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

Most of the critique offered of these films comes from Tolkien fans and unsurprisingly most of the criticism is about adaption. For me this hides a more fundamental truth about the films failures. Whatever ones enthusiasm for the source :

1) They are extremely poorly structured, the set ups are over long and tedious, the pacing is off and the resolution to many of the set ups either telegraphed or simply wither.
2) They lack any kind of tonal personality or coherence. Indeed they do not know what they are or whom they are for. They attempt to be an homage, all-round family entertainment, profound and geo political and replace the charm of the book with occasional bouts of the most excruciatingly unfunny humour and in the last film the gags become vicious and brutal.
3) The most lamentable element is the poor values of the story telling endless fighting which achieves no change, characters undergo experiences and do not change and relationships are inconsistent. You can remove entire sections and no story telling is lost that is why the experience of watching them induces fatigue. Even more insidious are sub plots which threaten to overwhelm and indeed detract from the main story.

Some how the maker of this edit has managed to reduce or expunge many of these problems but he has had to be brutal. The sub plot of Dol Gulder which could have given these films there gravitas is axed and separated out into a small feature, entirely necessary, but the re imagining of the Hobbit in the style of the Rings needed that sub plot and was rich with potential. Indeed because it was sketched into the appendices of the Rings it needed first class writers to flesh it out and these films convince me that Fran and Phillippa, however dedicated, just do not have the talent to create something special by extension.

Other changes are less brutal but the editor of this film knows his subject and so we see Martins Bilbo emerge in to the central performance and shines more brightly for it. Curiously his editing style, which gives the story pace and focus, then enables you to enjoy the physical establishment of middle earth that much more and all the hard work of the fantastic crew in Wellington who created the textures of the film.

As others have said elements are clunky particularly the Dwarf deaths but if you want to sit down with the Hobbit as a winter film without your teeth grinding this is the ones to watch.

I have seen the Theatrical versions of all 3 films, the extended versions of the first 2 (yet to watch my copy of BOTFA:EE), and The Spence Edit that combines all 3 movies into one. Well I have to say, above all of those, THIS is my favourite Hobbit viewing experience! The plot remains focused on Bilbo and the Dwarves throughout and this really emphasises stronger character connections. Special moments between Bilbo and Thorin or Bilbo and Bofur really shine as they're no longer lost among a ton of bloat. This actually made the ending feel way more impactful and I actually teared up a little which is something I have never done watching The Hobbit movies before. Including 1 or 2 extended edition scenes from the 3rd movie really helped with this too. I'm amazed Dustin has managed to cut so much and yet this edit still has so much heart.

There are some really positive edits made in this fanfix:

- Cutting Azog nearly entirely from the first film and he and Bolg completely from the second.
- Cutting Radagast and his woodland creatures entirely.
- Cutting the "Where is Thrain, is he alive?" plotline.
- Reducing Legolas/Tauriel, their subplot really isn't that interesting.
- Cutting out some of the ridiculous action scenes; Bombur's barrel bouncing, the erebor molten gold scene and especially some of Legolas' antics which are ludicrous (the falling stairs one!)
- The dragon sickness is mentioned plenty and it's effect on Thorin becomes very clear but no longer are you slapped in the face with it repeatedly (That awful Thorin hallucination scene)
- The bad VFX shots like in the molten gold scene are gone, he even colour corrected the GoPro shot in the barrel riding scene so that it blends in seamlessly.

There are very few drawbacks to this version but they are:

- The scene with Bilbo sat on the bench where Gandalf is introduced is a little too desaturated, this is fixed in the blu-ray but not in the MP4.

- There is a short intermission half way through the running time where they meet bard. This is fine on the blu-ray version as it is split across 2 discs but the the full length MP4 version also has it which means you may need to fast forward through it if you're watching in one sitting.

- The shot of Smaug flying from Erebor covered in gold is still present - it's been masterfully recoloured to the colour of his flesh by the editor, but it still is dripping from him and stands out like a sore thumb. I'm certain with a bit of creative editing this shot could be fully removed.

[SPOILER START]

- Towards the end two character deaths have been moved to occur at the same time, this is a great idea as it removed Legolas' action scenes with Bolg and aids in keeping the Tauriel/Kili romantic plotline out of the movie. However it's not executed flawlessly. Azog stabs one of the characters and Bolg stabs another, reaction shots are shown but when it cuts back to Azog the character he stabbed has vanished, no body is even visible. This was jarring for me and I had to accept that he'd died without any real impact. It felt quick. I would have included Azog dropping the body, cut the shot of him falling past Kili below, and had either another reaction shot to hide the cut or gone straight to the shot of the body hitting the floor, whatever worked. Aside from this their deaths were well done. Just a bit of jarring editing for me personally.

[SPOILER END]

Overall though the visual and auditory quality is fantastic. The narrative is the best I've seen for The Hobbit and really made me rank it much closer to LOTR. Enjoyment factor through the roof and all in 4 hours. Astounding work from Dustin Lee!

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.

Overall this was very good. I have not seen a bunch of different Hobbit edits, but this one was very close to what I wanted so I am happy to stick with this.
What I wanted (which this edit delivered):
1. Doesn't need to be pure to the book, but should avoid unnecessary changes. (I'm not opposed to changes in principle but IMO Jackson's changes are always overwritten and trite)
2. Doesn't need to be short, but should avoid the long, cringey and ultimately boring action scenes which are the principle source of bloat in the films.
There were only a few points that could use a little tuning. There were a few jarring cuts, for instance at the Front Porch. And the final battle still felt a little long to me.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this edit. The next time I watch the Hobbit it will be this cut.

Excellent stuff! video quality is not great i must say but overall very enjoyable! theres only like a couple places where it's a bit jarring and obvious of a cut like "ok yeah something used to be there" but I don't blame him for that because its better than the actual thing. This is literally the only way i will watch the hobbit from now on!