"Desolation of Smaug" left me feeling pretty desolate

[neo_tanuki]

Last night I rented "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." After my disappointment with "An Unexpected Journey," I wasn't expecting too much but thought I'd give the film a go anyway

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[neo_tanuki]

Oh, I did forget one thing-Steven Fry, who plays the Master of Laketown, is the narrator of one of Jana's favorite children's shows, "Pocoyo." Every time he started talking, Minette and I started talking back to the screen: "Hey, where's Pocoyo? Where's Pato? Where's Sleepy Bird?" Just as well we were watching this as home, as this would have gotten us dirty looks in a theater. :)

[whswhs]

Oddly enough, the scene with Bilbo and Smaug was the film's biggest disappointment for me. The one thing I liked in "An Unexpected Journey" was Bilbo's dialogue with Gollum; had this scene been handled with similar restraint, and similar respect for Bilbo's nerve and cleverness, it could have been a even brighter spot. Instead we had Bilbo acting nervous and intimidated, stumbling around, and looking almost clownish, and Smaug barely seeming to be a threat-Jackson seemed able to envision his being a threat through physical power, but not through cunning.

And my already strained disbelief suspension totally broke at Thorin surfing on a river of gold, and not even having his beard catch fire. That whole battle scene had too much of a Disney feel for me.

I don't remember who it was who said to me that Legolas had obviously lost a lot of weight from decades of grieving for Tauriel between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. . . .

[neo_tanuki]

I asked Minette the same question about Thorin during the "surfing" scene. Shouldn't that wheelbarrow have been boiling hot?

[whswhs]

Probably not so cool as that. I think it would be like sitting in the proverbial frying pan. And then there's the radiant heat to consider.