The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

I love the book. and I am not real convince of the opportunity of its adaptation. this film confirms that for me. because "The Hobbit" is admirable for special effects, for the effort of actors, for specular images but it remains expression of the ambition of director to give another ~Lord of Ring", ignoring, in too many occasions, the difference between the serie and the book. sure, all is great, seductive and fascinating. but Smaug of Tolkien is more alive than the perfect monster of Peter Jackson. and, after the end of film, admiration and respect of viewer has as object the hard work more than artistic virtues.

We are back at it folks, if you saw my jurassic park / batman review you know this wont be pretty. The ring series was amazing, so cool, so real, i loved that they used live actors as much as possible. Yet mr Jackson must of felt some pressure from the higher ups because i think sharknado has better graphics. I honestly lost interest in this series when i saw how bad the graphics were, this series was waaaaaaaay too rushed. The graphics on game of thrones looks 10x better. very cheesy and very disappointing.

But you've got to go through the woods to get to the mountain to slay the dragon, and what a venture it is. I wouldn't want to face the giant, blood thirsty spiders who will argue with each other after bundling you up before they go for your blood. I wouldn't want to face the various creatures who also dread the dragon but refuse to help the dwarfs (lead by the handsome and fearless Thorin) and the ring wearing invisible Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Anxious to tell wizard Gandolf about the ring, Bilbo simply says he's found his courage. He'll find a lot more than that before this adventure is over. Even worse than these human looking creatures with dark souls filled with prejudices, there's also the demonic looking creatures who serve the dragon, a heroic female (Cate Blanchette) and a cursed creature whose form keeps changing against his will. It was established in the first film the judgmental prejudices between dwarfs and hobbits, bonded together because of a common cause, a metaphor if ever I saw one for a reason that humans must band together to fight the evil human dragons who threaten to destroy peace and freedom today.There literally is a sequence where Bilbo and the dwarfs go over some dangerous falls in barrels, nifty action battle sequences, and of course, middle earth enemy #1, the dragon Smaug. I've had mixed feelings about these often loud fantasy franchises, whether too set in the world of the dark arts or so over the top with computer generated special effects. So I keep these in perspective and am overjoyed when like this, they are actually highly above average. It's difficult to realize where live action filming begins and computer generated effects begin, but as long as there's characters you genuinely root for, then I am in favor of them. Most of the rest, not so much.

Manny's Movie Musings: Part 2 of "The Hobbit" trilogy leaves part 1 in the dust with faster pacing, more interesting characters (Legolas, Galadriel, and Tauriel — played by Evangeline Lilly), more character development, better action sequences, and what we've all been waiting for…the dragon Smaug in all his evil and crazed glory. Whereas "An Unexpected Journey" was like an old man wheezing his last breaths, "The Desolation Of Smaug" felt like a youngster getting his second wind during a race. My most memorable, movie moment of "The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug" is the scene when Smaug is awakened and his gigantic, fearsome body is fully revealed. This movie suffers from the usual shenanigan found in the previous four Tolkien movie adaptations: characters who can kill dozens of enemies per battle and never seem to get harmed; they fall from great heights, get hit very hard by giant creatures, and they dust themselves off and keep fighting as if they were made of steel. Yes, these movies are fantasy, but there is a limit of how much b.s. people are willing to put up with.Mannysmemorablemoviemoments