The Arkenstone:

This is actually my second time reading The Fellowship of The Ring , but since I don't remember much of it (I was younger and read it way too quickly), it doesn't really count. I've never seen the movies (besides clips and the Hobbit), but I do have a mental picture of the characters in my head which can sometimes be nice.
I've read up to the sixth chapter (The Old Forest) and have really enjoyed it. I used to find Tolkien's writing much too long and descriptive; I now (for the most part) enjoy it. I will sometimes find myself just skimming past descriptions, but not nearly as much as I used to.
I haven't gotten far enough to really decide which is my favorite character. I like them all so much.
I know Pippin is the youngest and Frodo, the eldest, but is Sam older than Merry?
The back-story with Gollum was interesting.
My thoughts on Bilbo:
I like the mushrooms story and find it very interesting that hobbits like them so much (I'm not surprised, but never the less find it interesting).
I noted that the hobbits sang a song to the same tune as the one in the Hobbit. After asking my sister about it, I'm disappointed that they didn't do it in the movie. It would've been cool to hear it (especially if it had been in the same tune, which it should have been).
That's pretty much all I have to say, though I'll probably post more later.

Re: Summer's Bilbo spoiler...

Yesterday I overheard a conversation between a couple friends of mine (you know who you are ) where one of them expressed the opinion that the movie will never be as good as the book, you should separate the two and appreciate the movie for what it is. I appreciate that sentiment. I actually think I'm fairly decent on being able to separate the two, but after having a week to think on the Hobbit movie, my opinion of it is getting worse, not better, and here's why...

I went into the movie ready to hate Tauriel but I actually found her quite likable. This is probably due to Evangeline Lilly's performance as the idea of the character sounded bad. I even found the relationship with Kili amusingly endearing. However I am certain that Tolkien is rolling in his grave over the scene where

Personally, the biggest flaw of the movie was throwing in so many over-the-top drawn out and physically impossible action sequences. They made everything less believable and were often ridiculous.

The best part of the movie was Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as Smaug. He's one of those evil characters that makes you want to be a villain.

Well, here is my opinion, fresh back from the theatre (finally ):

I actually liked it a fair amount -- maybe even more than the first movie. The pacing of the story (at least in the beginning and middle of the movie) is a lot more quick than the first movie. I found myself enjoying the faster pace. However, I might say that the fast pace was actually slowed down by the number and length of action sequences. If the action sequences had been cut in half, I'd have probably enjoyed the movie a lot more.

After leaving the theater, my relatives asked me what I thought (since I am known to be the biggest Hobbit fan in the family!). I replied that I had to think about my thoughts about the movie, because my feelings were honestly dazed. So, let's see if I can jot down some of my jumbled thoughts in an organized manner.

Where do I begin? Well, how about Smaug? He was awesome. He looked extremely frightening and also sounded very scary. He is the stuff of nightmare material, for sure. The way he was designed is very interesting, too. I have never seen a dragon that (spoilers about Smaug's physical appearance) :

Smaug, plot/scene spoilers:

Tauriel spoilers:

Gandalf spoilers, end of the movie:

End of the movie spoilers:

Somewhat abrupt, but these are the bulk of my main thoughts, so far.

I saw Desolation Of Smaug last night. As a movie in its own right, I thought it was good - lots of action and tension. As an adaptation of the book, I thought it was terrible. The mood and feel was too dark all the way through - there were no (or very few) periods of light relief as there were in the book. For instance:

Re: The Design of Smaug

On the color of Smaug - if he's depicted as black, that must be because of the darkness - I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know what it looks like. According to the book he's not a black dragon.

There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber.

The Hobbit, Chapter 12, Inside Information

Last night I saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with some of my friends. I enjoyed the movie but it isn't what you would call a strict adaptation of Tolkien's novel.

The quality of the script fluctuates dramatically. It's strong in places, good in others and sometimes rather average, even poor. I didn't even mind PJ and co's story inventions when they were true to the characters, the spirit and the world of Middle-earth but sometimes the ideas they had were silly, counter-intuitive, long-winded or just dull.

The pacing is better than the first movie, but the second is still overly-long (two movies would've sufficed).

This is my biggest peeve with the movie.

Everything else in the movie, I either enjoyed or deemed satisfactory. Overall, I enjoyed some parts of The Desolation of Smaug more than some sections of An Unexpected Journey and vice-versa. Finally, I will add that Smaug is beyond majestic! A real treat.

Warning: Recommended for mature audiences - contains moderate fantasy violence

7.5/10

There is a lot I want to comment on but I need to reread the book first. Or rather listen to it as I got the audio book for Christmas! Of course that is not going to stop me from commenting on somethings.

I had many worries going into this movie. I new it was really bad when the local newspaper loved it. They hated the first one.
The good parts ... um ... give me a minute ... um I'm sure there are some somewhere.
Well, it was more or less recognizable as the Hobbit.

And now additional comments that will be largely negative:

The movie was too ridiculous (unbelievable) to be considered a good movie. It definitely wasn't a good adaptation. It was however great for poking fun at.

Questions about the next movie

Wow. You're quite harsh on the movie, aren't you?
As for the little bit of romance, I thought it was only hinted at and quite reasonable (and I usually hate this sort of thing). I loved most of Smaug's scenes.

Warrior 4 Jesus, I wouldn't have minded the romance if it hadn't come in the form of

Pattertwigs Pal, I almost completely agree with you about the Elves. I enjoyed seeing Legolas again, especially in his hometown of Mirkwood, but I feel that the time in the movie that was spent developing Legolas and Tauriel could have been better spent developing scenes that are from the book. Here's the thing: the Hobbit is a fairly short book, and somehow they are managing to come up with three 2 1/2 hour movies. While doing this, how on earth did they come up with

I also agree with you about

I am curious to hear your thoughts about the Necromancer. The concept of his appearance in The Hobbit is interesting, but I don't know about the way they played him out. His single scene is fascinating visually, and very frightening and intense, and in that way, I liked it. However,

Regarding Kili's injury:

Re: Kili's injury:

The thing that is really bugging me about the movie is a lot of the plot points are indirectly lifted from the book and Appendices, but they don't seem to fit well in the way they were added in to this part of the story. For instance,

Wow. You're quite harsh on the movie, aren't you?

Me? Well, I guess I probably came across that way. The first part about finding good stuff was meant to be funny. If I can't get pleasure out of praising a lot of similarities, I'm going to get it out of nitpicking. I'm not really sure how I feel about the movie. Oh, it will end up in my movie collection. And I think I like it better than TT. Basically, I think of it more as annoying than as something to despise. Worthy of rolling eyes. Added action Added romance Added not so polite humor

@FK and Dot