Having not posted a movie related blog for a while and viewing part one of the epic three part trilogy of the Hobbit last time I was in Brisbane, I felt it only appropriate to see part two this time round… For those of you who might have missed it, this movie goes on to tell the story of Bilbo and company on their way to reclaim the dwarves lost kingdom of Erebor. Between these two viewings I have actually managed to reread the book on kindle, though it did seem to take me a very long time for such a short book!

This is actually a point worth mentioning. It is a relatively short, 200 odd page book which is a children’s story. Now I haven’t read the Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien’s other book from which this film takes some of its plot but I’m pretty sure there was a good reason why he wrote two separate books… I appreciate Peter Jackson wants to tell the story, but I actually found the darker, more historical plotlines at somewhat of a disconnect from the rest of the film and found the continual presence of Orcs annoying and repetitive. The beginnings of the scenes with the dragon started well but then descended into ridiculousness for plot that didn’t even occur in the book. After all that went before, to leave the dragon so late in the movie just felt like an anticlimax. Perhaps though similar to Smaug’s tale in the book. In the book I remember enjoying Bilbo’s riddles with Smaug. The movie did not do this part justice for me.

But don’t get me wrong, these points aside I actually really enjoyed the first hour and a half of the movie. I loved the spider scene and though changed from the book, I also loved the barrels and being able to get to know the dwarves a little better. The Scottish accent on a few of them wasn’t too bad to hear either ;-).

*spoiler alert*

Struggling with the first hour of the last movie and the last part of this movie, why do they need to be so long? Were three really necessary? I can only imagine that the first half of the next movie is going to be taken up with dragon slaying – a plot I had to read twice in the book as it was over so fast… Lets not drag it out too much in the next movie please…