"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" Reviews, Trailer, Showtimes Near Dundalk

By Jenni Pompi

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is one of several films opening in theaters Friday, Dec. 13.

Movie reviewers are saying the squeal trumps last year's Hobbit film. 

Chicago Tribune reviewer Michael Phillips gives the film three stars, saying: 

It's livelier and better than its predecessor. The first movie's harrumphing throat-clearing has given way to a swift, imposing adventure boasting several wing-ding action sequences....It's exciting, improbable, funny in its derring-do and a reminder that Jackson, as a filmmaker, can do many things, including finding the precise way to send arrow after arrow through skull after skull, while tossing in a few beheadings, and yet somehow maintain a PG-13 rating. And the right spirit.

Read the full Chicago Tribune review here. 

Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman was also impressed: 

...Speaking of heat, the dragon is, quite simply, a marvel: gargantuan yet balletic, hoarding his mountain of gold with a razor-toothed smile, breathing not just flame but an inferno, and voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch with the most delicious, insidious knowledge. Bilbo, as played by Freeman, suggests a sly-dog Dana Carvey without irony, and he is certainly overmatched, but that doesn't mean he's outplayed. Desolation is now his business.

Read the full Entertainment Weekly review online here.

Other movies opening this weekend include "Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas" (starring Tyler Perry, Chad Michael Murray, Tika Sumpter and Larry the Cable Guy) and "Hours" (starring Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, Nancy Nave, Shane Jacobsen).