The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Amazon have the same film for £8.99, an that's the extended hd version as well. Shame on you itunes

Peter Jackson once claimed to be a hufe fan of Tolkein, and he wished to transfer the master's work to the screen as acurately as possible. He mostly did that with Lord of the Rings, except for omitting a major character and adding in some infantile slaptstick. With The Hobbit, Jackson has decided to throw Tolkein's work completely out of the window and make up his own story instead. Every now and again Jackson references Tokein's vastly superior original, but by and large this feels like a derivative knock off of Lord of the Rings filled with bad CG effects. All of the humour from the book is gone, replaced with tedious action sequences which feel like they will never end. The story, what little of it Jackson retained, is there purely to link the CG action sequences. This is an awful film from a director who clearly has long lost any respect or regard for Tolkein. Hang your head in shame Jackson, this is dreck, and Tolkein would be disgusted.

The audio comentary is not available to this particular version of the release. It is a pity. All other extra's are there (with HD version purchase), but sadly not the directors comentary, which was a considerable disappointment, for me at least. Some of the extra and extended scenes here are nothing more than padding, and actually drag things out a little too much in this case. One exception however comes from Gandalf's visit to Dol Goldur, which in this extended addition is far, far stronger than in the theatrical version, and without a doubt a great addition. The extra features are also thoroughly entertaining! I'd give this a 5 if I had the directors comentary with it, but alas I now have to buy this on bluray too in order to get that.

Always love the extended editions, they bring a lot more to the story.

Don't get me wrong this is a good film, but how hard is it to stick to the book. I found myself paying for hd when I want sd and found myself correcting his errors like radagast the brown he's not in the book!! All in all ok film but if you want the book adaptation don't expect much.

Again why on earth do none of the appendices come with the SD version. I'm really angry about this. This was not the case for AUJ. It's not a pricing issue but my PC is not able to screen the HD version. It is outrageous I am expected to get a new device to simply access this content. The only reason to get this version are the appendices. Wasted £10.00 right there. Not impresseed at all! Thanks

Why are there no appendices in SD, I paid for this movie again, because of the appendices as was the case in AUJ, what a con, 23mins extra for ANOTHER ten pounds

waited 5 months to get the extended version and all the appendices but wasn’t interested in HD, turns out you only get the extras if you buy HD disappointed as i can’t upgrade to the HD version i would have to buy the film again. amazing film just wish i got the extras as well, i can see them but I’m reminded that they are only available on the HD copy. Boo.

is the appendices included in this as i really enjoyed the last ones

ca we have all of the original of the original trilogy extended editions too please iTunes! :-(