Sleeping dragons eventually awaken. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a story. So it’s hardly news that in the second installment of Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy, the dragon rouses from his slumber.

What IS news: the franchise wakes up, too.

Die-hard fans might disagree, but to many, the first film, last year’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” took way too long to get going and then dragged for much of its 169 minutes.

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is not much shorter — 8 minutes, to be exact — but it feels brisker, lighter, funnier. The characters are more varied, more interesting;

The whole enterprise, it must be said, involves a huge dollop of cinematic hubris. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” after all, is a book of some 300 pages. With these three films, a prequel to his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Jackson devotes about two film minutes to each page.

Happily, “Smaug” is vastly better from the get-go. Instead of a drawn-out intro, we get right to the action, which is of course the quest of Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and the band of dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor, under the Lonely Mountain, from the frightening dragon Smaug.

As always, trouble takes many forms: not only the menacing Orcs, but giant spiders with sticky webs, too. Then there are the elves, who come to the rescue at an opportune time but then imprison Bilbo and his mates. (Gandalf — the always grand Ian McKellen — has other business, and leaves for long stretches.)

Lee Pace is fun as the campy and authoritarian Thranduil, leader of the elves. His son Legolas (Orlando Bloom) is talented as ever with a bow. And he has a love interest: Tauriel, a newly invented character, played with spunky sweetness by Evangeline Lilly.

Bilbo, ever bolder, helps the dwarves escape their jailers in a terrific scene that rivals a Busby Berkeley dance number. Further entertainment comes in Lake-town, led by a greedy Master (Stephen Fry) and his underling Alfrid (Ryan Gage).

In any case, it all comes down to the climactic confrontation with the dragon; Unfortunately, the film sags somewhat here. It’s fun to hear Benedict Cumberbatch, as Smaug, hurl seething epithets at Bilbo, and Freeman is at his most pluckily adorable. Still, they really could have shortened this confrontation by a good 20 minutes.

But what’s 20 minutes when you’re taking nine hours to tell a story? Onward to the third installment. Jackson is back on track.