The following article is part one of a series of reviews of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Below, guest reporter Evan Dotas praises Peter Jackson’s choices to alter the storyline. You can read guest reporter Eddie Mestre’s more critical review here.
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Many times, when books are made into films, they take some liberty in editing the plot line. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug is no exception.

And that isn’t a bad thing.

Peter Jackson left us with a group of 13 dwarves, one wizard, and a hobbit, hiding from orcs on a mountain-side. There, they witness Beorn, a skin changer who can turn into a monstrous bear, prowling the rocky terrain. Stop the clock at about two minutes, those of you waiting for the first change.

While this isn’t the biggest change by far, it quickly gets viewers ready to expect something other than the book. But, hey. It’s a three-part series with each movie around three hours that’s based on a 300 page childrens book. What were you expecting?

The biggest–and likely most controversial change–is not that they left something out of the movie. Rather, they added in two characters; Legolas and Tauriel. Of course, any fan of the Lord of the Rings series knows who Legolas is, either for his expert archery or his dreamy presence. However, Tauriel is completely new.

Now, I’m all for introducing some kick-ass she-elf into a movie. No complaints there. However, with her, Middle Earth starts to become Hollywood. When the dwarves become imprisoned in the woodland elves’ kingdom, she starts a friendship with Kili, a prisoner.

This leads to some jealousy from Legolas, who is later revealed to have feelings for Tauriel. Okay, so maybe this is Peter Jackson’s way of taking pity on the girlfriends that get dragged along to the midnight screening of the movie. But next time, leave out the romance.

But aside from the unnecessary love triangle that she brings up, Tauriel becomes an incredibly fun character to watch. When Bilbo and the dwarves escape the Elven kingdom through barrels (and a sidenote here, when Bilbo releases the barrels there are only enough for the dwarves, yet when they are in the river there are more than 13. What?), the elves try to stop them by sealing a gate and blockading the river. However their plan backfires when the orcs appear and start attacking both parties.

When all seems hopeless for the weary travelers, arrows start to fly. Legolas and Tauriel are here to save the day! And somebody who originally just seemed like she was there for love becomes a machine of death, shooting orcs in the throat and cutting their heads off.

After Kili is able to open the gates, the dwarves in barrels rush down the river, which is flanked by orcs. But in a somewhat odd turn of events the elves start attacking the orcs so their prisoners can escape. Nevertheless, it leads to a grueling five minute scene of total badassery, which justifies Jackson’s decision to create some new characters.

Another large change is inside the lonely mountain. In the book, Bilbo awakens the dragon, makes it furious, and the dragon flies off and starts to ravage Laketown. But again, that was not good enough for Jackson.

Rather, all of the dwarves, minus Kili, Fili, Oin and Bofur, make their way inside the mountain with Bilbo and decide to fight Smaug themselves. In a very unconventional display, they basically restart the mountain’s furnaces and drop a bunch of rocks and gold on Smaug. While that is slightly odd, it ends up being a pretty cool scene, if you like action. Once again, point Jackson.

Finally, the last major change doesn’t at all have to do with the dwarves or Bilbo. It deals with Gandalf. In the book, he leaves the troupe at Mirkwood and goes off on his own mission. He does this in the movie as well. However, Jackson once again makes the movie his own and decides to go more in depth.

In the novel, we don’t hear from Gandalf for a long while, and when he comes back, we learn that he was just disposing of the Necromancer. Typical Sunday. But now, in a smart way of filling up the 150 minute time slot, we see it all play out. We see him making his way across the lands, meet Radagast, and singlehandedly attacks the Necromancer. In an overwhelming battle, Gandalf is defeated by the Necromancer, who reveals itself to be Sauron. Once again, Jackson lets his imagination take us on a bit of an adventure, and it works out for the best.

Fans of the book can ridicule the movie for all of the changes. Bombur doesn’t fall into the enchanted river. Kili was never originally shot. Thorin was captured separately by elves than the rest of the dwarves. The escape downriver was not at all a fight scene. In the eyes of some, the movie is The Desolation of the book, The Hobbit.

However, sometimes it’s okay to make changes. Especially when you’re adapting a 1937 book into a 2013 film. Some changes are meant to be made, and Peter Jackson makes all of the correct ones.