The Desolation of Smaug
It's taken me a while but here's what it think without spoilers. I love Martin Freeman. He is a wonderful Bilbo and his facial expressions are masterful. I had been looking forward to Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown and he did not disappoint me. The dragon is awesome. The look, the voice, love everything about him. I adore this film's opening ( Read more... )
Before LOTR came out in the movies, I went looking for spoilers because I wanted to dampen down any expectations I might have. I did not want to go in to see it too hyped up, and then walk out all sad and feeling cheated. (Blame Ralph Bakshi for that.) The result was that when the parts I ended up hating came along, I was ready to find a way past them. And when I later discovered fanfic, I realized that's what movie-verse is: an AU fanfic.
So I did the same things for TH. I looked for spoilers and found things that might bug me, and was ready to let them slide off my back. AUJ, as a result was a very pleasant experience.
With DOS, there were a lot more things I hated to see, and a few places where I actually laughed when it wasn't supposed to be funny. I was expecting Tauriel to be a Mary Sue, and so was somewhat pleased that she wasn't as bad as I had feared she'd be. Lots of plot lines and extraneous material I did not care for. BUT--
I was still able to enjoy it over all; I knew I'd both love AND hate it, and so it proved to be true. I don't quite love it as much as AUJ, and definitely don't love it as much as LOTR. BUT: it's got a long way to go before I would hate it as much as I do Bakshi's LOTR!
As an adaptation, it's meh. As a movie, it was fun. As a fanfic, it's a runaway AU!
The thing is though, it's going to be a lot harder with this one for fanfic writers to blend the book and movie than it is for fanfic writers to blend LotR (the book) and LOTR (the movie).
Reply
I went in expecting to love it because I did love AUJ. It differed from the book, but it was still about Bilbo, Thorin, and the company. The minute this story became a chick flick, I was taken out of it. Also, I was looking forward to the Thrush and I thought Beorn got cheated out of his best moments. I liked Bard's family. I felt that they were a nice, harmless invention and I didn't mind at all that Bard was given a better back story. In the long run, his family doesn't change the story. It just fleshed it out.
I love a good AU fan fiction but I wanted the movie to run closer to the book, not exact, just close. AUJ veered off a bit but it was still about Thorin and Bilbo and reclaiming the treasure. For me, this one left that focus and went somewhere I didn't want to go; love shack baby. Lol
Reply
Leave a comment