Ideally, I would like to believe there's a joint desire to both save Bilbo and recover the Arkenstone, but I think that while physical distance allows him to enter Erebor for Bilbo, physical proximity clouds his judgment and turns it solely towards the 'stone...Which is a shame, really, because it took time for Bilbo to garner Thorin's trust and yet the riches/Arkenstone quickly dispel a great deal of Thorin's good favor... Good point, he could very well have started in focused on Bilbo, and gotten distracted by all that gold. And right after he insisted to Balin that "I am not my grandfather."

I completely agree it's the kind of movie that deserves multiple viewings :). The first time, it's all shock and awe. Frankly, it was a little overwhelming at times because the pace didn't slow much and thus you had to keep with the quickly growing story. With that said, I thought it was absolutely delightful and enjoyed it just as much upon my second viewing. Yes, I found that on my first viewing too - it pretty much took off at a run, and didn't slow down much til the end.

Can we also take a moment to appreciate how absolutely stunning Smaug was in this film? The sheer enormity of our "chiefest of calamities," the expression in his eyes (particularly upon seeing the gold statue), and how utterly realistic it all felt. I was continually amazed at how I didn't have a lingering thought in the back of my mind that, "wow, too bad the graphics on this dragon detract from its presence." Instead, Smaug felt just as real as Martin Freeman--just wonderful :). Agreed. In addition to his expression when staring at the statue, I also noticed his expression right after calling Bilbo "Barrel Rider" the last time, believing that the dwarves were plotting with the people of Lake-town - you could see his thoughts clearly on his face.