So here is the big, fat, new trailer for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and it looks, expectedly, pretty darn cool. I’m about as far in the tank for Tolkien and Peter Jackson as you can get so I will see this movie and I will love this movie.
That said, I understand the letdown some people experienced with the first “Hobbit” movie expecting something equal to or greater than “The Lord of the Rings” films.
The problem lies in the source material as Tolkien wrote “The Hobbit” as a children’s book and was essentially kicking the tires on Middle Earth before blowing the doors off with the “LOTR” trilogy.
“The Hobbit” is still an enjoyable book, it’s just slighter and lighter by design. This is partly why I’m a little sad the original plan for Guillermo del Toro to direct “The Hobbit” with Jackson producing fell through. Jackson would have been there to ensure continuity, but del Toro could have given these movies a unique look and feel that would have given “The Hobbit” a little more breathing room from the “LOTR” expectations.
The other beef people had with the first “Hobbit” movie was Jackson’s doubling of the frame-rate that produced an unprecedented level of picture clarity. The problem was that the picture was so clear it made a movie set look less like Middle Earth and more like, well, a movie set. But first goes are always a little clunky so I’m excited to see if the kinks have been ironed out or if we’re just not ready for hyper-clarity.
As for the trailer itself, we get Orlando Bloom back and a tease of Benedict Cumberbatch rocking the voice of Smaug the dragon. Plus more Radagast the bird-shit wizard! We need to get that guy locked up for a spinoff stat!
