The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer Recap

So, call me crazy, but the picture above was my favorite shot from the trailer. It's just . . . just . . . awesome. Ruined Dale, Lonely Mountain, dwarves . . . it has everything. And the rest of the trailer? Yeah, it was pretty sweet as well. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is:

Now just jump past the break to see a whole mess of screen shots and my reactions to (some of) them:

Is it just me, or is the mountain getting cooler the closer it gets? I love the fact that this portion of the story takes place in the winter . . . not sure why, but I do.

Um . . . awesome.

Dwarves climbing up a giant dwarf. How cool is that? I assume that this is a statue on some other part of the Mountain than the Front Gate, since this statue does not look the same as the two giant statues flanking the Front Gate. Did that make any sense?

The Halls of the Elven King are quite possibly the most beautiful environment I've seen yet from the movies . . . they did an excellent job of making you feel like this is in a forest, without making you forget that this is actually a cave.

I hate dwarves. And puppies. Especially puppies.

I had a puppy once . . .

Obviously there are no butterflies in the Shire.

Reserving judgement.

Yes. Just yes.

Only an elf as cool as Legolas could slip on rotting leaves and then make it look like he'd done it on purpose.

Ok . . . he's pretty cool looking.

I love how Ori is getting his trusty old slingshot ready. That's right Ori, shoot his eye out!

This is totally how I feel when there is free food at work and nobody bothers to tell me.

And yeah, this is how I imagine my coworkers feel when they realize I've found them.

Don't be looking at Kili. Please don't be looking at Kili.

To my surprise and despite the fact that she is a "fake" character, Tauriel did not disappoint me. All right fake elf-lady, you're on probation.

Second favorite shot from the trailer. Not lying. Laketown!

In case you wanted to know, it looks like our two elf friends are standing on glacially modified terrain. This was the high-point of the trailer for geologists everywhere.

Again, I found myself taking Tauriel more seriously than I expected. Hmphf.

This sequence was surprising to me. Is Radagast wimping out here? Is this where we get to see why Gandalf is THE wizard, and Radagast––no matter how fun he is––is just an "almost-er"?

I grew up believing that––were they placed in the same situation––both of my grandpas would have been as cool as Gandalf. And you know what? I still believe that.

How do you folks feel about the look of Dol Goldor? I go back and forth.

Just so cool . . . and twisty.

Gaah! Eyebrows!

Where'd this armor go when Legolas was with Frodo? Did he decide not to take his coolest get-up to Rivendell?

Hmmm . . . this awesome looking elf deserves further analysis. More coming.

Happy Birthday!

How many spiders can you see in this picture? I think I see three . . .

Unless I miss my guess, this is our first glimpse through the Secret Door.

Ok, ignore Bard (towards whom I'm still feeling ambivalent) and check out the guards. Cool or what? They seem to be going for a Slavic vibe, and I'm definitely digging it. And Dwalin's tattoos make me grin every time I see them.

Again, note the cool armor on the guy on the left. Sah-weet! Oh, and Thorin is looking . . . Thorin-ish, I guess. Overall, I am very pleased with the look of Laketown. Not because it looks like what I imagined, but because it is even better. Nailed it.

Again, every once in a while Legolas just looks really, really sick. In the cool way. All of these fight scenes involving the elves look really fun . . . and it looks like their is going to be a lot of the crazy flying around that we were introduced to in the first installment of the Hobbit. You know what I'm talking about? Trolls tossing dwarves, dwarves tossing weapons, goblins being flung every which way. Fun for the whole family.

She can jump real high.

So . . . any idea how this scene is going to be integrated into the film? This is obviously Thorin's crazed dad getting the jump on Gandalf. But . . . when is exactly is this happening? The trailer makes it look like Gandalf and Radagast have traveled to Dol Goldor together and that this scene happens once Gandalf is inside the ruins. But he's already given the key to Thorin in the first film . . . which he supposedly received from the crazed dwarf pictured above. So I have no idea what is going on. Is it a flashback?

I think I'm going to dedicate an entire post to how much cooler the orcs in the Hobbit look than the orcs in the LOTR movies. I even like the look of Azog. I know, I know . . . weird.

I can't wait for this scene in the movie. Bilbo is drowning, Fili is drunk, Kili has clearly lost his mined (either due to his harsh imprisonment or to Tauriel's unwanted advances), and Thorin is attacking the river with Orcrist. Just like in the book.

I wonder why the dwarves got whole new outfits? I assume they're compliments of the Lake Men. Did the elves steal their clothes? If so, why do the dwarves all still have their weapons? Or, at least Thorin does . . .

Balin is still my favorite. And this scene rocks.

First look at Smaug! And why the heck isn't Bilbo invisible? Or . . . is he, and we just can't tell?

I feel like I still haven't seen enough of Smaug to pass judgement yet . . . but to all those who don't like the look of this guy, I'll just say this: what were you really expecting? There is only so much you can do to a dragon without making it look not like a dragon. Sabes?

Excited!