The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

I'm bad at reviewing my favorite things.  I can't stop myself from being so biased and gushy and I tend to praise whatever it is to the high heavens.  In this case, to the Valar.  When it is anything about Lord of the Rings - books, films, actors - anything that resembles an unbiased opinion goes out the window.  The only way that I would "hate" this is when they put Channing Tatum anywhere near it.  Hopefully, that will never EVER happen.

Hanging off my purse right now

So I watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  It was incredible.  As expected.  I liked it more than the first one.  It was long but unlike Unexpected Journey, it didn't feel long.  Thorin was more likeable in this and I absolutely love that, even in a very short scene, they explored the relationship between Thorin and Fili. We see this group of heroes and it is easy to forget that they are their own person.  We see Thorin's struggles but how about the others?

I was skeptical when it came to the addition of Tauriel.  I believe that I was the only one who saw Legolas' relevance to the scheme of things.  Whatever, guys.  I can even put Aragorn in the picture had Peter Jackson employed my services.  But Tauriel was completely new and I didn't know how to feel about her.  Weeeeell, her scenes were pretty bad ass and refreshing but looking closely, she's there for eye candy and nothing more.  I still liked her though.  Her interaction with Kili was cute.  Kili is cute. (Aidan Turner can pass for a younger Aragorn.  Aragorn, not Viggo.)  Tauriel gave Legolas a personality.  And gave fan fiction fodder to hardcore Aragon/Legolas shippers.  Legolas - Orlando Bloom, really - is the Most Improved.  Still awesome fight sequences and his Elvish sounded more natural.  However.  Is it just me or are the fight sequences a tad bit slower?  Like it's overly choreographed (of course it is lol) and either they were moving slower or the footage was slowed down.  Idek.

Thranduil was a HIGH point.  But I wanted MORE!  He was there for a good 5-10 minutes... not nearly enough to bask in his amazingness.  When he sassy'd his son... it was like Tumblr fan art coming to life!  Lee Pace is Thranduil.  Can you imagine him hosting his own TV show?  XD

Luke Evans is some kind of awesome.  I don't know what it is about him.  It's the Welsh accent, I think.  Bard was great.  I never cared much for him in the book but I was all over him in the movie.  I cannot wait for the 3rd movie!  But then again... ;___;

Beorn though.  WTF?  The dwarves' entrance to his hall is one of the highlight of the book.  Especially Bombur... at your service.  They decided to make him scary and bitter and not the Beorn in the books at all.  At least they let the ponies go back home.  It's the little things.

Honestly, I felt that Desolation was one huge Easter egg for the fans of LOTR films.  If you love those movies as much as I do, you'd know what I mean.  Athelas?  It's a weed.  And the national plant of Middle-Earth.  

The day before I watched Desolation, this arrived:


If it's on DVD, I probably own it.  I was sooooo close to buying a blu-ray player just so I can enjoy the extended version and appendices of The Hobbit but it turned out, I didn't need to.  I wanted my hands on it as soon as possible so I skipped hunting for it in stores and bought it off Amazon.  I literally paid for it on the 11th and got it the very next day.  Good thing I didn't splurge for next day shipping.  This DVD set will occupy me for the next week or so.

And if that wasn't enough Hobbit-ness for you, I got this today:

I have the first two for Unexpected Journey.  Man, that one even has a spoiler for the Legolas-Gloin interaction in Desolation.  And it did happen!  So many possibilities for the 3rd movie.  XD

And oh yeah... can you guess which one I picked?