The Desolation

[Lalaith]

Well, the film has had some positive effects, its brought a lot of old posters out of the woodwork...*
I didn´t have the same emotional investment in the Hobbit (as a novel) as I did LotR, so I can cope with lot more non-canonical nonsense, both with the first installment and this one.
But even given that, I was often irritated/bored/embarrassed during DoS, mainly during those endless action sequences. I felt like was looking over the shoulder of a teenager playing an interminable computer game. "Legolas, turn that thing off now, your Aunty Miriel is here and we´re all sitting down to dinner." "But muuum, you KNOW I can´t save the game when I´m in the middle of a battle!"

Low points - that giant golden dwarf, which reminded us all so much of the giant rabbit in Monty Python´s Holy Grail that we got the giggles.
The elf-dwarf fanfic romance. I felt like I was trapped inside a 13-year-old´s head.

I did love Laketown though.
*Just realised how big-headed that sounded. I was referring to spawn, Eomer etc, not myself...!

[alatar]

We took the extended tribe (almost a dozen children) to see DoS. I agree mostly with what others posted more eloquently above. Some notes:

• Hated how they took a 'chance meeting' and made the whole quest a set up by Gandalf.
• No mention why the ponies should be returned and not taken into Mirkwood.
• Are the Dwarves fighters or fools? One moment, they are taken captive by the spiders; then soon after, fight their way through them (with a little help). Same applies to Smaug...the Worm takes the whole dwarven city, but 13 dwarves (or however many; my head still hurts from the previews) can contrive to boot him out.
• Is Bard related to Legolas? They look like brothers.
• Saw nothing provocative when Tauriel was healing Kili; then again, I'm old and mostly dead.
• Isn't Kingsfoil called 'King's foil' for a reason? Or is it generic healing plant for generic evil weapon wound?
• You're going to use heat on a creature that produces heat - hot enough to melt magical rings. Genius.
• Thought for sure that the golden statue was going to become a transformer or mech suit.
• I'm no economist, but what's with all of the coins/horded treasure? Smaug may have gathered a bit of it together during the ransacking, but wasn't most of the coins already there?
• Orcs should slide on steep rooftops, unless they are Moria orcs, which can stick to any surface.
• Gandalf is caged by Sauron's minions? Just when I thought that being powned by the Witch King was the ultimate insult.
• So when the movie faded to black, my youngest summed it up by saying, "What a ripoff!"

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by alatar

[*]Saw nothing provocative when Tauriel was healing Kili; then again, I'm old and mostly dead.

I must have a dirty mind because when I saw that scene the only thing I could think was how wrong it all looked.

I think Jackson did it on purpose as fodder for fan fic.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I must have a dirty mind because when I saw that scene the only thing I could think was how wrong it all looked.

That's what I'm saying - that it looked wrong. Her face was facing a different direction - not to get too technical.

And you probably do.

[Lalaith]

I thought you meant the movie reminded you of many old wall posters you had seen or owned in your youth--grandiose illustrations having little strong semblance to book descriptions.

Indeed - seven types of ambiguity....

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by alatar

That's what I'm saying - that it looked wrong. Her face was facing a different direction - not to get too technical.

And you probably do.

Well...technically I don't recall that the camera ever showed how they were facing at all. All I remember is an increasingly uncomfortable set of close ups on their faces.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Well...technically I don't recall that the camera ever showed how they were facing at all. All I remember is an increasingly uncomfortable set of close ups on their faces.

I was playing close attention to the scene, being forewarned, as I was wondering how much 'explaining' I would be doing afterwards to my children.

"Well, ya see, when an Elf is helping a Dwarf with a leg wound, it's common for said elf and dwarf to..."

[William Cloud Hicklin]

"When an Elfie and a Dwarfie love each other very much...."

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by alatar

I was playing close attention to the scene, being forewarned, as I was wondering how much 'explaining' I would be doing afterwards to my children.

"Well, ya see, when an Elf is helping a Dwarf with a leg wound, it's common for said elf and dwarf to..."

Dynasties have been started in this way...and far be it from me to point out that Robb Stark's downfall was started by almost this exact situation.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by alatar

Hated how they took a 'chance meeting' and made the whole quest a set up by Gandalf.

Actually, canonically speaking, the quest was a set up by Gandalf. After all, he did want to stop the dragon, and set it up so that Bilbo would come along. The difference is in that Thorin also wanted to reclaim the treasure, and the "chance meeting" was truly a "chance meeting" of two people who happened to have the same goal (resp. one wanted to get rid of the dragon, another wanted the treasure and revenge, but the quests were compatible).

Is Bard related to Legolas? They look like brothers.

That's what I've been saying all along and nobody believed me.

Isn't Kingsfoil called 'King's foil' for a reason? Or is it generic healing plant for generic evil weapon wound?

That made me realise - I am actually surprised I haven't thought of it earlier, but even more that PJ didn't think about it - they could have made Bard heal the wound, therefore proving the old "hands of the King are the hands of a healer" proverb... Given how many things they copied from LotR, really strange this didn't reappear. But maybe Tauriel is more important.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

Well, the film has had some positive effects, its brought a lot of old posters out of the woodwork...*

. . . .

*Just realised how big-headed that sounded. I was referring to spawn, Eomer etc, not myself...!

Gee, Lalaith, when I read that first line I thought you meant the movie reminded you of many old wall posters you had seen or owned in your youth--grandiose illustrations having little strong semblance to book descriptions.

And then to be so disabused by your last line!