THE HOBBIT : THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

After successfully crossing some jacked up Mountains which seem to be everywhere in middle earth and are always in the freakin way, Thorin and his group head into Mirkwood Forest without Gandolf because he likes to just wander off sometimes. They are trying to get to Lake-town where it will be time for Bilbo to make good on his agreement with the dwarves.

After encountering a bunch of mountains, impatience and a secret door, Bilbo meets the power hungry dragon Smaug who sounds a lot like Khan from STAR TREK : INTO DARKNESS. While I don’t think anyone in their right mind can say Jackson hasn’t completely gone to every step to make this series visually beautiful, this one stood out for several reasons. 1) Smaug looked freaking great and he is kind of a jerk as polite as Bilbo was trying to be (after all Smaug spends his spare time destroying cities). 2) Big huge bear batman and 3) The log ride at Disneyland (kidding). What else could you want? I won’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this especially in IMAX 3D.

Problems – not sure the shortest book needed 3 installments. Some characters seem either really out of place or don’t show up in the chronological later 3, so it seems odd that we see them now but never hear about them again? Legolas seems like WAY more of a jerk than he did in the previous installments (which are chronologically later in the series). There is ZERO doubt this is a step up from THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY but for whatever reason after 5 of these now, it wasn’t enough to get to a 7 rating.

I give this movie a 6 out of 7.

 Rating Definition – A SPECTACULAR MARVEL OF AWESOMENESS THAT MAKES CUTE CAT VIDEOS LOOK LIKE THE HUGEST WASTE OF YOUR TIME IN HISTORY. This is the movie that you will try and walk by at the store and not be able to. You will buy it forgetting you already have it. Then one day a friend will come to your house. They will tell you how much they love this movie and you won’t even tell them you have 2 in your collection. Because you can’t give it up. You have to have 2. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Part 1: The Movie)

Review by Jim Smith

After the Lord of the Rings, there was a great deal of clamoring for the Hobbit to reach the big screen in the same epic fashion.  It took only nine years of patience, and fans were rewarded … oh were they rewarded.

By now, we all know the story.  A small hobbit of The Shire is drafted into a company of dwarves on a quest to reclaim their ancestral kingdom from the dragon Smaug.  Bilbo Baggins becomes a most unlikely hero, and the fulcrum which would change the direction of the future of the world … though that part of the story is not in the Hobbit, but the Lord of the Rings, so let’s stick to the story at hand.

That, oddly enough, is the chief complaint people had of the movie.  The movie included vast scenes that do not appear in the book.  After working very hard to stay true to the books when making the Lord of the Rings, and making changes for the sake of time only grudgingly, Peter Jackson folds in external information that, while germane to the story, it is history gleaned from the appendixes of the Lord of the Rings and other works containing the collected works and notes or JRR Tolkien.  While it is germane to the story, it is history, and history … well who wants to read that?  For that matter who even cares about it?

Another issue that some viewers had a problem with was that Peter Jackson chose to film The Hobbit in a higher than normal frame rate, forty-eight frames per second.  Many moviegoers saw it in a normal frame rate, twenty-four frames per second as many of the prints sent out to theaters were downsampled.  However, moviegoers who saw it in digital 3D were treated to the movie in all of its high-framerate splendor.  Likewise, viewers who saw it in digital 2D got to see the beauty of the high-framerate as well.

So, on to the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good:  The cinematography is without equal.  Just as with The Lord of the Rings, sweeping vistas, epic scenes and wonderful use of color and texture make this movie visually stunning.  The dialogue, while not exactly according to Tolkien, is excellent.  Once again, PJ delivers.

Dwarves singing.  It is enough to give you chills when the basses and baritones sing of their longing to cross the Misty Mountains to their homeland.

Sylvester McCoy as Radagast.  The actor who once played the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the venerable series Doctor Who lends his unique comedic style to playing Radagast the Brown, one of Gandalf’s peers on the council of the wise.  He plays the part to perfection and is one of the gems of the extended story that Jackson weaves for us.

The Bad: Bilbo is made to seem much more heroic in the movie than he should be.  Twice he has  the chance to abandon the quest and return home.  The first time he would have but for the intervention of the Goblins in the cave.  The second time, after escaping Goblin Town,  he walks up to Thorin and says he will not go home until he has helped Thorin reclaim his.

There are times, particularly when dealing with the subplot of Azog, the White Orc that the story bogs down.  Also in Rivendell when the Dwarves are portrayed as uncultured, boorish and frankly rude guests.

The hyper-realism created by the faster frame-rate is especially noticeable in flyover scenes such as in Goblin Town.  It caused some audience members to feel queasy in the theatrical release, particularly in 3D showings.

The Ugly: Azog.  ‘Nuff said.

All in all, the movie met the expectations of most fans, and we all reveled as Biblo ran after the dwarves shouting “I’m going on an adventure!”  We join him, and we can’t wait for the next leg of our journey.

This review is written upon me buying the 2D Blu-Ray/DVD/Ultra Violet combo pack.  Part 2 of this review will focus on the Blu Rays and special features.