The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug loses its treasures amid ersatz

 

Like a winged beast from the North, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is upon us.

Its predecessor, An Unexpected Journey – Peter Jackson’s first film as director since 2009’s The Lovely Bones and our first return to Middle-Earth in nine years – was notably not one of my favorite films of the previous year.…