Hideous goblins fight nice, handsome elves

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2014)

Throughout what seemed like an endless sequence of attacks by giant spiders, chases by hideous goblins riding monstrous wolves, Jason-Bourne-type choreographed fights between nice, handsome elves and hideous goblins, and hideous goblins being dispatched in a variety of imaginative ways by nice, handsome elves, I was wondering, how will Jackson handle the Thrush at the secret entrance to the Lonely Mountain? In the end we saw about 5 seconds of the Thrush (maybe real animals are more difficult to render than imaginary monsters) and the chance to offer the audience something enchanted, understated and mysterious was missed.
Maybe I'm being too demanding - if you want magic, read the book, just don't expect it from modern films.
In truth, the film isn't bad and heaven knows we're lucky to have in Mr Jackson a writer/director/producer who is thoroughly acquainted with the source material. The magical kingdoms are breathtakingly imagined; Smaug is magnificently malevolent; Lake-town is grittily realistic. The Necromancer is suitably thrilling and adds welcome detail to events only vaguely alluded to in the book.
Despite some liberties with the plot to introduce unnecessary romantic interludes and to ensure consistency with the earlier filmed versions of Lord of the Rings, the actors are largely sympathetic and the film more exciting and better-paced than the first instalment.
Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a children's fairy tale, so I think he would be surprised to see his gentle story transformed into a sequence of CGI battles. Somehow though, I don't think that he'll be spinning in his grave. He probably will, however, be wearing a rueful smile...