The Elven King Thranduil, played by Lee Pace, is a greatly expanded role. This bold interpretation has him the last of his race, after being hunted for sport by the Orcs. Thus we meet Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) the skin-changer along with his Bear alter ego. Many of the new characters that are introduced are quite intriguing because the screenwriters have been effectively handed a blank canvas, due to the original text being so vague or simplistic (remember that Tolkien's book is a children's story). Again most of the new material is embellishments and does not significantly alter the storyline. The extended edition is 25 minutes longer than the theatrical version. The Desolation of Smaug sets off at breakneck pace and continues at that speed throughout it's 186 minute running time. I do not believe that to be the case this time round. Jackson got a lot of this right with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, over a decade ago. Thus there is scope for a lot of "adaptation", artistic license and creativity. Also the source material from which the film derives is quite sparse, often being nothing more than footnotes, or summations of history. So because of the nature of Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit, I am prepared to make concessions to the fact that it is a big budget fantasy blockbuster franchise. Therefore don't compare the respective worth of Citizen Kane with The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, or Bicycle Thieves with The Medusa Touch. The key to reconciling such widely differing types of cinema is to judge them within their own context. I like a wide range of genres and will happily watch weighty human dramas as well as the worst sort of trashy exploitation fodder. To celebrate this occasion, I shall post new reviews of the extended edition of all three films, as well as those of The Hobbit trilogy, which were made a decade later. Tolkien’s iconic novel, The Lord of the Rings. This December marks the 20th anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first instalment of Peter Jacksons' adaptation of J.R.R.
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