(This image is from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1170358/)
This movie had quite a few added differences from the book. Legolas and the female elf were not in the book, the forest was more of a dark place as in very little light, the sequence of the dwarfs traveling downriver in barrels was less action packed than the movie made it out to be, it was never explained where Gandalf went while the dwarfs needed a powerful wizard at their side, the Arcenstone did not have such effects on the dwarf king, and the fight against the dragon Smaug was not in the book. I didn't mind a few of these changes though, as this was a movie and fantasy movies require action sequences to capture audience's attention. The longer sequence with Smaug was very interesting. Not only was this dragon well animated and designed, but the voice and character were absolutely splendid! This dragon was egotistical, frightening, and playful with his prey.
Also, this movie left off a little before I thought it would. I thought the movie was going to end with Smaug being slain, and the third movie was going to focus on the five army war. Apparently they wanted to give Smaug more screen time and I welcome it. I look forward to the last movie. Say what you might about the Lord of the Rings compared to the Hobbit, in this book there is more sense of loss as some of the dwarfs the story follows and the reader gets used to traveling with die. In the Lord of the Rings, out of the nine characters of the Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir is the only one who dies. Indeed Gandalf had perished against the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dum, but technically he comes back as Gandalf the White. Also, quite a few of the side characters we are introduced to in the Lord of the Rings managed to survive as well. For an epic war that almost ended Middle Earth, quite a few characters we got used to managed to survive while many people around them die.
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