THE DESECRATION... Sorry, I mean THE DESOLATION OF THE HOBBIT

So here is the trailer for the second instalment of the movie adaptation of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Now, honestly, I love Sylvester McCoy. I thought he was terrific as Doctor Who back in the early 90's. And I love how he played Radagast the brown in the first movie and I am happy to see him back in the sequel. But his character is NOT IN THE BOOK.

I love Evangeline Lilly. She's beautiful, she's a great actress and she is a fellow Canadian. She hails from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. She plays an elf named Tauriel who looks like she will kick ass. But her character is NOT IN THE BOOK.

I like Orlando Bloom. I thought he was great as Will Turner in the Pirates of the Carribbean movies. I though he played Legolas excellently in the three Lord of the Rings movies. He was great as Legolas. I'm glad to see him play the role again. But that character is NOT IN THE BOOK.

Clearly this is not The Hobbit. It is, but it has been messed with, expanded, encumbered, even, with stuff that seems to be required for big-budget 3D blockbuster filmmaking. A freaking dragon, the dreaded Smaug (who IS in the book) Gandalf the Grey, thirteen dwarves and one hobbit are not enough, it seems for modern moviegoers.

Well, at least they haven't taken anything out. It just seems a shame while they're adding characters left right and centre that they couldn't have included Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Farmer Maggot and Gan Buri Gan who were cut from the original trilogy. If you're going to be bringing characters in Willy Nilly, why not them?

Mind you, this is nothing new. I suppose L. Frank Baum purists would have complained about the musical numbers carelessly shoe-horned into The Wizard of Oz, or the pointless addition of distracting cameos of big name stars in Mike Todd's technicolor adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days. Or perhaps the awful travesty of taking Isaac Asimov's Susan Calvin, a central character in his robot stories, and making her a stiff sidekick to Will Smith's wisecracking detective in the execrable adaptation of I,Robot.

The raping and retro-fitting of classic literature to suit Hollywood's need for extravaganza is nothing new, but it still rankles deep in the guts of many a book lover.

It's kind of like taking a bedazzler to a Faberge Egg.

Yeah. Think about that.
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