Hobbit: The Anti-Cringe Cut, The

Watching a HOBBIT edit for me is difficult, since I am naturally conflicted having spent 4 year building mine.

HOWEVER, with the passage of time, memories fade, wounds heal...and Don Kamillo's was the first I had seen (back in August 2021) in a very long time (having only watched a handful previously, Spence's being one of them).

First up, I really appreciated the 5 episode structure. Not least because I could watch this over a few days...but now, let's get into the weeds.

Audio/Video Quality - 10
There is nothin to fault here. I watched this on a 55 Inch TV - Clean.

Visual Editing - 10
Flawless.

There are many original and unexpected creative choices in this edit, which I will not spoil by detailing too many. They are expertly executed with real finesse in places since the changes are NOT as easy to pull off as one would imagine. I was genuinely impressed.

Audio Editing - 10
Flawless
Similarly, watching and waiting for that tell tale sign of a movies I know so well repeatedly surprised me as my mind would naturally expect a certain piece of music or audio to follow, only to be gently (and seamlessly) taken off in a new direction. Very fine work there.

Narrative - 10
I have to score the narrative on the basis of "does it work"? "Is there something wrong"?
This CANNOT be... "oooo I don't like that"...that's not point of this category...The Q is "does it work, flow and engage"?
YUP - Sure does folks!!, Even with the multiple inclusions/excisions which I did not make, here in DK's vision they absolutely make sense and do not create any anachronisms or continuity issues. Once again, disciplined and informed choices all round.
The choices I made in my edit are IRRELEVANT. One must be objective.

Enjoyment - 9
My enjoyment of this creation was through the roof frankly, not least because it did take me on a new journey and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. Inevitably,subjectivity will inform this category; I have reluctantly docked one point here since there were some choices I would like to have seen NOT make it into this edit...but that in no way should diminish the fact that this was a superb assembly and execution, with very well placed episode endings, each episode being well paced and feeling self contained with no real jarring content...ANTI-CRINGE for sure.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

FINALLY...

Thanks you for being so gracious and patient when I was unsuccessfully trying to unzip this. You were polite, constructive and a true gentleman and professional.

See you in the Trenches !

Massive fan of Jackson's LOTR trilogy, but avoided the Hobbit films like the plague after enduring the first film's stupidities and self indulgence. And 3 films? Surely 2 would have done. So I come to this with a love of storytelling and familiarity with the book and Tolkien's world, but no intimate first-hand knowledge of the famously bloated Hobbit trilogy. I watched the 5-episode version of this cut, 1 episode each night, and was gripped to the end. Character development, pacing and technical quality are all first rate. I can't imagine any more footage being needed. I also don't care what was in the book and what wasn't, I care for the story and execution, and as a standalone film this cut is almost always internally consistent, save the slightly odd jump in narrative in a few spots (and the 5 episode structure cushions these bumps, like a TV show episode structure would - I can't speak for the 5 hour continuous version of this edit). The gentle tie-ins with the Lord of the Rings do not feel overdone either. My first Hobbit edit and possibly the last - because I found it so deeply satisfying. Well done DonKamilo.

DonKamillo does some crazy work to trim this trilogy down. Having read the book and knowing it is pretty light reading, I never understood the vast majority of the fluff in this series.

Never noticed any cuts, weird audio transitions, or anything. If you told me this was the official version and the official version was the hyper-extended cut that couldn't get greenlit by hollywood, I would believe you.

If you did not see the originals, you would never miss what is missing.

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.

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.