 2013
The cast, including Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly as warrior elves, is also excellent (though we don’t get even a glimpse of Andy Serkis’ Gollum). And individually, each escapade does hold its own thrills. Read full review
60
Film.comEric D. SniderDec 10, 2013
It’s merely somewhat better than last year’s meandering dud — a slight improvement on a movie that should have been pretty easy to improve upon. Read full review
55
NPRIan BuckwalterDec 13, 2013
This all essentially serves to distract from the fact that all that really happens in the film is that the company manages to eventually reach the mountain. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 13, 2013
When it's not stalled on silly, it falls into slog territory. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 12, 2013
We were promised desolation, but “The Hobbit” just keeps dragon on. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 12, 2013
Jackson has become too distracted by his digital toys to give his characters the same weight and importance he used in the Rings trilogy. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundDec 7, 2013
A once-precious franchise's weakest installment, which forgets these adventures' magic was never conjured by bells and whistles. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 6, 2013
The Peter Jackson-directed Hobbit sequel might be the more vigorous, action-packed, darker and more (superficially) engaging version of the series thus far, but that doesn’t actually mean it’s a keeper of any sort. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 12, 2013
The second leg of Peter Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, is mostly stalling for time: two or three truly great sequences tangled up in long beards and longer pit-stops. Read full review
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