Yeah, well, whatever you want to call it, the Kili-Tauriel interaction was a bit exaggerated; the expository value is clear, but I think PJ underestimated his already Tolkien-savy audiences here. A stronger plotline would simply have been better - as in, IF they had to bring Legolas in, why not give him a fully develped story arc?

The problem with the Hobbit movies is, IMO, that they were made as people went along - I recall different talk about scripts being used in pre-production, then being discarded, then reshoots being done to stretch the story into three movies, etc. Not really adequate for a project of this magnitude, and so, some aspects of the project are somewhat lacking. Overall, though, I repeat, I enjoyed the movies. :)