Hobbit: The Anti-Cringe Cut, The

Holy crap. This edit was beautiful, one of [if not] the best I've seen, alongside Scott Pilgrim vs. the Editor.

I was not a fan of The Hobbit when it came out. I'm 17 now, so I was 10 when then, and a fan of Lord of the Rings. Not a huge fan as I didn't really appreciate things that much back then, but I certainly was entertained by the series. Nothing particularly stood out to me as 'bad' in these films, they were just boring and a little stretched out for my liking. I saw the first one and didn't like it all too much. The second one was better, I really enjoyed Smaug hanging out in the gold, and the stuff with the elves. Never got around to seeing the third one, or rewatching the first two, even after buying the 6-film Middle Earth collection a few years ago (when I became more interested in film, and the Lord of the Rings series).

A little after getting into fanedits earlier this year, I decided that I'd like to try out The Hobbit again. I debated between this edit, and the Original Two-Film structure for my first endeavor, and this one was what I decided on, as there is more cut and the miniseries format lends itself to keeping my attention span.

Anyways, enough about myself. This edit was phenomenal! I can't give very good specifics as I'm not all too familiar with the source content, but I never got bored during the edit, and each episode wrapped up perfectly as it's own narrative. This edit turned me from a [presumed] Hobbit hater, to an actual fan of the series, and debating where I rank it amongst the rest of the Middle Earth set.

I noted a few small issues in editing, not with audio but with visual transitions, most likely just due to the source material available (there was one crossfade from a tracking shot on I think Thorin's head to a landscape, and just the speed/context of the fade was a little strange). Additionally, while, again, I'm not familiar with the source and it could be in there already, there was a few moments where dialogue was cut kind of awkwardly. Not so much that it took me out of the moment, but I felt that some stuff cut messed up the pacing - although I'm sure it successfully "Anti-Cringed" it. (For example, when Bard stands up to Smaug, Smaug doesn't see nor hear him, but somehow notices him immediately and starts speaking to him). However, editing still gets a 10/10 because the % I'd give it would round up anyways...

This edit was extremely well done, and I'm super interested in checking out The Last Jedi - Anti-Cringe Cut now.

Okay, this may just be one of the absolute greatest fanedits I've ever seen. Admittedly, I'm a big fan of the Hobbit trilogy as is, but as someone who really adores the book, I was so happy with how more skillfully and much better this five-hour epic captures the spirit of the original source material. All of the changes, edits, and cuts made are for the absolute better, allowing for the story to flow more smoothly and the characters to be more interesting and involving. In my eyes, this is the definitive adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's unforgettable story. Flawlessly edited and visually stunning. Loved this so much.

I appreciate the attention to detail in removing the god awful cringe from the films, this is great.

In the past Alfrid's massive and inexplicably bouncy, gold-laden bosom had me flare up with dragon sickness for a fraction of a second until I realised what was going on; the ridiculous love triangle, wherein Kili for some reason had a substantially normal/smaller nose than his brother, presumably to make Tauriel amenable to him and have him as a romantic lead - an unnecessary pollution of the original narrative - finally I am indeed able to avoid all the cringe and cherish the good parts of this trilogy.

Thank you for this.

I greatly enjoyed this edit. Especially the idea of making it a mini series is incredibly. The pacing is terrific and each episode basically invites the viewer to immediately binge the next.

It reminded me how people when I ask to watch a long movie go NOOO three hours are you INSANE? But then does binge 5 episodes of a tv show for five hours lmao. I think this approach makes the Hobbit far more accessible!

Well done and if I had to nitpick it would be that the ending still feels edited, which is to be expected considering the terrible source material. I havent seen a single edit where the final battle was completely satisfying for me, but kudos because it was very creative with the flashback!

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 !