The story for this movie, is basically the same as the first. They are trying to get to the mountain to claim the arkenstone, which would allow the leader of their company to claim his place as King under the Mountain. Or basically King of where the dragon is....not the best thought out plan. The big difference, is this one has them finally getting to the mountain. And then going, on crap there is a dragon here. Why did we not plan for this occurrence? If you read the book, you know what happens after that. If not, well the ending to this film will either piss you off or make you smile. Much like the original, there is no finality in the ending. And it sets up the third movie in a way that makes you wish you could dive right into it. Or at least see how that final scene plays out.
On the way to the mountain though, the Company meets with many mishaps and disasters. If you read the Hobbit, you know it is a book about Bilbo pretty much saving everybody over and over again for most of the story. Honestly the Dwarfs seem to just get in the way, or screw everything up. The movies have gone out of there way to lesson that effect, and make them all seem meaningful. In the first one, they did somewhat accomplish this, but in this film they go in a different direction. They included Legolas played by more of a cartoon then Orlando Bloom. Hobbits in trouble, people are dying? Legolas shows up and kills the opposition. There is a line about there being 40 orcs between them and their goal. Legolas seems scared, and I am thinking, haven't I seen him kill more then that in this film already? Bilbo still comes out looking like competent, but Legolas was a forced inclusion that backfired for me in a big way. Also as he is younger in these films then Lord of the Rings, they used CGI to alter his appearance. You got a fake looking person, who was more creepy then anything else. Which leads me to my next point....
CGI in this film was for the most part, better used then in the first. The first film had multiple scenes where everybody became CGI for a few seconds. They were accompanied by over the top movement that just ripped me from the immersion and ruined a few of the bigger scenes for me. In this movie they seemed to have toned those moments down. There were times you could tell when cgi was being used, but overall it was much more subtle. Also CGI Legolas made me worried about how Smaug would look, but it was a meaningless fear. The dragon looked great, and was a high point of the movie. He had this great effect where his belly would light up before he shot fire. You could see it travel up his chest and through his neck before he fired it off. Great work all around on him, and Benedict Cumberbatch was a great addition as his voice. It is sad to say, these movies will never look as good as the LoTR ones given they are coming out years after. But this one was a step in the right direction.
Additions to the movie, or stuff that was not in the books. It is a common thing to do in these cases, but the Hobbit does seem to go further then most. I guess when you are trying to fill the same amount of screen time as the 3 LoTR novels, with a single book shorter then any of those, it has to happen. They were smart by adding in stuff from other Tolkien works, but as with using Legolas, there are always some missed. One of my favorite additions was the female wood elf Tauriel played by Evangeline Lilly. She was a character created for the movie, and her story really added to it in a positive way. Legolas, who was not in the books was the opposite for me. He felt forced, and was used multiple times as a out for a problem that they had created usually by also going off the text. They had a showdown at the end that was laughable, and was meaningless. Without ruining anything, just try not to take it to serious. They also added a lot more to the Bard character, I think that will end up a positive when we get to the next film though.
So for a fun kids book, we get a pretty aggressive and somewhat violent film. Not a bad one, but not a great one. I still pull out my LoTR blue ray set every few months, I will probably never watch this one again. That says a lot right there. While some of the changes worked well, others did not. And it felt like at times they were simply padding the running time. Still the movie has some strong moments, and while it downplays its own main character, it raises others up higher then the book ever did. If you enjoyed the first, you will enjoy this one. If the first one bothered you, well this one won't fix that. It shares many of the same issues, though it does try to address at least one of them.
And a lego version, because I wish I could do that.
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