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

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

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 am a huge LotR's fan but really struggled to enjoy/finish the original Hobbit trilogy. I found them extremely bloated and tough to sit through (I fell asleep in the theatre several times). Fortunately, this was one of my first introductions to fan editing and it honestly set the bar extremely high. Not only did I love this edit but it's now my only go-to when watching these movies.

The scene edits for the most part are perfectly executed with only a few very small cuts that are slightly noticeable. I was particularly impressed and how the Smaug scene played out as that seemed to go on for days in the original cut.

The pacing and storytelling were very well done considering a large chunk of the trilogy was cut and anyone who can still keep my attention for a 4-hour feature length film has my instant approval.

I only had the stereo SD version for years but thankfully just got the 5.1 1080p version and can't wait to watch this again.

Thank you for making these movies watchable in one sitting and inspiring me enough to take on my own edits. I highly recommend this version.

Dustin Lee has created a great edit of The Hobbit trilogy that is definitely worth watching.

I'm going to start off and say that I have never seen The Hobbit trilogy in its original form. I loved the novel since I've read it in middle school, but I never watched the movies because I'd heard so many negative things about them. I didn't want such a great story that I adored to be ruined by a poor adaptation. I asked around to see what the best fanedit of the trilogy was that I could watch. I had two big recommends: the Maple Films/Dustin Lee edit, and the Original Two-Film Structure (which I have yet to watch). So I decided to give this one a try.

I was not disappointed. Dustin did a masterful job of editing the films into one four-hour film (that I watched split into the two-hour parts split by an intermission. In a way, this was also the original two-film structure).

Audio/Video Quality:
Both were absolutely superb. It was a 1080p MP4 with a 5.1 surround track, giving the full experience of watching the film. I especially appreciated the 5.1 track, as it is something often omitted/converted to stereo in fanedits.

Visual Editing:
At no point in the film did I notice that any visual editing had been done. This is a good sign! It means that everything was seamlessly integrated into the new story. Well done.

Audio Editing:
Also superb. No complaints here.

Narrative:
I loved how close to the book this adaptation was. Sure, there was still a bit of extra stuff in there, but I didn't find any of it to detract from the story. There was also no point in the film where I thought, "Something was definitely taken out." Dustin has essentially rewritten the film into a cohesive plot that follows Tolkien's original novel.

Enjoyment:
Overall, I very much enjoyed watching this. It will be a part of my collection from now on. Well done, Dustin!

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