When Dec. 14 rolled around, theaters opened up their doors for the next installment of the story. Our friends with axes continued their journey to take back the Lonely Mountain. With Martin Freeman starring as Bilbo Baggins, “The Hobbit Part 2: The Desolation of Smaug” gained another box office crown after premiering.
The movie picks up with the motley crew of dwarves and their burglar as they continue on the way to reach their lost kingdom and reclaim it before time runs out.
To catch you up, the first part of “The Hobbit” covered the story of Bilbo Baggins. Baggins was enlisted into the group of dwarves that were set off on an important quest to take back their homeland from the dragon Smaug. What would a dragon want with the dwarves, you ask? Their piles of gold of course, as it’s a dragon’s favorite possession in the world. Part two of “The Hobbit” picks up where that movie left off, in the middle of their quest.
Director Peter Jackson took many liberties when it came to filming this series. Although “The Hobbit” is the shortest book of the entire “Lord of the Rings” series, this didn’t stop Jackson from breaking the book into a three-part movie. Though the three-part plan is understandable due to the in-depth material, I don’t think it’s acceptable because it’ll make the series too lengthy.
To fill in the parts and to bring in a wider audience, Jackson tied in pre-Lord of the Rings sub plots, giving viewers a look at technically what is next in the series. His tactic manages to help newer viewers understand and get into the series, as well as tie in some jokes for those who already know the previous Tolkien movies. Although these additions were made with the intentions of clarifying, it created more confusion at times. The only downside to making the series “bigger” are some of the completely curveball add-ins to the series, like a completely new character or actions scenes, strictly for the point of forced excitement.
Suffering with what I call “movie anxiety,” I had prepared myself for sadness in the movie, expecting there to be many losses and upsets over good characters. But luckily, or unluckily (I’m still not sure), I was able to put my tissue box down and start breathing normally when no major deaths actually happened. The movie took a noticeably brighter turn and left some of us wondering if we missed something. While it is good news to get to see some of my favorite characters live out the end of the movie, the die-hard “Lord of the Rings” fan in me is upset that the movie has deviated so far from the path that the book took.
As always, the cinematography, the locations and the graphics of the series are incredible. It’s amazing to see how far technology has come with movies, and this one in particular is a prime example of it. The reveal of Smaug, the dragon, was the most anticipated moment of the series. Now we can nit-pick, we can say “Oh, well Smaug is supposed to be more red-colored,” or “I don’t remember them even fighting the dragon like this in the book,” but the scale and the detail of the dragon is a sight to see itself. It’s obvious the time and money spent making the scenes paid off, but it’s something you have to see for yourself if you want to be impressed.
It is my personal belief that “The Hobbit” lived up to expectations and was a thrilling and captivating movie, despite the differences and changes. Of course we all wish that our favorite novels can have exact movie replications, but in the end, it’s the masses of people and new viewers (who bring in more money) that the movie producers would rather please. If you’re a fan of the famous Tolkien series, or just thinking about getting into it, I would recommend “The Hobbit” as a fine place to start. Even with all the changes, I know I’m looking forward to the third and final installment of the series, bringing my excitement over “The Lord of the Rings” series there and back again.