Film: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug poster

Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves are pursued by Orcs. Via encouters with the woodland Elves and Humans, they must make their way to the mountain before the last light of Durin’s Day if they are to reach the fabled Arkenstone and restore the kingdom to Thorin Oakenshield. That is, providing they can survive the dragon…

 

A friend asked me the other night if I was a fan of Tolkein’s novels, and I had to confess that to date I have merely enjoyed looking at them on bookshelves only – particularly taken with the editions I saw everywhere in my youth, with foil-wrapped runic symbols.

What I can say with considerably more confidence is that over the last 12 years I have found myself utterly taken with Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the novels, and the vast fantasy films which really have reintroduced the epic to the world.

I challenge anyone not to be at least a little impressed by the aesthetic vision and scale of the five films to date. Films packed with brilliant character performances, subtle nuances, multiple languages and more than a little drama.

And while Jackson whittled the sprawling pages of The Lord of the Rings books into three lengthy films, he has surprised many of The Hobbit‘s fans with his treatment of that singular work – drawing it out to a length comparable with the first trilogy. More than anything else, Jackson’s gift has been to allow the story to be told at leisure – conveying a journey which is not only epic for the characters but the audience in front. Perhaps because of the two years it takes between watching the first part of The Hobbit last December and the final part next December, we buy in to the challenges and arduous nature of the journey on screen.

The Desolation of Smaug is of course that difficult middle part – we’ve already had the set up, and there is a minor frustration knowing that by the end of its 2 1/2 hours running time we’re going to be left dangling ahead of the third instalments conclusion (and the cliffhanger we get is perfectly placed).

While the exposition of characters continues, and there are more allusions to the iconography and situation that is already familiar from The Lord of the Rings, there are also a pleasing number of set pieces which revolve around confrontation. A wicked battle with giant spiders, the latent racism of the elves, and the thrilling showdown with the erudite dragon – the titular Smaug.

Bilbo’s (Martin Freeman) ring is less threatening and more of a mystical tool here, and it is easy to forget the foreboding aura surrounding it in the earlier pictures.  Ian McKellan’s Gandalf feels absent for far too much of the picture, and a number of other faces (eg. Sylvester McCoy’s Radagast – so scene-stealing in the first part) are also greatly reduced. Many will no doubt be buoyed up by the return of Orlando Bloom’s bow and arrow-wielding Legolas.

While the bromance that defined The Lord of the Rings is absent in The Hobbit, the interaction between the characters is a delight, and there is a little genuine inter-species frisson to get the blood flowing.

Whether a casual viewer could come into the series here and enjoy it, I’m not sure. There is no significant recap of the earlier events, instead we are thrown into the developing narrative. This is a film without a defined beginning or end – merely a snapshot of the journey. But the forces unleashed demand a return to the cinema in 12 months time.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
directed by Peter Jackson
released 13 December 2013

 

Film: Frozen (2013)

One Sheet poster for Frozen

As December hits any potential lingering apathy towards the festive spirit is quickly dispelled with the arrival of a new Disney film, and this holiday season brings us FROZEN, the latest 3D computer-rendered princess movie, complete with not one but TWO princesses and several adorable highly-marketable secondary characters. Yes, I wasn’t the only one who made a beeline for the Disney Store following our preview screening last week.

Two princesses are left orphaned following a shipwreck, and instead of getting closer they drift further apart as they grow up. For one of them – Elsa – holds a natural gift for controlling snow and ice; a gift concealed from her sister Anna following a childhood accident. On the day of Elsa’s coronation as Queen of Arandelle her powers come to the fore, forcing the princesses to address their deadly secret…

 

There is much to love about Disney’s latest opus – alongside the usual rich fantasy tapestry which tugs at little children’s hearts, there is a wonderful vein of adult wisdom and insight which addresses some of the usual staples of princess narratives.

The opening sequences with their childhood setting, show us some adorable princesses, the ever-so cute reindeer Sven, the dependable-as-a-rock family of trolls (led by Ciaran Hinds) and a fleeting glimpse of the snowman Olaf (who loves warm hugs). It also gives us the first of the two memorable tracks from the film’s musical aspects “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?”

Shifting the action from the childhood space so quickly during the musical anthem about the sisters’ previous proximity and increasing separation within their relationship worked better than I expected, and while we loose much of the cuteness, the newly adult world is satisfying -the children in the audience I saw the film with, seemingly lapping it all up.

Anna’s rushed engagement to a Prince she just meets is a brilliant articulation of all that is wrong with those instant relationships in films. As Elsa points out, she cannot approve of a man she has *just* encountered for the first time without knowing anything else about him. There’s a lesson here about being independent, dating and long engagements and paying attention to what’s just under your nose. In fact by the film’s end, the concept of true love is moved far away from sexual relationships -something I’m sure parents will be happy with (the House of Mouse as a promoter of family values once more).

I detect however a sexual undercurrent in Elsa – a young woman who shuts out all potential relationships, both those of her sister and the vaguest whiff of interest from men. She possesses a literal frigidity which manifests itself in her creation of an ice palace. In time there is less of a melting and more of an understanding – a beautiful young woman who cannot be defiled is an interesting figure here, but more important is the goal to integrate her successfully in a more modern (and in adult terms, sexualised) world.

In terms of cuteness, full praise for Olaf who fills the function that many of the animal characters do in other Disney pictures. His naivety is a window through which the children in the audience can gaze upon these blossoming adult characters and attempt to understand – but he also serves to remind us of the importance of listening to those childish voices because he is gifted with some of the most insightful observations of the entire film.

For me, Frozen‘s finest moment is Olaf’s genius, more-than-a-tad-surrealist, song imagining a snowman in the summer. Olaf melted my heart at least…

Olaf sings “In Summer” from Disney’s Frozen

 

Perhaps the highlight for this reviewer (Olaf adoration aside) was the pre-feature short musical film GET A HORSE, directed by Lauren MacMullen. A brilliant piece of filmmaking, Get A Horse starts off as a two-dimensional, hand-drawn black and white cartoon featuring the Mickey Mouse likeness of 1928, along with all his 1920s chums. In spite of the apparent age, and limitations of the style, plus the black and white, the children in the preview audience audibly lapped up the strange surrealism.

A day out for the protagonists is soon spoilt by the arrival of Peg-Leg Pete resulting in a wonderful chase sequence that brings the characters out of the two dimensional world and into three dimensions (and colour) and then switches between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ for the film’s duration.

I was admittedly thrown originally – the use of Walt Disney’s voice for Mickey had me initially convinced that the filmmakers had simply updated an original 1920s cartoon, but no, this is a brand new creation with beautifully pays homage to the origins of Mickey Mouse and throws the icon back into the modern age. I do hope that they do more with *this* Mickey.

Frozen

directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
108 mins
released 27 November 2013 (USA), 6 December 2013 (UK)

Frozen trailer