The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

51 improved the movie or can be justified. Adding characters might not always be detrimental to a movie, but the characters Jackson added deadened the movie. Tales inspire readers and viewers when the author or producer introduces fresh ideas, but Jackson’s added characters accomplished the opposite. An elf named Tauriel was added as a love-interest for one of the dwarves, Kili, in the journeying company, but all the other dwarves and elves are very disdainful of the other respective group. Tauriel and Kili are “star- crossed lovers,” and their relationship is stale and predictable. Jackson also gives the elf, Legolas, who is not mentioned in The Hobbit, a cameo appearance. Legolas was a prominent character in The Lord of the Rings and is related in Tolkien’s books to one of the characters who is in The Hobbit . A short appearance would have been fine, but Jackson alters the plotline again to simply incorporate a character from one of his older movies. Jackson could have spent the screen time on important scenes from The Hobbit rather than making time just to add an unoriginal character and point to his previous trilogy. Jackson crops out portions of The Hobbit to make room for an overused character. The second reason I argue others overrated The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug is that it incorporated ridiculous impossibilities to add thrill. Perhaps if Jackson had left Tolkien’s original piece more intact, he would not have needed to add his own impractical action scenes to fill the gaps he created. While the setting of the movie is a mythical place, Middle Earth, it does not justify the mindless action Jackson threw into the plot. At first the movie did not have too many implausible happenings, but as the movie progressed, the impossible action sequences multiplied. Midway through the story the dwarves escape the dungeons of the elves in barrels floating down a river, but they are pursued by orcs and their previous captors. A battle ensues between the three groups. The scene includes an elf balancing on one leg on a dwarf’s head sticking out of a barrel which is bobbing through the rapids of a river. If that were not outrageous enough, the elf is simultaneously picking off orcs with his well-aimed arrows. A few scenes later, Bilbo enters the fearsome dragon’s lair and proceeds to remove his ring. The dragon can see him several times, and yet never catches him. The dwarves also enter the mountain and are seen by the dragon who fails to dispatch them as well. The whole company dashes madly around the mountain passages