The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug support thread.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

And completely, utterly misrepresents the book and misses Tolkien's entire point. Thorin & Co weren't interested in 'their home'; their desire was gold- gold and revenge. Reread the song in the first chapter, and Bilbo's conversation with Smaug.

Bilbo toying with desertion is yet another Peej Forced Conflict(tm).

But just because something is portrayed differently than what Tolkien wrote doesn't mean it's rubbish or not a 'beautiful moment.' Tolkien was a master storyteller, but film is different and you need more than "Tolkien didn't write it that way" to make me think Jackson's version is horrible.

[Rhod the Red]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

But just because something is portrayed differently than what Tolkien wrote doesn't mean it's rubbish or not a 'beautiful moment.' Tolkien was a master storyteller, but film is different and you need more than "Tolkien didn't write it that way" to make me think Jackson's version is horrible.

To be 100% faithful would require a TV series no doubt, given the length alone. And a movie budget no movie company would provide

[Andsigil]

I posted this in another thread along this same theme:

Smaug was the best feature of the films so far because of the personality he was given. Whenever dragons are portrayed in film or literature, they are always 1) bestial, or 2) any mix of arrogant, mean, evil, etc.

This Smaug was, for lack of a better term, a psychopath. Absolutely unhinged. If they had a giant, padded wagon with normal dragons in white coats, they should have been called to straightjacket Smaug and take him away to a rubber dragon's cave.

And that made Smaug really, really scary.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

Ex-post-facto, I realize that my thread could probably be merged with this one.