The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

52 narrowly escaping death multiple times. At one point Jackson even includes the preposterous scene of a dwarf riding through a molten metal river in a metal wheelbarrow to escape the clumsily portrayed dragon. As I mentioned before, the dwarves brought Bilbo on the journey to stealthily steal back their treasure from the dragon because no one could survive any other way, yet Jackson ignored this fact and instead saturated the movie with ludicrous occurrences. Most reviews of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug praise the movie for being full of action. Richard Corliss in the article “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: It Lives!” heralds the production as an energetic, lively sequel (pars. 1-5). I reject such claims because the action is so unbelievable and repetitive that it becomes tiring to watch. Jackson cut out logical action from The Hobbit to replace it with thoughtless, melodramatic action. The biggest problem with Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was his infidelity to the theme of Tolkien’s novel. Ultimately, Jackson could have altered the characters, the plot, and the action in the movie and not ruined it. He strayed when he changed the theme of the story. Tolkien’s original work emphasized the development of the hobbit Bilbo. Tolkien’s story throws Bilbo into a mix of circumstances that force him to become independent and to develop courage. This is proven by the climax of the book where Bilbo musters the courage to act alone and against his companions to ultimately save them from their own greed. Jackson missed the point and created different unfocused themes. He removed the spotlight fromBilbo’s development. Instead of keeping the theme, the heart of Tolkien’s book, Jackson created trite themes through the addition of characters and the deletion of key scenes that contained Tolkien’s theme. Then Jackson glossed over the unfocused movie by filling the film with senseless action that bored viewers. When Jackson or any movie producer adapts a story to be film, he should always remain faithful to the theme of the tale because that is the heart of a tale.  Works Cited Barsanti, Chris. “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” Film Journal International 117.1 (2014): 58-59. Film &