Unfortunately, The Hobbit trilogy didn’t hit the same heights as its predecessor for me. There are certainly things to like—I enjoy the story parts that bridge the gap to The Lord of the Rings (we see the trolls turning to stone, and then we walk by them in the Fellowship of the Ring), and Martin Freeman is a cracking Bilbo. Any scene centered on Bilbo, Gollum, or Gandalf held up well.

However, there are certain things that never fail to irritate me:

• Thorin: The transition from brooding warrior to entitled King to jewel-obsessed dragon-sickness victim just grates on me.

• “Da”: Bard’s children calling him “Da” in that specific whiny tone. Every time I hear it, I’m haunted by the nightmare scene in Shrek the Third where baby headed Donkey turns to Shrek and says “Da da.”

• Lego-who?: Shoehorning Legolas into a story he was never actually in.

The Lord of the Rings arrived at a different time in my life and left an impression that The Hobbit was perhaps always destined to fall short of. Nevertheless, Middle-earth on a big screen is still Middle-earth, and if it’s on I find myself drawn back to the cinema regardless.

After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I watch it again?

An unexpected journey

The Desolation of Smaug

The Battle of the Five Armies