The tale that grew in the telling also presents so many "And suddenly!" that it gets tiresome. I don't think I realized it as a child. As an adult, it's nearly as bad as when a writer insists on "he said" or "she said" after every single piece of dialog (although that's much worse).

Did Bilbo and the dwarves actually accomplish what they set out to do? Or was it a series of very fortunate events that happened to them, with very little action on their part to save their own skins?

Deus ex machina is strong with this one. It makes me a little sad to realize that.