The Hobbit Trilogy

RATING: C

It seems pretty difficult to comprehend just how a 300-page single book can be split into three movies. Well, it happened. What's perhaps even more difficult to comprehend is how such a thing can be done without butchering the story to the point that it is unrecognizable. I had hope, at first, that part of the reason for the three movies was to throw in some more Middle-Earth background. And while that may have been slightly true for the first movie, at least, that was overall not the case. 

The Hobbit's storyline is simple like the Lord of the Rings, only it does not have the numerous characters and plot threads that the other has (these movies changed that, though). This one essentially centers around Bilbo Baggins going on an adventure with twelve dwarves plus Gandalf, who are trying to reclaim their mountain from a dragon named Smaug. There's some various other misadventures along the way, plus a climactic battle *not* involving the dragon, but overall, it's actually pretty simple. 

The first film, An Unexpected Journey, centers on the early part of the journey. Things are added more than changed in this film. Azog, the orc-lord who was merely mentioned in the book, is given the role of main antagonist throughout the three movies. (Well, besides the dragon Smaug). Also, there is the beginning of a storyline revolving around the "Necromancer." This comes to a predictable climax in the third movie, but he is disposed of so easily by Galadriel that it would make a non-reader wonder why they have so much trouble with Sauron in the Lord of the Rings. 

The second film, the Desolation of Smaug, amps up the ridiculousness (more on that later) as well as adding more new plot threads. The elves are much more heavily involved here, as we have the return of Legolas, plus a weird "romance" of sorts between the dwarf Kili and the new elf Tauriel, as well as a couple of crazy action escape sequences that lay waste to the "suspension of disbelief" device. 

The third film, the Battle of the Five Armies, spends about two and a half hours on the last 50-60 pages or so of the book--and at least an hour of it is the battle between the "five armies" (which are easily confused). As far as stupid entertainment goes, this film is probably the definition of it. 

Yes, there is a lot of ridiculousness here--and the primary cause of that is the "video game action sequences" and the just flat out illogical things (even in fantasy and "suspension-of-disbelief" world). Only one of these really shows up in the first film, and even that one would make the Fast and the Furious jealous of how these guys laid the laws of physics to complete waste. There's more of those in the next two films, as we watch a bouncing barrel with a dwarf in it during an extended water-park-ride-video-game-action-sequence, Legolas jumping up falling rocks in a scene that wouldn't be believable even in the Matrix (only in an animated film like Kung Fu Panda is such a thing acceptable), and the world's greatest dragon escape system (also immune to fire, apparently). As mentioned, it becomes hard to even suspend disbelief--especially during a scene where an orc falls *under* ice and should be dead (and appears to be) and then suddenly resurrects himself and jumps out of the closed ice river. 

Fans of the book will be outraged by how the films lay waste to it. Everyone else will be outraged by the video game action sequences. Despite that, the films are still entertaining--even if they're simply "dumb entertainment." Some of the action sequences are actually good without being entirely ridiculous (namely the climax of the first film). If you're a non-reader and were a fan of the LOTR film trilogy, then you'll probably want to check these out. I can't exactly recommend it to those who have read the book, because they will experience nothing but disappointment. Ultimately, the best way that one can look upon this trilogy is that it's so bad it's fun. And that's better than other films that are just terrible without redemption.