 December 20, 2013 - 9:18pm | Arrgg, laugh at me if you will. I did not see this coming. My kids love the first of the Hobbit movies and I promised them we'd go to the second at Christmas time (same as we did last Christmas). So I just happenned to be flush with a generours tip and the kids had a small victory that was worth celebrating and work let me go early at 2pm. So when I picked them up at the after school program I decided to just go ahead and take them to the movies. The older of the two is in a wheel chair from her recent surgery and we made the trek on the very un-wheelchair-friendly Boston subway. At the movie theater I discovered that the only convient showings werre for the 3d Imax theater. Not the cheaper regular theater. This meant I had a choice of go home or pay the $50.00 for one adult and two children to get in. Popcorn, nachoes and bottle water only ran me $33. I get that an Imax showing of a movie should cost more but the sticker shock of $50 to take your kids to the movies was staggering. Well, at least that tip covered this, mostly. I can safely say that despite how fast the story moved it suffered from an acute lack of editing and that the departures from the original story became quite divergent. My tip to you: wait and get the DVD. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 21, 2013 - 7:20am | I was astonished at how far off the trail the story went, given Jackson's almost religious adherence to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still enjoyable, but I would agree not worth $88. |
December 21, 2013 - 8:13am | Jackson's trying to tie a lot of things together from all of Tolkien's books. And raise the stakes for this story- that it is not just a "side quest" as Tolkien portrayed it. He's also setting up the reason that Legolas does not like dwarves in LotRs so that the friendship with Gimli is so much more astonishing. However the moment in Return of the King when Gimli says he never thought he'd die next to an elf and Legolas asked, How about next to a friend- pretty much nailed the unlikely friendship storyline in my book. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 21, 2013 - 8:15am | And I kept expecting Bard to say, Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father prepare to die. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 21, 2013 - 9:14am | Of course there has to be a lot of filler and deviation. He's taking a children's book that is smaller than any one of the three books from the LotR trilogy and stretching it into 3 movies. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 December 21, 2013 - 9:26am | I don't have any interest in it. I'm not a fan of the LotR films either. Just not my cup of tea. I quite like The Hobbit as a book, although it does seems to be borrowing a bit too much from Beowulf in places. |
December 21, 2013 - 1:29pm | I don't have any interest in it. I'm not a fan of the LotR films either. Just not my cup of tea. I quite like The Hobbit as a book, although it does seems to be borrowing a bit too much from Beowulf in places.
Well tolkien was an English professor. The Hobbit as a book is strictly a character study hence the role of the dwarves being bumbling window dressing till the battle at the end when tge suddenly become fighters because the author needed them to be. With the movie Jackson decided that the scope of the Hobbit was too narrow for a major motion picture and started including bits and pieces from The Silmarrillion and Lost tales to expand the scope. That in turn lead to other decisions and completely new characters and why not tie up loose ends that might not have been tied as tightly as they could have been in the LotRs. So i think that what we're getting is an ediface of decisions that misses the simplicity of the original story with out really improving anything that those decisions were made to "fix". Well intentioned though he was i feel he's missed on this. Also what was great about the first movie was the face acting by the actor playing Bilbo and he gets little screen time in this so it falls flat. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 21, 2013 - 1:46pm | I saw one of the LotR films in the cinema. I fell asleep. They're a bit too corny for me and CGI has no hold on my sense of disbelief. Don't get me wrong - I quite like the books, but the films just don't hold my interest for a variety of reasons. |
 December 21, 2013 - 8:46pm | Saw the Desolation and while I could deal with the added bits and the crazy bits just was very dissappointed that he couldn't end this movie. Really ust rent the DVD the day before you go to see the third one so you won't have to try and remember everything after a year. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 22, 2013 - 8:58am | Sorry to hear that. I wasn't able to make time to see the first movie in the theatre and decided to save my money to buy the Blu-ray set when it comes out in a few more years. I decided the series would be a fiasco when they stretched it from two movies to three. I can appreciate incorporating side stories from the Silmarrillion to try and connect the tale with LotR, but there is no excuse for altering source material for the Hobbit. |
 December 23, 2013 - 2:22am | I agree. I didn't mind the additions from other material, but Bilbo is supposed to be the main character. His role as protagonist was usurped by the damn dwarves. It's not supposed to be Thorin show. The scene with Smaug with just too cartoonish. Has Jackson never been a gamer? The dragon had them a dozen times. I heard someone say it should have been called The Humiliation of Smaug. |
 December 24, 2013 - 11:37am | I enjoyed both Hobbits so far released. But I left the Desolation of Smaug thinking... there were a lot of Dex Checks my characters would have failed and died from in that movie. lol I suppose I never think about it... and they displayed it I think... but dwarves should be really great climbers. ----------------------------------------------- |
December 25, 2013 - 5:30pm | @ Abub: Dex checks? If the system was MERP, the ability check would have been a percentile roll and perhaps you would have faired better but then the fumble table would have eventually caught up with you. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 26, 2013 - 7:40am | Just saying' in any system (particularly d20) I would have failed my checks and fallen to my death many times over if I was a dwarf in that movie. ----------------------------------------------- |
December 27, 2013 - 5:55am | Just saying' in any system (particularly d20) I would have failed my checks and fallen to my death many times over if I was a dwarf in that movie.
Luckily, referee Jackson pre-determined or fidged the ability checks. Though its only to save Thorin and a few others for a heroic death later on. And I agree d20 would have miserably killed him however with a little bit of min/maxing a MERP character might have survived. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 27, 2013 - 8:19am | My magic using Gnome developed a spell called "Bounce" to save their fellow party members from falling deaths (by making them bouncy ball like) the problem was stoping them from bouncing higher and higher before the spell ended... "bounce" applied to areas of ground was very useful against guys mounted on beasties charging at you or hordes of running badies. Seems no one runs on trampoline like ground well. I miss playing the Gnome Neek that goes "Eeeeeekkkkk!" (cast spell or use Wand of Wonder and run away!). My girl couldn't fight but boy could she unleash magical havok, usually with "oops, run!" or "sorry about that, run!" or "hey the spell worked! oh um uh working to good! Run!"  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 December 30, 2013 - 8:07pm | Saw Desolation with my brother while visiting for the holidays. I liked the film. I know it is not exact to the novel, but I think they did good. -iggy |
December 31, 2013 - 11:23am | I like the film as well. As a movie it was good. There was a lot of deviation (unnecessary in my opinion) from the book but Jackson never said it he was going to stick with it. If you hadn't read the book, which I suspect most of the movie goers haven't, it was fine. The funny thing was, a lot of the deviations were unnecessary and could have been included. Some, like the whole rafting scene in the barrels were modified to up the action level and the inclusion of the female elf was to have a leading female role in the movie, something that was completely lacking in the book. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 2, 2014 - 1:34pm | I enjoyed it, and can see why some folks don't though... I just take it for what it is a fantasy adventure film based on some very good books but not a copy of said books. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 January 18, 2014 - 10:03pm | I saw the movie with my 17 year old. We saw the first one and will see the third one together in the theater also. The movie was enjoyable and should be taken as is IMO. As a lot of you have said, the deviations were really unneccesary, but they were OK. What I find frustrating is that there really was not much left in the story from the book for it to stop where it did. If they had not had the deviations they could have ended it with 2 movies. |
January 19, 2014 - 12:02pm | I saw the movie with my 17 year old. We saw the first one and will see the third one together in the theater also. The movie was enjoyable and should be taken as is IMO. As a lot of you have said, the deviations were really unneccesary, but they were OK. What I find frustrating is that there really was not much left in the story from the book for it to stop where it did. If they had not had the deviations they could have ended it with 2 movies.
Not sure which book its in but one of Tolkiens other books had Gandolf, supported by other of the council of the wise clearing the ruined fortress in the south of mirkwood. This will feature in the third and since I believe gandolf actually mentions in the book the Hobbit that he found Thorin's father half mad and half dead in the prison of Dol Guldor that event will occur in the third movie though it will be out of chronological order. The Battle of Five armies is going to get a major treatment despite Tolkien glossing over it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 20, 2014 - 4:57am | yes it will... cause big LOTR battles are cool. lol ----------------------------------------------- |
January 20, 2014 - 5:04am | yes it will... cause big LOTR battles are cool. lol And were going to get more of Orlando Blume looking bad arsed and heroic because we know his face is good for any movie its in like cash in the box office. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
