Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2014

It’s a spirited, fan-pleasing middle child. But the padding necessary to stretch a single, non-epic volume into a nine-hour trilogy is more pronounced. Peter Jackson’s decision to shoot in High Frame Rate digital 3-D results in some jaw-dropping, brilliantly choreographed (if a bit long and video-game-ish) action set pieces, but at the same time gives the dramatic bits, already weak, a sort of daytime-TV feel. Bottom line: eventful, robustly entertaining eye candy, but little depth or emotional impact. I was dragon by the time I left the theater, mourning the terrific single movie The Hobbit would have made. Japanese title: Hobbit Ryu ni Ubawareta Okoku. (160 min)