Review Detail

This review is for both Hobbit movies.

I have always been a fan of the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated movie due to its brevity, seriousness, and tone. I thought this replicated those feelings flawlessly (which is what I was hoping to experience when the Hobbit movies were coming out).

I thought I would miss some seemingly pointless things that Peter Jackson added since I've watched the originals a handful of times, but the pacing in these was just perfect and felt more like a movie deserving to be called the Hobbit (instead of what the originals felt like: More Crap from the World of Middle Earth Thrown into a Blender). I couldn't think of anything that I missed from the originals.

The color changes that are made here were subtle yet helped these look like the same world as the LotR movies. This was executed wonderfully, resulting in a less jarring segue than the originals had into the LotR movies.

These edits show a lot of care and love of the Middle Earth world that PJ realized 20 years ago and made us fall in love with all over again. This is now my go-to version of the Hobbit prequel. Thank you, Wraith!