A fair warning, there will be spoilers. But if you haven't read a 78 year old masterpiece, then something is seriously wrong with you.
Another disclaimer: I adore The Hobbit and LotR.
So, on with the show!
Creating a dragon for film isn't an easy process. Sadly Hollywood is seriously lacking in dragons of great acting potential, so producers usually have to resort to special effects to create these noble creatures. Naturally, this leads to all sorts of problems than must be overcome. These include, but are not limited to, design, CGI quality, voice acting, character, and so on.
First up for The Hobbit, I'll talk about the quality of the CGI.
Here is where I think The Hobbit gets it absolutely right. Weta Studios have been producing some incredible creature effects for quite a few years now, and the work they did on Smaug was immaculate. It had taken nearly twenty years, but in Smaug I believe there was a dragon that was better animated than Draco (DragonHeart). Saphira (Eragon) came close, but ultimately that travesty of a movie dragged her down a few notches.
Smaug looks and feels like a real creature. He lives in the world created by the filmmakers, and isn't just a floating green ball for the actors to vaguely stare at. Though the thought of Cumberbatch in that skin-tight motion capture suit is alright by me. More on Cumberbatch later.
Related to the look of Smaug, is his design. Now, here is where I was a little disappointed. Movie Smaug was noticeably different to Book Smaug in a number of ways. Most importantly, in my opinion, is that Movie Smaug is not a True Dragon. True Dragons are six limbed - two wings and four legs. Movie Smaug is only four limbed, classifying him as a wyvern. This appears to be a late change from the filmmakers, as his forelegs are actually shown in the opening of the first film.
This was changed in the Extended Version of the same film. Notice how the claws are now clearly part of his wing.
We can talk about the hows and whys of the change until the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is they changed Smaug from a True Dragon to a Wyvern at some point late in production. Is this a bad thing? Eh, depends on who you ask really. Tolkien purists would of course be disappointed that such an iconic character was altered, but there was talk that a four limbed reptile is more scientifically plausible than a six limbed one. The back and forths would take forever to resolve, so I'll just say that I would have preferred a six-limbed Smaug, but he looks so awesome because of Weta's work that I am willing to overlook it.
One last thing on his design: Smaug's firebreathing.
The way his whole body lights up when he's about to incinerate his foes is pretty damn awesome visually. Practically though? He is after all giving his prey those few extra seconds to escape by this, which does save Bilbo's bacon on at least one occasion.
So, Smaug looks amazing thanks to Weta. A few small disappointments on design choices, but these can be overlooked. Next, we have to look at his character, and that comes down to two things. Script and actor.
First, the actor.
Cumberbatch nails it. Without a shadow of a doubt.
There isn't really much more to say here, other than the fact I don't believe any other actor could have so brilliantly portrayed Smaug. Certainly the best dragon voice since Sean Connery gave his voice to Draco. It has everything: intelligence, wit, power. Everything Smaug needs and deserves.
Finally, script.
Even with the best voice actor, the best CGI work, the best design, he would still fail as a character if the script was poor.
Here we meet mixed success.
On the one hand, his lines were basically perfect. Cumberbatch had some incredible material to work with. Both the original lines from the book and the new lines written for the movie were consistently accurate with his character. Everything from his first line to his last was amazing.
Where it started to all fall down was his actions. There were times when he came across as bumbling and clumsy, something I doubt the Book Smaug ever was. Case in point, when he's flailing around in the forges. He also failed to hear the dwarves at one point as they crept beneath him, despite already showing incredible senses to find Bilbo while he wore his ring (and smelling dwarf on Bilbo, yet being unable to smell them when they were barely a dozen feet from his nose).
I would also gripe about Smaug dying like all dragons do in film now, but I never really expected them to deviate from the books quite that much! I just would have preferred a lot more of Smaug in Five Armies, as he was dead in fifteen minutes.
So, overall, I thought Smaug was a brilliantly crafted dragon.
Yes, there were flaws in his design, as well as some elements of his characterisation thanks to the script direction, but these can all be overlooked. They are ultimately minor flaws in what is certainly one of the most recognisable dragons in literature.
No longer do we have to look at a 20 year old film on how to do dragons right.
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