This morning, a new trailer for the next installment of “The Hobbit” was released online.
All in all, this new vision of a beloved epic fantasy tale was much more enjoyable to wake to this morning than reality in DC.
This Tolkein fan was quite dismayed, however, to see so much screentime in “The Desolation of Smaug” given to Legolas and a female elf, neither of whom figured at _all_ in the book, along with more of the white orc and wrangling with goblins.
I’m not sure what to make of “Tauriel,” played by Evangeline Lilly, other than to see a pretty naked attempt by the filmmakers to add a female character to a story almost entirely devoid of them. them. At least Peter Jackson has “confirmed there will be no romantic connection to Legolas,” per IMDB.
It looks like a lot more fighting has been introduced in the storyline, just as with the first installment. I’m not pleased.
While hack/slash may appeal to the teens that swell the coffers of movie ticket sales, I can’t help but feel that there was more than enough mystery and magic in the journey from the edge of the Misty Mountains to Beorn, Mirkwood, the wood elves kingdom, barrels out of bondage and the gateway of Erebor.
The scenes of orcs marching (in Mordor?) and the eye of Sauron are a on the whole less jarring, in terms of Jackson, Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens weaving in details from the appendices and making this much more of a prequel to the Lord of the Rings, though the effect is to dramatically change the scope and feeling of the magical tale that Tolkein originally wove for his children.
What do you think?
digiphile 
Reblogged this on leeturkatkins and commented:
“Good Morning!” said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
“All of them at once,” said Bilbo. “And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.
One of the things I wonder about these upcoming movies is whether they’ll try to have a more coherent take on the nature of greed and entitlement than the original does. I agree with you, though. I wasn’t a big fan of the first Hobbit movie, and I’m not sure that adding a huge amount of new content has been or will be valuable…