Almost perfect....

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2013)

The Hobbit was the first book I ever read, and I've read it every year since for the past 20 years. I think that has put me at a disadvantage with the movie. When I saw the LOTR trilogy I had not yet read the books, and I loved every minute of it. With the Desolation of Smaug, I found myself nitpicking the changes too much to fully enjoy what I was watching. I had expectations for the movie and that was where I made my mistake. I should've walked into the theater with my mind clear and just enjoyed the artistic visions of the great Peter Jackson. I do love his work and he's a great director who surrounds himself with great actors. The good parts of this film are many and I will name just a few. I love the dragon. Great visual on him and I think Jackson was spot on with his character and Benedict was phenomenal with his voice role of both him and Sauron. I enjoyed the battle between Gandalf and Sauron too and with adding that into the Hobbit (although it isn't in the book) I felt it really adds extra depth to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies. I actually love that they brought Legolas back because it only makes sense that he'd be in the woodland realm at the time. The barrel scene was an added fight sequence but they pulled it off well. When they finally enter the mountain, and Balin is teary eyed and overcome with emotion, I must admit I was too. I love Balin's character and I think that was a really nice moment. Now for the not so swell parts. In the first Hobbit movie, I absolutely loved how Jackson gave all the dwarfs their own special personalities. You got to know them on a personal basis and grow to love them as a whole, and therefore felt tied to their quest. That was missing in the second film. The dwarfs said very little, and most said nothing at all. Lets not forget that the story is about them and their journey, along with Bilbo. I thought that with being a trilogy, each movie being 2-1/2 hours in length they would have time to delve deeply into each scene of the book and really bring out the depths of the Tolkien world. Then you get to scenes like Beorn's and are sadly disappointed. I just knew Jackson would play out the scene in which Gandalf is slowly bringing in the dwarfs two at a time to Beorn, while telling the epic tale thus far to try to distract him from the number of dwarfs he would have to house, with lots of humor and be one of the best scenes of the movie, but the introduction was rather rushed and their visit even more rushed. The time spent in Mirkwood was rushed, the scene in which Bilbo saves the dwarfs from spiders was rushed, the amount of time spent in the woodland realm was rushed, and I kept hoping it would be rushed for some greater purpose in the long run. That leads me to the greatest problem of all. The character of Tauriel. I didn't care one way or the other that they made up a character for the movie. I was willing to give Jackson the benefit of the doubt. Then Tauriel is introduced and I was somewhat disappointed. She starts out seeming to have feelings for Legolas. Then she starts flirting it up with Kili minutes later. The whole drawn out scene in which she's talking with Kili about runes and his mother and all these tales, panning to a jealous Legolas watching in the shadows was completely pointless. This is what all those epic scenes were cut short for? I truly felt the scenes that mattered were cut too short, while the scenes that were not constructive to the story or just completely made up had way too much time. Tauriel got more lines than all of the dwarfs put together! From there it stays pretty much along those same lines. Rather then the day being saved by the epic and cunning moves of the great Bilbo Baggins from the woodland realm, he's a minor hero and Tauriel takes center stage in saving the day from a band of orcs. And just when you think they are now in Lake Town and we can get back to the real story, the plot gets totally changed around again, and just when you think all hope is lost for Kili, Tauriel jumps back into the scene and saves the day again. Much to the dismay of the jilted Legolas of course. I would never knock a good love story, but if I wanted to see the drama of a love triangle I would not choose to see it in The Hobbit. Had it not been for that, this could easily have been my favorite movie, as the first one started out to be. Still, it's worth watching and for anyone who hasn't read the books, I imagine this would be a great film. Maybe by next year when the third comes out I will be more adjusted to the twists and turns and can enjoy the finale. I think Jackson just wants to provide those familiar with the books the element of surprise, but that's treading on dangerous grounds for the die-hard Tolkien fan.