I am a big fan of LOTR and was looking forward to the Hobbit movies and was really excited about there being three. I didn't care if the story went askew and was fleshed out as the basic story was there. Now having just written a review of the awful UNDER THE DOME, I should point out that I am very critical of a story being dragged out just to fill a time line. However when it is done well the effort is justified. So when the first one came out and it was a wee bit of a disappointment, I was hoping it would get better in the second one and then be truly magnificent by the end of the third. The middle one is always the most difficult and so this proved. It was almost as if there was a change of directors or writers from the first as the movie was totally different from the first in tone. The first was in keeping with the book, light hearted and a pure fantasy. Now in the second part it was a more serious film with none of the songs and humour of the first. If this was the direction the director and writers wanted to go in the first place then why have all that in the first movie and none in the second? I am not a fan of the songs but I do like the humour and there is very little in this second part. If you listen to the directors commentary on the extended edition of AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY he and the writer clear up some of the "faults" with the first movie but it will take a lot of explanation as to why they discarded some of the stuff they did in the first movie for a more "serious" look and feel to the second part. I am hopeful the third and final part will wrap it all up but at the moment all I took from this second part is that they finally go to where they were heading but then again that is how the first part ended. Let's hope the third one is better
.it has to be!
