Hobbit: The Anti-Cringe Cut, The

I watched the version with 5 episodes, which I thought was a great idea. I couldn’t fault the audio and visual editing for the most part, however the lurid colours used for the title at the beginning of each episode wouldn’t be to my taste, they looked a bit tacky to me. I also remember a pretty noticeable cut at the “out of the frying pan into the fire“ point, where the light changes quite suddenly. I do believe other edits have edited that part a little more smoothly. You correctly imo deleted the very cringeworthy Orc ambush/Radagast bunny sled sequence, yet at the beginning of episode 2, during the dinner scene in Rivendell, Gandalf mentions being ambushed by orcs. I was also disappointed to see several cringeworthy scenes retained in episode 2, namely some of the dwarves antics and the song number in Rivendell, the entirety of the sockem Rockem Stone giants scene and the Goblin King song. Good effort overall though.

First and foremost i have never read the books, The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. I'm not much of a reader, only a movie watcher. The Hobbit movies are not as good as Lord of the Rings but i still enjoyed them a lot

So when i seen the movies in the theater i had no issue with extra stuff that didn't belong, like Azog, Radagast or the Necromancer. A lot of it seemed silly and unnecessary but i just went a long with it. That being said i didn't mind one bit having that stuff edited out. No more silly barrel antics, no more silly dwarf stuff in the final battle, no more love triangle, no white council meeting. It's trimmed down nicely. Also no more Legolas running/floating up falling rocks. In Lord of the Rings when Leolas flew up the oliphants it was real cool. So it was already established he could float around with ease, but here it seemed silly and tacked on. Also glad their time with the woodland elves was cut short, i just wanted them to hurry up and get on their way. Same with Lake town. It went on for too long, so glad it got trimmed.

Unlike some people i never minded how long the beginning of Unexpected Journey was. A lot of people said it took them too long to get out of the Shire. I loved the Shire stuff. But it was other stuff that seemed to drag on to me like Woodland Elves or the scene with the Trolls, Lake Town etc.

I was hoping while watching this that when we get to the final battle, that you did what is in the book and cartoon and trim the battle down by having Bilbo miss it all while knocked out and you did that very thing. Bravo, i loved it. And while i haven't read the book, i have seen the Cartoon and read some of the differences online.

I only have a few minor gripes but they probably couldn't of been helped. Like Alfrid has that look like he can't be trusted for 1 second but yet he can. Or making it sound like a big deal that Thorin needs to cut the head off the snake yet nothing comes of it. And i wish it was possible to see Kili dead on the battlefield, but i just popped in my dvd and see that it would not have been possible since Tauriel is in the only shots of him. Oh well can't be helped. Another thing it's not explained how Kili heals from his leg injury. It's another thing that can't be helped, since it once again involves Tauriel.

Overall, i loved it. I have not seen any other fan edits of The Hobbit, but i probably don't need to. You probably couldn't make it any better.

First of all, I want to say thanks to everybody for enabling me watching this. Second, I wouldn't call me neither a film or a tolkien expert, but just a fan with average knowledge who wnats to share his thoughts.
So is this cut any good? In short, I'd say yes, plain and simple.
What I liked immediately was the format of the miniseries which makes "The Hobbit", as DonKamillo put it, much better to digest - sitting there for some 5 hours takes... well, quite a while!
I also appreciate this edit technically, as I couldn't find any flaws regarding cutting within both, video and audio - it's all perfect, really, and it sets a wonderful tone similar to the LOTR film trilogy.
This edit is not the true-to-the-book edit, but the anti-cringe edit, and I get and confirm that: It leaves out many of the bloated stuff like Azog and Radagast in their totality, the horrible romance between Tauriel and Kili, the orcs attacking the barrelled dwarves, the scheming moves of Laketown's master (and servant)...
These and some more left-outs make you cringe less most definitely, and they also help to keep the focus on the main protagonists and storyline.
Now, if you don't know the book, this edit is indeed a solid recommendation and big improvement over the original three movies, and I think i will never reach out for these again.

Unfortunately (and unlike, say, Star Wars), "The Hobbit" is a well-read classic of the 20th century, so it cannot but be compared to the written book.
And so, it fails...
I had quite some observations from things I disliked during watching this edit, but after refreshing my memory with some help from Google, I realized DonKamillo can't be blamed on most of them... what kept stuck in my head were two things here:
While it's great we don't learn any of Laketowns hideous politics, Alfrid Lickspittle (the servant) is still present in the movie, but I think his attention-grabbing presence is not justified at all now (except discovering Bilbo's escape after handing over the Arkenstone, but that's hardly something essential) and distracts from the ongoings: You think "uh, that Mr. Eyebrows must have something wicked going on!", but there's just nothing...

A similar effect (I mean makin' you feel there's an important character, but then nothing is made out of it) is at the very end of the grand battle, where the dwarves seek out to "cut off the head of the snake", and then all there is are some few orcs - of course, that's where Azog was to come in.

Minor flaws, really. But DonKamillo can't save "The Hobbit"; the ultra-dislikeable Thorin (who would ever call that always grim and harsh fella his "friend"???), the change of some of the most crucial and memorable scenes (dwarves are IN the barrels to remain unseen during their voyage down the river, hence the "barrel-rider!") and lines (Thorin's famous last speech:"...If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now...") will always be a slag in the face of Tolkien fans, and the only thing I can hope for is there will be a better film adaption for "The Hobbit" one day.
The only good thing about the present project is Martin Freeman: I still think he's the perfect Bilbo, playing with a feel of being overstrained, a fitting down-to earthness and with a big heart -okay, some dwarves are also fine, and of coursethe reunion of some of the "old" cast. But Martin is gold.

Being a fan of the book the hobbit, I looked for the best possible version of the movies. I sincerely think this one is the best, everything is perfectly cut.

Truly a great edit of "The Hobbit" trilogy. The cuts are seamless throughout, with only minor issues during the last battle. Overall this is tremendous.