The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

It's good for the old children but so scary for the young kids of less 8 years old.

I was disappointed with the constant action and violence in this movie. Although I had not read the books, I enjoyed the story in the first Hobbit movie and was looking forward to being drawn into the fantasy. Instead I became bored with the constant special effects and grotesque characters that pushed the story along with a pile-up of facts but no depth. The special effects are well done but are mostly violent and depict demonic looking and sounding creatures. The most redeeming quality of the movie is that it has no bad language or sexual content. The loyalty and bravery of the dwarfs and elves were also positive.

My boys are a pair of scaredy cats when it comes to movies - my youngest age 6 whimpered through bits of Frozen and asked to go home! I would not normally risk a movie like this but they both enjoyed the Hobbit Part 1 on the small screen and were desperate to go. But they took this Hobbit and the previous one in their stride. There is not much Psycho style build up so it seemed violent but not scary if that makes sense. There was a lot of fighting action but the battles seemed unreal and it is hard to empathise with the orcs. The biggest challenge for some kids may be the length of the movie - nearly 3 hours which is quite long but it remained enjoyable even though I think they could have cut about half an hour

Coming a year after the underrated and underappreciated “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Jackson strikes again with the year’s best movie- “The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.” After a brief prologue featuring an excellent flashback conversation between Thorin Oakenshield and the wizard Gandalf, the movie hits the ground running and pretty much never looks back. This is a much more action packed movie than its predecessor, featuring an intense giant spider attack sequence in Mirkwood Forest, a thrilling river barrel chase sequence as the dwarves attempt to escape from Elvish captors, an intense battle between Gandalf and Sauron, and a non-stop battle with the Dragon Smaug at the end. As is to be expected, all technical credits are first rate, from the often brilliant special effects, to the stirring Howard Shore musical score, to the excellent use of High Frame Rate 3D. In addition, the film delivers some outstanding acting, with particularly good performances from Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Luke Evans as a well-developed and sympathetic Bard the Bowman. It is also great to see Orlando Bloom’s Legolas back in action, and despite the initial controversy, the addition of Evangilne Lilly as the female elf warrior Tauriel is a welcome addition, even if she does not appear in the book. The crowning achievement of the movie, however, is the Dragon Smaug (the best dragon ever portrayed on the silver screen) and his initial reveal in the ancient kingdom of Erebor is absolutely perfect. This is followed by an Indiana Jones style climax that ends in a real cliffhanger that might irritate some. For me it just means that the final movie, “The Hobbit: There And Back Again” will launch with an absolutely incredible action sequence. Like “The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers”, “Desolation” does not really have a beginning or an end, but like that brilliant movie, it is definitely one hell of a middle. As for whether or not kids should see it, I think it is fine for 9 and up, unless your kid is especially frightened by spiders or seeing orcs killed by sword and arrow. My 9 year old daughter loved it.

My 9 year old son enjoyed watching this film with me having recently watched the first Hobbit Film and previously read the book. He really liked Smaug and we both found some of the orc deaths pretty funny. There are definitely more violent deaths than in the first film, so watch with caution and he recommends having a blanket to hide under if necessary.

A little bit scary but not to much blood.

This movie had more intense fantasy violence/peril! There was even more shooting of arrows and hacking! I loved this movie immensly! I let my 13 year old son watch an it scared him! I think 15+ could watch this! Plenty of fantasy violence and even intense situations!