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By Sandra Olmsted

Director Peter Jackson’s second of the three installments in the tale of Bilbo Baggins’s adventure in Middle Earth provides the excitement and fun the first one lacked. Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Thorin (Richard Armitage), the deposed Dwarf King, and his twelve dwarf warriors, aka the Fellowship, set off on their quest to restore Thorin as the rightful King Under the Mountain.

By restoring Dwarf King’s crown and enormous wealth and the prosperity of the surrounding cities, such as Laketown, the Fellowship will also undermine the growing threat of evil which is abroad in the world.

Although The Fellowship must reach a secret door on the only day of year the magic keyhole will be revealed, the real problem is Smaug (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch), the dragon dozing on the pile of gold inside the mountain. Waking the dragon would be disastrous for Middle Earth and, especially, the neighboring Laketown. The Orcs intend to kill the Fellowship, thwart their quest fail, and to pursue the Wizard, Hobbit, and Dwarves with great determination despite all casualties.

While Orcs have clearly chosen Necromancer’s evil ways, the “skin-changer” Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) doesn’t like dwarfs much better than he does Orcs, and the fact that he changes between a gigantic bear and a large, strong man means he would be a fearsome foe in either skin. Since everyone must choose between good and evil as the world splits into two camps, the Fellowship never knows if they are encountering a friend or foe. As soon as the heroes are about to enter Mirkwood Forest on the Elfin Road through this vast and dangerous place with an odd enchantment hanging over it, Gandalf announces he must leave him temporarily, startlingly and frightening the Fellowship.

The Fellowship must also deal with Elves who don’t want any contact with the world outside their hidden fortress in Mirkwood, and only luck, a magic ring, and a resourceful Hobbit might keep the Fellowship from a life in an Elfin prison.

With the assistance of Bard (Luke Evans), a barge man and trader from the Dickens-esque Laketown, the Fellowship sneaks into this economically depressed and depressing town governed by the Master (Stephen Fry), a drunken reprobate.The Fellowship may have as much trouble getting out of Laketown as they did getting in. With Bilbo’s reputation as a “Burglar” growing because of the magic ring which allows him to be invisible, he soon realizes that his job will be to wade through Smaug’s treasure hoard and find the Arkenstone without waking the dragon. If he does wake Smaug, can the humble little Hobbit go eyeball to eyeball with a fire breathing dragon?

Excellently done 3D. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug runs 161 minutes and is rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.    This enjoyable film opens Dec. 13 and is worth seeing in 3D.       More of Olmsted’s reviews are available on <www.thecinematicskinny.com>.

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