J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (Maple Films Edit)

If you watched the Hobbit movies because you loved Tolkien's book, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is for you. I did not notice any problems with Audio/Video quality or Audio Editing, but there is one very noticeable visual edit of an unsalvageable scene with Smaug. That scene aside, a first time viewer could watch this film without knowing it was a fan edit. The narrative is straightforward without losing interest, and focuses primarily on the characters we come to care about. Compared to the original films, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is a more enjoyable and less bloated way to take part in Bilbo's Adventures.

The first Hobbit edit I ever saw, and one of what I consider to be the "Big Five" of the Hobbit edits. Not to mention, THE most popular edit on this entire site. Quite an achievement.

My only complaint here was leaving some shots of the dwarves fighting off Smaug inside the mountain. I understand and respect your reasons, however the scenes belittled Smaug a little to me, and I think you'd have been better off without them!

The Pros you ask? Well, to be frank, the entire rest of this edit is a pro. Your color corrected Smaug was genius, your use of the previously un-used score at the ending worked very well, your color re-grade was excellent, your digital removal of Radagast, your barrel sequence, Smaug sequence, the list goes on and on.

I recreated your barrel-chase sequence and it took me AGES to figure out how you cut out a shot of Tauriel, and eventually I realized that you just made a hard cut MID-SONG and you did it SO well, that it sounds like the song was meant to be that way! Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Even after I'd figured it out, it took me forever to replicate it.

I'd list more things I loved about this edit but anyone reading this might as well just read your change-log because everything on there is bloody marvelous. Great work Dustin, truly the pinnacle of Hobbit Edits, in my humble opinion.

I can't recommend this edit enough! Dustin Lee did a fantastic job cutting this bloated trilogy into a single excellent movie.

The visual and audio editing is top-notch and seamless. I also love how Lee recolored the film to look more like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That was a nice touch.

Lee did a perfect job chipping away the excess bloat and cringe-worthy moments, making this not only watchable, but a fantastic movie that's rewatch worthy (I've watched it about 4 times now in total). Not to sound like an infomercial, but it makes for a great start off point in anyone's Lord of the Rings marathon.

Like I said at the beginning, I can't recommend this edit enough!

10/10

I've watched other Hobbit edits before watching this one.
Suffice to say that this is the only version of The Hobbit trilogy I recommend watching. In tone its true to the spirit of LoTR that most fans anticipated in the films. It was there, between the stretch-marks of a studio-mandated third film. What Dustin's done here is a monumental task. He's taken 12 hours of films that were filled to the brim with incoherent nonsense, and he made it a close approximation of the film that PJ has intended to make, when it was just two films that combine to make one long watch.
I've seen both the theatrical and the extended films, and lost interest in The Hobbit as a franchise almost entirely, until. now. After watching it just once, I found myself lipsyncing on my second watch, much in the way I always have while watching Lord of the Rings.
Dustin's made some very clever edits. While watching this, every time it hits me that when Smeagol says "Just us", he's referrng to excluding Gollum. In the theatrical and extended movies this comes off as just a joke on the insane Gollum, perhaps because of the timing. I absolutely love this, because it reveals a step of nuance in that Bilbo never even picked up on Smeagol's split personality and simply perceives him as a raving lunatic, but the audience gets it..
I will never watch the theatrical or extended films again. Maybe after many many many more rewatches of Dustin's cut, I might give them a go, but I feel like it'd be a disservice to what I consider the definitive version of The Hobbit.
I'll also mention that visual editing is fantastic and just slightly tweaked enough to make a more coherent visual fidelity with LotR. I've only seen it twice now and am yet to see anything that I wouldn't agree with as a good and appropriate creative decision. This really is The Hobbit with the grissle cut out- 65% of the footage is cut. I'm honestly in love with this Edit. Actually it makes me as obsessed as I've been with LotR. Hard to believe, but seriously. It was so hard for me to believe that I had to sign up just to write this review.
We didn't have this edit. It was taken from us. But Dustin helped to take it back, and he could.
This is probably the best version of The Hobbit there will ever be.

Well,

I have to say, I had high hopes for this, I even hyped it up to my friends prior to watching seeing the good reviews and whatnot. And wow did it deliver.

Here's the thing: I watched this with 3 other people, 1 one of whom had seen The Hobbit trilogy once before, the other 2 having not seen the trilogy at all (but they did watch LOTR). For my part, I watched The Hobbit trilogy Extended Edition once like 6 months ago after seeing them in theater, and LOTR, well, I lost count. We watched both the movie and the short film, Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery, which I will rate separately from the main edit. The most important part is still the main movie, after all.

So, this is splendid work. What Maple Films have accomplished is incredible. I can safely say this will replace The Hobbit for me, and I kinda like the original movies, even though they're quite bloated. This is just better pretty much on all fronts, including the short story.

Editing is seamless throughout, especially audio. I LOVE how Maple Films changed some of the soundtrack in the movie to that of The Hobbit (or outright removed some scenes with the wrong LOTR music in it), excellent choice. Much of the info that has been cut out, like Azog's lack of presence early in the movie, the viewer can fill in very, very easily. The focus is on Bilbo, and it's for the better.

Here's what those who watched with me said (remember, 1 who had seen the trilogy before, 2 who hadn't):

- Everything makes sense. They never felt lost, although some events happened rather quickly near the end.
- The pacing is perfect, they weren't bored nor overwhelmed.
- Without dragon sickness they would have hated Thorin to the core, so he makes for an odd but interesting protagonist (or side protagonist, actually)
- They loved Gandalf's sidequest, but understand why it was cut. It's not relevant to Bilbo's story.

There is 1 edit which we found jarring: When the company is going into the tunnels to receive cover from the rain after leaving Rivendell (and fall into the goblin caves), Bilbo slips and falls off the cliff. The edit at this moment is quite jarring and goes from "Bilbo standing on the cliff slipping" to "Bilbo holding by 1 hand off the edge" like instantly. All 4 of us noticed.

The end with the 2 dwarves dying was a bit quick too, but I thought it would be worse. Kudos for pulling it off, seeing how complicated this situation was to begin with. Also, not even 1 of them noticed the dragon flying with gold pouring around him, so I guess this is really not an issue for first-time viewers. And I even told them there would be a visual continuity issue in the movie beforehand, and they still didn't notice. I'd say this is very much non-factor and affects only repeat viewers. After I told them, they said they thought it was dirt or remnants of the wall or something. The brain just fills it in, it would seem.

The actual Battle of the Five Armies is a bit of a mess, but then again, it is as well in the original. Cutting it just serves the story, which is what matters in the end.

Overall, I would highly recommend this edit as a replacement for The Hobbit trilogy. Tells a full, concise and cohesive story, sticks to the main characters very well, and doesn't omit any important character moments.

As for Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery: I feel like either of 2 things could be done with it.

1. Trim down the scenes which are also included in the movie cut, especially the scenes before entering Mirkwood, and the scene before Radagast the Brown meets the company. Some of those scenes are borderline related with the Hill of Sorcery and its subplot anyway.

or

2. Remove everything not related to Gandalf and Radagast's adventures. That would remove about 30-35 minutes of content. Yes, that includes Thrain in Dol Goldur. For that, a good source of that scene would be the theatrical cut of Desolation of Smaug, where Thrain doesn't appear at all. Durin's Folk and their story is not essential viewing leading into LOTR, so it's not necessary and could be removed. Dol Goldur and the Necromancer, however, are.

Still, Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery is well put together, and definitely worth the watch. A great prelude to Lord of the Rings.

Thank you Maple Films for this great work.

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit by Maple Films: 9.9/10
Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery: 9/10