We watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D last night. I wish I can make a more lengthy review of the movie, but I just don't have the energy right now. We just came from an 8-day vacation and I'm still both reeling from the wonderful places we've been to and tired from travelling and changing hotels every two days.
Anyway, back to my review. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the 2nd installment in The Hobbit movie trilogy. This alone is a reason why you should see the movie, because the you won't know the whole story if you won't watch all films in the series. Also, in the fashion of the Lord of the Rings franchise, you can count on The Hobbit movies to be adventure-filled and enthralling as you delve into the fantasy world of dwarves, elves, wizards and even the orcs. And The Desolation of Smaug matched, if not exceeded, its predecessor in terms of exciting action, more interesting characters and superb storytelling. In fact, I think this is a better, more fast-paced movie than the first. But I find both movies to be great and didn't really find any major flaws.
Watching The Hobbit movies (and LOTR movies for that matter), makes me feel like what I felt when I watched Cinderella for the first time: magical. From the stunning visuals, to engaging characters - I love Thorin Oakenshield and fact that he look so kingly and has a commanding presence despite being a few feet short, to the heart-stopping adventures - the seemingly impossible-to-overcome hurdles and dangers that Bilbo and the dwarves have to face, everything was pure magic.
In this movie, you'll get to see Smaug up close, and I thought he was beautifully done and he perfectly depicted what a menacing and terrifying fairytale dragon should be. He has the looks and voice of a dragon and was easily the highlight of this part of the story. And Legolas was here too, along with the other Wood-elves, most notable of which were Tauriel and Thranduil, King of Mirkwood and father of Legolas. I feel their involvement will explain why the wood-elves and the dwarves were not exactly the best of friends in the first LOTR movie.
The Hobbit movies, much like the LOTR trilogy is the kind of movies that stay with you, that you would want to watch over and over again. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a perfect middle-movie in this trilogy: it picks up where the journey of Bilbo, Gandalf and the Erebor dwarves left of with more intense action, it introduces new characters that will play pivotal roles in the story (like Bard and the rest of the Lake Town people), it ties some loose ends that the first movie left behind and it ushers in the next film in the series - the all-important conclusion that will decide where The Hobbit trilogy will rank among the greatest fantasy-adventure franchise in movie history.
Overall, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a highly-recommended movie of the year and watching it is a must especially if you've seen the prequel. We watched it in 3D, but I think it won't make much difference and you won't miss anything if you watch it in 2D, at least.
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