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The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug; Hit or Miss?

heirmiles

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Since nobody has commented on the Hobbit Volume 2, I get the idea that most were not impressed with it. Are we simply tired of the Wingnut empire maxing out on special effects and trumping out story content and character development simply to stretch the story out way beyond its original intent, or is the parallel content warranted in order to contextualize the further development of LOTR.

Personally, I enjoyed The Hobbit volume 2 simply because of the parallel content which fortified the main story line. When I was in my pre-teens (what feels like back in the 2nd age) I would spend hours imagining my involvement in the world of the hobbit, walking alongside Thorin, Balin and Boffer, as we traversed the dark and foreboding forest of Mirkwood, weaseled our way from the captivity of the wood elves, and traversing the lake to sneak into the lair of Smaug. I would spend hours trying to form mental pictures of the world which Tolkien described, imagining the many strange creatures with which we would have to contend.

Simply seeing this world of which I spent so much time in my youth dreaming about, now before me in "living color" (that was still a big thing when I was reading the books) I have found that enchantment once more awakened and stirred through the movies of Middle Earth.

Yet, rather than focusing on the adventures of Bilbo and the dwarves, we are suddenly thrown into the world of the Battle of the Five armies, the precursor to Sauron's return to Mordor, the final defeat of Smaug is to be downplayed as relatively insignificant in the face of the dire consequences of the mustering of goblins and orcs, wargs against Men, and elves.

One thing though, for some reason, Legolas happens to age in reverse. The older he gets the younger he looks. And the younger he is, the older he looks.

So these are some of my thoughts on the Hobbit trilogy, but, what do/did you think, has this middle part of the story inspire you to spend another $20 in the theatre for part '3, or will you wait until it becomes available on NetFlix?
 

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The Hobbit is a huge miss failing to be faithful to the original source material.

Peter Jackson was at the top of his game with the LOTR trilogy because he largely stayed faithful to the original source material.

And that subplot, between the male dwarf and the female elf, makes me want to shower afterwards because it makes me feel dirty.

Just because Aragorn and Arwen had a romance thing going, does that mean we must suffer a Killi and Tauriel love interest too.

Two thumbs down!
 
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quietpraiyze

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I really enjoyed Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug. It was a fun movie for me unlike the Hobbit 1 which was a snooze fest for me. I can hardly remember that movie because I kept falling asleep on it. For some reason there was a disconnect there but this one kept me engaged. Maybe for me I could better connect it with LOTR. Overall I liked the fantasy and adventure as well as the themes of friendship, loyalty, courage, good vs evil, etc. that already so abundantly exist in LOTR. After watching it, I remembering feeling like this is why I like the movies. It gets 2 thumbs up from me. I wished I would have seen this one on the big screen but I waited for video because of the 1st Hobbit movie. With the 3rd installment I might just find my way to the theatre. :)

 
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CelticGrace

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I love DoS... as a fantasy movie. As part of the Hobbit trilogy, I absolutely hated it.

If PJ had just made The Hobbit, it would have been brilliant. But he got greedy when he wanted to stretch it out to three movies, so he ended up running out of material from the original source. I cansort of forgive using other Tolkien works, but one, he changed the actual story and two, he actually added characters.

This isn't The Hobbit. It's fan-fiction.

But I will still be at the theater, watching BotFA, because I can't help it. I get sucked into the epic commercials and start squealing like a fangirl (which I am, of the original book) even though I know I'll ultimately be disappointed.
 
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Hetta

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Nah. I'm very frustrated that they turned one small book into three movies by adding in all of these extras. And yet they didn't add things into LOTR movies that should have been there. The final part - the scouring of the shires - really was important to the main theme, and it irritates me to this day that it was left out. Anyway ... I was pretty bored with this movie. I know and love all of the books so well and I don't like to see the stories altered so significantly. That said, my kids who haven't read The Hobbit thought it was a blast, because they don't know otherwise.
 
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Hetta

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what do/did you think, has this middle part of the story inspire you to spend another $20 in the theatre for part '3, or will you wait until it becomes available on NetFlix?
I will probably send the kids with their dad to the movie theater. I don't think I can sit through another 2.5 hours of this chaos. But that's now. Ask me again when the movie actually comes out. :)
 
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keith99

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I will probably send the kids with their dad to the movie theater. I don't think I can sit through another 2.5 hours of this chaos. But that's now. Ask me again when the movie actually comes out. :)

Since I already knew enough to not want to put my money in their pockets it wasn't until last night that I watched the first Hobbit movie.

Well sort of.

I made it out of Bilbo's home, but no the shire. Come on. There was not a single dwarf in the film. None of them are even as thick as I am. Well perhaps Bombur was, but he is supposed to be about 3 times as thick as I.

And what about the beards? Thorin's is shorter than mine save perhaps right after I leave the barbers.
 
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Thunder Peel

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I wish the extended version would come out already. We're waiting to buy it on Blu-Ray and it's taking forever.^_^

I liked the film, though I do admit I would rather have seen one three hour movie instead of a trilogy. It's cool that Jackson is digging in the appendices but those honestly could have been included in an extended edition with the theatrical cut just covering the basic Hobbit novel. I like the films for what they are but I am a bit disappointed at how many changes have been made and how much CGI has been used. The Lord of the Rings films found that perfect balance; I honestly don't know why he got so carried away with The Hobbit.
 
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Guy Incognito

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Bennedict friggen Cumberbatch's performance as Smaug MADE that flick for me. Yeah, it's got flaws, yeah, it's not as good as the LOTR flicks. But know what it does have that's awesome?


Bennedict friggen Cumberbatch's performance as Smaug
 
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Thunder Peel

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The extended edition is pretty sweet. The Mirkwood section is greatly expanded, something that I wanted in the original cut and Gandalf gets more screen time as well. The section with Beorn is also better and more like the book. It's definitely worth checking out.

Can't wait for The Battle of the Five Armies in a couple weeks!:)
 
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Guy Incognito

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I also give it the edge over the first Hobbit movie because it doesn't feature cameos in the beginning that drag on too long, doesn't feature a 40min beginning where only one thing worth noting happens (the song)(I have no problem with slow beginning - Fellowship had a slow beginning, but at least stuff happened), AND most importantly - it doesn't feature any ball-chinians.
 
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