So I'm a little late to the party on this one but The Desolation of Smaug was just released on Netflix so I thought I'd better watch it. Although An Unexpected Journey was a very impressive film, I still firmly believe that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is much better, despite the fact that it was made over ten years prior to The Hobbit and with the release of the second instalment of The Hobbit, I still stand by that. Although perhaps more visually impressive, the use of computer generated effects is also much more obvious and things are less 'real' than in Lord of the Rings. What I do love about this, however, is the vibrancy that these effects bring to the film. Both The Desolation of Smaug and An Unexpected Journey are such colourful and vibrant films and this really stands out to me. Whether the scenes are full of dark magic, Smaug's orange fire or the green Shire the picture on screen always looks incredible. It's so nice to see familiar places from The Lord of the Rings trilogy made even more impressive by the use of modern technology, in addition to the fact that The Hobbit is set before LoTR thus these places are much 'younger' in this story anyway. 

In term's of plot, being the middle instalment I feel that this film was much more developed that An Unexpected Journey which did much for setting up the world of The Hobbit but not much for developing the plot. Of course, the big plot point that is introduced in this film is Smaug himself, a fearsome dragon who sleeps on a bed of Dwarf gold. The voice of Smaug is absolutely perfect, giving off an incredibly dangerous and evil feel and every time Smaug spoke it sent shivers down my spine. Benedict Cumberbatch has proved that even when you can't see him on screen, he's still incredibly talented. There are a few different plot strands running through this film but they all fit together nicely meaning that there's very little room for confusion and it's always quite clear what is going on. Although I have read the book, it was a very long time ago and I'm glad to see that it's still easy to keep up with the plot even if you don't have any prior knowledge of Middle Earth or Tolkein's world. That said, you will almost certainly have to watch this film after having seen An Unexpected Journey otherwise the full impact of the quest that Bilbo is on will not be realised. Despite the fact that there's nothing explicitly 'funny' in this trilogy, there are numerous humorous elements throughout which help to stop this film from becoming a horribly, dark tale.

The cast in this trilogy is very strong with numerous famous names and a few familiar faces from Lord of the Rings, most notably Legolas. Although Legolas is supposed to be younger in The Hobbit, somehow the effects make him look like he has aged instead which is disappointing. I've found that Legolas' character seems to be rather different in The Hobbit, almost more cold than his later self in LoTR and I don't know whether this was intentional or not. It is a shame that we don't see more of either Gandalf or Legolas in this film as it is these subtle ties to the original LoTR trilogy that make these films all the better for existing Tolkein fans. Ian McKellen's Gandalf is much the same as he is in LoTR so obviously he is a superb character the little screen time that he has in this film still makes a mark. 

Martin Freeman continues to play Bilbo Baggins and he does so just as well as he did in the first film. He makes an excellent Bilbo managing to be both a bumbling idiot and an incredibly intelligent hobbit both at the same time. His character is brings both humour and humility to this film the audience really roots for him. Of course, this trilogy is all about Bilbo's adventure and Jackson has managed to perfectly balance the film between focusing on Bilbo himself and the rest of his comrades, who are also incredibly important. The entire group of Dwarfs are also made up of very good actors, though it is difficult to distinguish between different Dwarfs but as a collection you can't help but love them. It is particularly nice to see Stephen Fry in this film who only has a few short minutes of screen time but he also makes a lasting impression.

The action sequences are not just made up of mind-numbing fights but highly exciting and dramatic scenes. During a particularly stressful fight between some orcs and elves I was literally sat with my hands covering my mouth, with my heart pounding for the safety of the elves. I found myself incredibly drawn into this film, much more than I thought I would be and the whole process of watching this trilogy is quite an experience. 

This film is very, very, very long. Almost three hours long, in fact. It is a little slow to get started, but once you've made it through the first 45 minutes or so, you stop noticing time passing as it's just action packed amazingness for the next two hours. There are action scenes, romantic scenes, humorous scenes, adventurous scenes, fight scenes - everything that you could wish for in a Tolkein adaptation. There wasn't a single moment in the second half of this film that I was bored in and I was very disappointed when this film came to a close. The way that this story has been cut into three pieces is absolutely perfect for giving audiences enough of a story per film, but leaving them excited enough about the next instalment to ensure that they return to the cinema for the next part. I cannot wait for the third, and final, film in this trilogy to be released as these films are moving from strength to strength and I'm sure that the finale will be stupendous. If you haven't watched The Desolation of Smaug yet then you absolutely must. It is a fantastic film that spreads across so many different genres that it's impossible not to enjoy or be drawn in by it. All in all, I'd highly recommend this film (and trilogy) as it's an excellent example what great acting and special effects can offer audiences. 

What's Hot? is proud to post this fantastical (pun intended) post written by Izzy Woods about the rise of the fantasy genre - one of my absolute favourites! Happy reading :)

So Much For Happy Endings

They can be no doubt that the fantasy genre is on the rise. Motivated largely by the success of the movie phenomenon that was Lord of the Rings, perception of the genre is no longer ruled by stereotypes of basement-dwelling geeks obsessing over hermetically sealed collections of limited edition action figures. Whisper it, but fantasy is gradually becoming mainstream.

This growth of popularity has seen the release of two fantasy-themed TV shows in fairly quick succession: Once Upon a Time and Grimm. Each deals with the premise of fairy tales existing in the modern world, though each gives the concept a completely different spin.

Just a Small Town Girl

Twenty eight years ago, the Wicked Queen of a fairytale realm cast a curse to transport the entire kingdom’s population to our world, a place where the lines of evil and good were not so clear cut, and happy endings were not just the right of the latter.

The people now live in the aptly named town of Storybrooke with no memory of who they once were. They don’t realise that they exist frozen in time nor do they consider it strange that nobody ever seems to enter or leave the town.

Right before the curse was cast, Snow White and Prince Charming magically transported their newborn daughter to our world, who grew up into the bounty hunter Emma Swan. She comes to the town after Henry – the son she gave up for adoption ten years ago – tracks her down to convince her to “bring back the happy endings.”

As a child of both worlds – as well as simply a child – Henry is able to perceive how everything should be, and possesses a book of unknown origin that details the tales of the townsfolk prior to the curse and convinces Emma to stay to help people find the happiness that the curse denies them. She agrees, though less on account of believing what he says is true and more with meeting his adoptive mother (the town mayor) and being somewhat less than impressed by her parenting aesthetic.

Some of the townsfolk’s names and occupations give indications to their previous lives, with varying degrees of subtlety. Ashley (Cinderella) is an overworked cleaner; Regina (the Queen) is the mayor; Sydney Glass (the Magic Mirror) is a newspaper editor; and Ruby (Little Red Riding Hood) is a diner waitress.

Each episode focuses on the lives of one or two of the characters, jumping between the real world and the fairytale realm, telling two parallel stories that mirror each other. Some of the stories are one-shot deals, such as Hansel and Gretel, while others detail ongoing sagas, such as the dual romances of Snow White and Prince Charming.

Bad Guys and Evil Queens

A fairy tale is often only as engaging as its antagonists, and in this case as well as the Wicked Queen frequently manoeuvring to gain as much control as possible over the town and the fairytale realm, there is also the pawnbroker Mr Gold, who with stoic menace matter-of-factly states himself to be someone the townspeople fear even more than the overbearing mayor. In contrast, he is gleefully manic in the fairytale realm as Rumpelstiltskin, a power-hungry broker of deals whose manner of calling everyone “dearie” almost makes your skin crawl.

Although the power of the curse was to stop people from being aware of their former lives, some memories seem to have started bleeding through the cracks. How this will affect their lives in Storeybrook is yet to be developed.

The show’s core concept, that of fairytale characters living together in a real-world town, was considered somewhat similar to that of the comic book Fables, which has run for going on a decade with over 100 issues, and motivated the series’ legion of fans began denouncing it as a rip-off to anyone who would listen. However, the title’s creator Bill Willingham was considerably more understanding of any superficial similarities, eloquently discussing them and issuing a “call to disarm” to his readers.

By Name and by Nature

Grimm is a different beast entirely, while still possessing a distinctive fairytale aesthetic.

The Grimms are normal people apart from one difference: they possess a hereditary ability to perceive the creatures responsible for many fairy tales through their everyday masks of humanity.

The series protagonist Nick Burkhardt was unaware he was a Grimm for most of his life, until his lineage was explained to him by his aunt shortly before her death. Inheriting the sight from her, he can now see what was hidden from him for so long and fight against it with the tools, weapons and reference books his aunt left him.

As Nick grew up unaware of his ancestry, he was never taught how the Grimms typically operated, specially decapitate first, ask questions later. However, as a police officer, his first instinct is to try to understand rather than simply kill and as a result the humanity of many of the so-called monsters is allowed to be seen.

Humanoid Monsters 

Instead of traditional mythological creatures, the humanoid monsters are given names that mostly consist of German words – often in compound – that give clues to their natures. The first kind seen is the blutbaden – which one claims was bastardised into Big Bad Wolf – and comes from the German word blutbad (bloodbath). Also there such creatures as hexenbiests, a compound of hexen (witch) and biest (beast), spinnetod (spider and death) and jägerbär (hunter and bear).

 Although it has been commented that the German is somewhat gratuitous and badly pronounced, it really doesn’t matter so long as the meaning is imparted. Anyway, try pronouncing Samhain (the Celtic festival Halloween grew from) to any Scottish or Irish person and watch them try to hold back the sniggering.

 No show is complete without an air of mystery, and this is initially seen via the Hässlich – also known as Reapers of the Grimms – who are ugly, scythe-wielding humanoids that have a particular hostility to the Grimms. Precisely who they are and what they want remains to be seen.

Castles in the Sky

Although the generally specialised nature of the fantasy genre has long kept it from achieving conventional popularity, now that TV shows such as these are appearing on major US networks, the tide is definitely shifting towards acceptance of its idiosyncrasies. Grab some snacks, slouch on the leather sofa, dim the lights, and let yourself be transported to worlds existing in the shadows of our own. You won’t regret it.

When the pilot of Grimm was first pitched to NBC, it went up against another one named 17^th Precinct. This was a cop show set in an alternate reality where instead of petrol, electricity and guns, the world ran on fire, plants and magic, yet was all grounded in the gritty realism of  police procedural. NBC were only willing to commit to one fantasy show and opted for Grimm, but if you can track down a video of 17^th Precinct somewhere in the dusty corners of the Internet, you’ll be treated to just what potential there is for fantasy in the future.