By Price Zimmer ’14 | Entertainment Editor

Good for more than a few laughs, “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” is the antithesis to desolate; chock full of action, laughs, drama and plenty in between. However, this is all subverted by elements of the plot that are substandard-if not lackluster.

Returning to the classic children’s fantasy tale inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” Bilbo, Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves face incredibly daunting challenges as they try to steal the Arken Stone from the dragon Smaug who is guarding it after taking over the dwarven kingdom Erebor. This is an epic tale brought to life and provides a more family friendly tale than the “Lord of the Rings,” with plenty of fart jokes and action-packed chase scenes.

Yet, “The Hobbit” suffers for making many changes and expansions of the source material that are in large part excessive—in fact, this can be a criticism of the entire “Hobbit” series; it feels like a trilogy that never needed to be a trilogy in the first place. Tauriel is the biggest addition and most troubling addition, as an elf who falls in love with one of the dwarves, Villi, while also being subject to the affections of Legolas, which creates an entirely needless love triangle that degrades the film.

Peter Jackson once again presents a film that is near the pinnacle of the visual experience. The grand vistas of New Zealand’s mountains are a series staple and continue to be one the strongest facets to the franchise. The Computer Generated Images (CGI) are incredibly well done and are worth paying the extra money to see in 3-D to get the full effect of the impressive visuals.

As always, Sir Ian McKellen is exemplary as Gandalf, though his role is marginalized to make way for fight sequences that can total 30 minutes in length. Bilbo is played by Martin Freeman and he provides to be a capable lead in a blockbuster with a similar quiet charisma as Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins but with the humor of Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee in Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

The dwarves provide solid entertainment while also being compelling and interesting characters, though they suffer from not being developed as other characters and their use as a plot device is too obvious because of this. Elvish love triangles aside, Peter Jackson makes them a fun and lighthearted edition to the series that is mostly successful on screen.

There is action aplenty in “Desolation of Smaug,” with Gandalf, the dwarves and Bilbo getting into all kinds of trouble with Orcs, Elves and the titular dragon. Most of it is entertaining, though the additions of Gandalf fighting Sauron and a lengthy 30 minute fight scene between the dwarves and Smaug are far tiresome and paint the characters in a foolish light, while also providing no closure; another problem with “The Hobbit” franchise is how each movie provides little closure to the events of the film and end abruptly with none of the characters having developed.

On the whole, I really liked “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” there are tons of funny and visually engaging moments, but it is undercut by lackluster storytelling and movie that feels bloated in nearly every way.

Grade: C-