The reviews are already in for most of main media for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Over all most seem to enjoy the movie, grading it around a B+ saying it moves at a much more exciting pace compared to An Unexpected Journey. Another common note is the action scenes are very well done and exciting but frequently compared to video games. As for the new characters Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel was complemented as a great addition to the cast and the story, Legolas is a shot of fun to the movie, while Bard the Bowman landed with a mild thud. Smaug himself was more on fence with many critics thinking he was visually stunning but a bit one note as a villain. A few highlights below.

Entertainment Weekly (A+)

The Desolation of Smaug is a more grandly somber movie, and also a much better one, with forces of boldly intense and unified malevolence. ...This time Jackson nails that tone: the feeling that Bilbo, who's been recruited to steal back a wondrous gem called the Arkenstone from the dragon Smaug, is up against a cosmic storm of black forces. The dragon has ravaged the land, the angry, hulking orcs are on a power trip, and the elves — led by the imperious Thranduil (Lee Pace) — are isolationists who trap the dwarves in a dungeon, setting up a great escape via wine barrels on white rapids. ...Yet Jackson's direction is spiky and majestic, and the risky move of inventing his own Tolkien character — the elf guard Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) — as a love interest for Legolas (Orlando Bloom) pays off. These two bring some badly needed heat to the woodlands. Speaking of heat, the dragon is, quite simply, a marvel: gargantuan yet balletic, hoarding his mountain of gold with a razor-toothed smile, breathing not just flame but an inferno, and voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch with the most delicious, insidious knowledge.

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