Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) by Skulb — 16 Dec 2013

For anybody who likes Tolkien`s books it is hard to imagine a more successful adaptation to the movies than Desolation of Smaug. Unlike with the LotR, where major character changes were made and major plot elements were twisted, almost everything is spot on in the Hobbit movies. For this reason they are far better than the LotR movies, and the second one better than the first.

It is full of action, great characters, tremendous effects, sound and design, with crisp dialogue, most of which is directly from the book.. Smaug himself is a particular highlight, with perfect voice acting.

If there are any flaws they all stem from Franny Walsch`s peculiar obsession with inserting female characters into the story where none exist. The attempted love story between the entirely made up female elf and one of the dwarves was cringe-worthy and easily the low point of the movie.

I would ignore reviewers on this, as I would with all of Peter Jackson`s movies. From the first release of Bad Taste they have either failed to get his sense of humor, or failed to understand which story it is he is telling in his Middle Earth movies. It has never been just The Hobbit, since this would be an under narrated, simplistic children`s book with loads of silly songs and which would tell none of the story of what is going on in the background, which is all available in notes, appendixes and in Silmarillion.

Even Tolkien regarded the story of the rise of Sauron as the real story, and he tried to rewrite The Hobbit to include this but gave it up. Still "reviewers" to a man whine over the scenes where Gandalf uncovers this as "distracting" and "unnecessary" and even that they have been included "only to stretch the movies into three parts".

I can`t imagine being so ignorant. Go watch the movie and ignore the ignoramuses. You will not regret it.