The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Now, firstly I will like to apologise in advance, if anything in this review isn't making sense. Because once I get going about something I love, I ramble. So bear with me.

Secondly, If you haven't read "The Hobbit", or seen the first movie ("The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"), you'll probably be a bit confused when watching this movie. So go and do one of those things now, and come back. This review will not be spoiler free.
  In short this movie, is about the continued adventure of the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, and the dwarves. They're on the way to reclaim Erebor, the dwarves' homeland, from Smaug.

This movie, compared to the previous one, is fast paced and doesn't waste time. Personally, I liked the pacing of this movie a lot better than the last one, because we only had a little scene at the beginning that was slow paced, but then we where plunged back into action and the current story. 
  Another thing I liked about this movie more than the last, is that we get to know the characters more. The dwarves especially. Maybe it was because they where all running around. We learned more about Erebor, Thorin and Bilbo in the first one, that I didn't feel like I got to know the other dwarves properly. 
But that changed in this one. Most of the dwarves got their own little scene, with a dialogue (except Bombur, who didn't speak at all in this film). I guess it helped when they split up, when some of them stayed in Laketown and the rest traveling on to the Mountain. 

  One of the real great things about The Desolation of Smaug, is the addition of the two elves, who do not appear in the book; Leoglas and Tauriel. 
I really liked Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies, and I like the Elven race, so more getting more of Legolas is always a great thing in my book. (Also it gave Thranduil more screentime, so I won't complain). 
Even though I really liked Tauriel, according to the rest of the internet, people have very strong opinions about her. Some are mad because she wasn't in the book and isn't a Tolkien original character, and others just think she is there as a love interest. But to me, her story seems less like a love story and more like a story about someone who desires to do what she feels is right, even when authority is telling her it's wrong. She sees a problem with the way Thranduil is running things and with the way Legolas is just following orders and doesn't complain. She is the only one not afraid to does something about the problem, and she doesn't let someone, who is innocent (Kili), die, when she can save him. She saves him because she can, and not because he might be a romantic interest. She does what is right, not to mention she looks badass while doing so.

  
I will try to wrap this up, because it's turning out to be a little lengthy. But all in all I personally liked this movie a lot more than the first one. As said before, I liked the pacing better, it made the three hours just fly by. Laketown was great (and by great, I mean awful), the barrel escape was fun and fast (although the sudden Go Pro footage was odd), I liked movie Bard better than book Bard, Smaug was amazing and wonderful, and Bilbo was brilliant.
It should however be said, that a second movie in a trilogy is what it is, a second movie. It is a filler, that needs to be placed between the first and the third one. In this case, it was a good filler. 

So I would give The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug:
4 weird girls out of 5