Warner Brothers Pictures have this week announced the retail release of their fantasy blockbuster The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on DVD and Blu-Ray this Spring. Based on the second act of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved children's novel, Desolation was directed by Peter Jackson and saw the return of Orlando Bloom to the already formidable character ensemble as Legolas, plus the début of the ever-lovable Stephen Fry as the fatally complacent Master of Laketown.
That said, for all of its new gimmicks, Desolation didn't quite fulfil its potential upon its release last Christmas. There were certainly improvements over An Unexpected Journey to be found at first in terms of pacing , yet the final confrontation between Bilbo and the titular gold-hoarding dragon more than outstayed its welcome, lasting the best part of 40 minutes and monumentally affecting the sense of relative momentum which sustained the film in its first three-quarters. Add to that an underwhelming and wholly foreseeable cliffhanger, and you've got a surefire recipe for a mediocre motion picture, a tragic category of quality which Desolation undoubtedly occupies come its denouement. It's a crying shame, since our anticipation for this Winter's There and Back Again has been considerably lessened at this stage- all the same, we'll remain optimistic that Jackson can pull out another Return of the King with the extra time and cash spent on his final Middle-Earth big-screen effort.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will journey into DVD and Blu-Ray retailers nationwide on April 7th, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again commences the Battle of Five Armies in a cinema near you this December 12th.
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