Hobbit Part 1: The Quest for Erebor, The

Excellent edit, though I find myself missing a few bits and pieces here and there (a perfect version in my mind needs "Blunt the Knives") this is much more watchable than the bloated originals, great job Wraith!

This review is for both parts of this edit.

I admit I’d given up hope on the Hobbit. I’m someone who first was exposed to the Tolkien world through the Fellowship of the Ring movie. I’ve since read the books, including the Hobbit. But I never wanted a book version of the Hobbit. Jackson seems to have not wanted one either, but felt he had to in some ways. The result was a disjointed and uneven theatrical version. The extended editions are better but still have too much.

This edit is the best I’ve seen. Though I admit I stopped trying after BotFA was released. This feels more like a prequel to LotR. But no edit will erase the flaws that were filmed. I recently rewatched LotR and it holds up. The world feels real, lived in. Here the CGI and sets stand out like a sore thumb; it feels rushed compared to LotR. It’s an inferior prequel, to be sure, but lord knows we’re used to that at this point. But if you’re interested in a prequel rather than a Hobbit movie, this is probably the best you’re going to get. There are pacing issues introduced by the edit. But I prefer these hiccups to the original. And that, my friends, is actually a ringing endorsement of Wraith’s work!

I still think that the best parts are in the early parts and it falls apart in the the conclusion. It definitely has the feeling of a Marvel movie where the last third is bombast for the purpose of bombast. Little is achieved narratively from a way too long action scene. And, my god, I don’t care if it was what Tolkien wrote (I can’t remember), repeatedly writing the heroes into impossible to survive circumstances and then having them saved at the last minutes by eagles is lame.

The Hobbit trilogy will never rise to the level of Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. But this is now a watchable prequel.

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!

It has become rather difficult to review Hobbit edits here on IFDB and not be biased by one's own personal preferences, but I will try!

I think I watched the Tolkein Edit version of Wraith's project.

For starters, I'll say that starting the movie with the Prancing Pony scene was marvelous! It's a great introduction for Thorin; the scene was great, it just gets cut out of a lot of edits due to the 3-in-1 structure that most people adopt, or even the 3-in-2 structure that usually doesn't have a prologue at the start of part 2. You circumvented this by putting it at the very beginning!

Wraith states that he left no scene untouched, and that is quite apparent! He put a lot of love and careful consideration into every FRAME of these films, and has created a beautiful work of art as a result. I can't pretend to be anything other than a total amateur at this, and so I also can't pretend to think that I know how every single little scene and frame could/would be improved, so I mostly stay away from the micro-cutting. I think this led me to find the abundance of cuts here to be a little jarring, but overall I don't think most people will notice; I think it stems from the number of edits I've seen (not to mention the originals)

Other than that small nitpick, and my own personal preferences for what got cut/left in, I don't have any complaints! This is a wonderful 2-film edit of the Hobbit, and I think anyone and everyone who is interested should not only watch it, but I think they will find themselves quite pleased to see that Wraith here has provided different versions of his edit for people who desire different things to be cut or left in! "It's got a little something for everyone." Great idea here man, and great work!

This review is for both of Wraith's Hobbit edits.

There are moments in Jackson's three Hobbit films that bring tears to my eyes and moments that make me want to gouge them out. If any trilogy needed to be edited, the Hobbit is it. Other fan editors have tried to create a book version. I don't think those work. As much as I adore the Rankin Bass version, a film has different needs than a 1977 cartoon that was structured very differently. That said, Jackson would've done well to adopt the charm of that film and drop the excess.

Wraith goes a long way towards streamlining the films in a way that doesn't harm too much of the narrative, and has a good technical skill to make it appear seamless. The White Council scenes and Dol Goldur--which feature some of the most powerful scenes in all six of Jackson's Middle Earth films--are thankfully kept intact, if sometimes spread out in ways that are interesting. Same with Radagast. Without the silly stick creature and getting high scene, he's a much more believable as one of the Istari instead of being played as yet more comic relief.

The opening is a much better edit than the original in terms of setting up the story, introducing Gandalf and Thorin and the quest.

Freeman epitomizes Bilbo for me; he's not perfect (he's sometimes too modern), but Ian Holm was always too old for the role in LOTR ("You haven't aged a day," gasps Gandalf upon seeing Bilbo again). Minimizing him (and getting Frodo gone) was good.

Some of the early parts of the film go by a little too quickly now for my tastes. So, while I'm glad to get rid of the excess dwarf antics in Bilbo's home, I'm not as happy to lose the Stone Giants (I can't fathom why so many fan editors delete what is such a magical scene that's so well done) or the songs in Goblin Town. So, those parts feel a bit rushed for my taste. That said, I might've trimmed some of Gollum, if only because I don't like the direction Jackson and Serkis took with him in this film. He should've been kept creepier until the moment Bilbo decides not to kill him (and even that's slightly overcooked).

On the other hand, losing Tauriel and the very ill-advised love-triangle was a revelation! For one thing, Evangeline Lily was miscast. Unlike Liv Tyler, Lily feels like an actress playing an Elf. And the overt romantic aspects (meant to appeal to a broader audience) don't work at all. Kili himself doesn't work. Thorin looks close enough to a Human; Kili crosses the line entirely.

Cutting Bard's family was another smart move. Luke Evans as Bard was another miscast. When a character requires his kids to make him likable, there's something wrong. What should've been a noble loner was turned into an unpleasant curmudgeon. Jackson compounded the problem by having a goofy Master and the goofier Alfrid. Had Bill Nighy or Charles Dance been the Master, you'd have had a real sense of danger. Instead, it's cartoonish and there are no stakes. To make up for that, Jackson added a pointless and annoying fight between Legolas and the most ill-conceived orc in film history. By removing all of that (except Bard, who we're stuck with), it makes for a less annoying film, but unfortunately one that leaves Lake Town as an abstraction and mere stepping stone to the Mountain. So, the audience doesn't care as much about Smaug destroying it. But these are structural problems no editor can overcome.

Getting on to third act. I struggled with the original third film. It's so bloated and overlong that what should've been exciting is simply boring. Well, I'm happy to announce that for the first time, the Battle of Five Armies works! The trims create tension and dynamics, both of which were missing. Not sure why the giant worms were left out (as with the Stone Giants, they're a unique creature to the world), but the rest is glorious and much stronger!

Some minor nits to pick. The 2.0 audio isn't great. (I upscaled it to a DTS neural track on my system, but it's still unpleasant). And some of the color grading was muted to such a degree that it looked black & white (see the scene outside of Mirkwood). I'm an audio & videophile, so the occasionally degraded picture and sound quality are things I can't help but notice. For most people, it won't be an issue.

This was such a fascinating edit and I'm grateful to Wraith for creating it!