is superior to the Hobbit (beyond slow pacing and stupid, unrealistic scenes) is that the musical score in the three Lord of the Rings movies is 20 times better than the score in the Hobbit. Howard Shore's work in LOTR produced some of the best scoring of the 21st Century. The LOTR soundtrack is still listenable after a decade and there are about 15 tracks that are masterpieces. The Hobbit soundtracks are largely forgettable. Howard Shore really mailed it in. Good scoring makes bad movies good and good movies great.