The second movie in the trilogy to the prequel of the Lord of the Rings film is already a box office hit grossing 73.6 million USD at the first couple of weeks since its release making it the number one movie in the box office charts for this holiday season. The film did not fail to get positive anecdotal reactions from both fans and those who are fairly new to the LOTR lore and unfamiliar with the books. Although this, of course, is all because of director Peter Jackson who has once again did a most fascinating job.
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The film begins with a flashback from a year ago when Gandalf met with Thorin Oakenshield in the town of Bree in a tavern called Prancing Pony. There the wizard urged the exiled king to reclaim his throne and King Under the Mountain and get of the Dragon that was currently residing in there. From there, the scene then came to the present time in that film; just right after where the first movie ended. The Dwarven party, Bilbo and Gandalf were still being pursued by the Orcs led by Azog the Defiler. The former then took refuge to the house of a skin-changer called Beorn and from there went off with their adventures through the dark forests of Mirkwood, to the prison cells of the Woodland Elves to the houses of Laketown. Then finally, they face their greatest foe yet, the dragon Smaug the Magnificent.
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The universe is not definitely wider compared to the first movie, more races were shown especially in the race of Men and more interaction with them among the Dwarves too. The plot now is building up and is much getting much complicated where in the first movie they were just introduced to the quest and they started to travel and there was not much going on and there was less action. Much like what happened in the Fellowship of the Ring, but that is a digression. Anyhow, the storyline is now more engaging thanks to the addition of characters who were not originally in the book the movie was inspired from. Legolas was a fine inclusion, a great fan-service, Tauriel the 'She-elf' gave a nice romance angle with one of the Dwarves Kili, though I wish Peter Jackson could have been more subtle with it. Yes, I'm referring to the scene where she was using elvish medicine on him. Also Bard who gave a nice twist to the plot. What that twist was, we would just have to withhold for the others who have not seen the movie yet.
But nevertheless, this second movie is absolutely fun to watch and is great for the entire family for this Christmas season. Like I mentioned, it has more drama, more action, more character sub-plots and a wider world, unlike in the first one where the story was only concentrated on the Dwarves who are now distinguishable in this movie, it's not all Thorin Oakenshield anymore. And the CGI's are very good as well.
So, needless to say, I definitely would recommend you and your family watch this movie, even if you are unfamiliar with the lore or even if you've been a fan all your life the movie can provide real good entertainment for the holidays.
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