Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Arkenstone Edition, The

I made an account just so that I could write this review. This fan edit was fantastic. The original film left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. The awful slapstick and cheesy jokes did not go well with the otherwise dark-ish tone that Jackson was going for. This edit cuts all the annoying crap out, and keeps all (well, mostly all) the good stuff in. Obviously this edit was made to keep continuity with the rest of the trilogy, so as a result, plot points that seem unnecessary and added in had to be kept. Still, only the necessary shots remain in this edit.

Something MUST be said about the audio editing. I gave it a 9, which was tough to do considering it was both one of my favourite as well as least favourite aspects of the edit. The music from the original AUJ was very welcome, and the voice (and visual) clips integrated from The Fellowship of the Ring were incorporated magnificently. The only gripe I have (which is why I gave audio a 9) is that as a result of working your audio wizardry, some of the dialogue is hidden under the score. You can still make out what they're saying, but it's definitely more difficult than it should. Nevertheless, this will be my go-to version of the film from now on, and I look forward to seeing your edit of DoS (which I'm hoping to be able to watch within the next month or so...?)

I'll dive right into this - audio and video was outstanding. Seamless really, like it was a director's cut (but the true director is the problem lately!). Definitely put a personal stamp on the musical sound track with all the reworkings. 10s across the board well earned.

Now for the story. I recently watched the hobbit edit by menbailee, so I could not help but compare the two. Both edits are obviously such a huge improvement over the original, for the same basic reason -they cut out much of the over the top action and humor geared toward kids and made it a more serious movie. But here are my specifics for this edit:

--dwarf prologue; I prefer how menbailee moved these scenes to later parts of the movie.
--the dwarves dinner song, sadly it could have been a good scene but PJ made the action too ridiculous. kerr cut this out completely and I think that's the best call.
--trolls: I'm ok with keeping much of this, it has some silliness, but it's definitely part of the book, which has a lighthearted element. HOWEVER, I found it ridiculous that the dwarves charge and fight until the trolls hold up Bilbo - then they choose to lay down their weapons. Come on! Why would the dwarves do that? Like the trolls are going to then let them all go? Menbailee cut this - though it was a rough cut - I still would rather have that tough transition then a dumb scene.
--Radagast: kerr cut the lame scenes with stick insect and the smoking cross-eyed, nice job. however, I preferred how menbailee left the warg/rabbit sled chase out completely. Which leads me to..
--the White ORC: I don't understand how such a lame villain was created by PJ and group. Boring looking, bad CGI, generic lines and actions. I truly hate this character. As such, I was glad to see his role reduced in both edits - I very much enjoyed how menbailee almost completely cut him from the film. I realize this creates complications with the storyline, but man I'm willing to deal with it, it's worth it.
--Rivendell: kerr's inclusion of the extra material was great, particularly liked scenes with Bilbo just hanging out, and Gandalf and Elrond discussing Thorin. But the Council scene is still out of place and I would have preferred it been cut. They all just happened to be meeting around the same time the dwarves showed up? Their discussion is distracting from the hobbit story. Maybe the scene could be used as a flashback somewhere in the trilogy, I don't know.
--Goblins: well done for the most part, I like how Gandalf beheading the goblin was removed, it's very out of his character to take that so lightly. Removed all the lame video game like action scenes.
--out of the frying pan into the fire: again, i hate the white orc, so this is really a tough scene to salvage, other than shorten any shots of him. Menbailee did this, even to the point of excluding the Thorin/Bolg clash, and it worked well, though it left a mysterious injured Thorin in the final scene. Again, I dislike the white orc so much I'm willing to deal with that. And the whole thing is so Hollywood, Thorin charges, gets knocked down, villain slowly talks and casually has another orc do deathblow (see Austin Powers), and they end up waiting too long so the eagles save the day.
--final scene: Thorin's over dramatic speech to Bilbo is so horrible, have to cut it. Pretending to be mad at him still, then turning it around. Reminded me of dumb and dumber - "then you totally go and redeem yourself!"

In summary, what kerr has created is what I would call a much more mature, yet still family version of the film. The edit by menbailee has less action overall and is more focused on Bilbo - it really plays to a smaller audience of hard core Tolkienites. I see a perfect edit somewhere in the middle of these two. Ultimately the main reason I enjoyed the menbailee edit slightly more was - yes - you guessed it, almost no WHITE ORC!

Nice job Kerr, I hope you will take on the challenge of the Desecration of Smaug.

This is the movie I wanted to see at the cinema!

Faster pace, more focused, and best of all much more music from The Hobbit's score is used giving the film its own identity.

I watched this edit on Blu-Ray and it looks (to me anyway) identical to the official Blu-Ray I already owned and visual editing on a whole is fantastic. The only visual edit that isn't flawless is the footage of the picture in Rivendell that I think was taken from FOTR but it only lasts for a few seconds and I couldn't bring myself to knock a point off because of it.

Audio editing is perfect. Using the film's original score as much as possible really makes AUJ feel like its own thing and not just a LOTR cash-in. However, doing this means sometimes the score can overpower dialogue in certain scenes. It really didn't bother me much at all but I can see how it could annoy some people. Still I don't think it warrants knocking that 10 down to a 9.

Overall if you were disappointed with AUJ's original release I recommend watching this. My official Blu-Ray disc is now in a cupboard somewhere with this edit taking its place in the official case.

Thank you, Kerr!

This is a really good edit of the Hobbit. Pacing is much better, annoying stuff gone. Into my eye and ear, the cuts were technically flawless.

The new soundtack is also good, and makes the movie unique. I needed a while to get used to it but it works! However in Thorin's charge against Azog in the end the music was just not as powerful as in the original movie... This scene with the original music always got me goosebumps, with this new music it came close, but did not quite do it.

Also I would have liked to see a little more action in the goblin town. I think the dwarves fight/chase was just cut too short (though the way Goblin King was handled was very good). In contrast - Bilbo's confrontation with Gollum felt a little too long to have it all in one scene.

Aside these things, very good job! Looking forward to the edits of the next two parts.

I would imagine I come to these movies in a somewhat unique way. I didn't grow up on the books and only read LOTR after having seen the movies and the EEs many times. I have never read the Hobbit or any other ancillary material, including the appendices for LOTR. With that, I would imagine I came to the theatrical version with a bit less baggage than typical fans of the book. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but not as much as I had the LOTR movies. I purchased the EE when it was released and actually enjoyed that quite a bit more, though there were some additions I could do without. Most notably, any additions to the Goblin King section. I feel my enjoyment of the EE more than my initial theatrical experience is due, in part, to more familiarity with a large ensemble cast. The issues I initially had, ironically, are expanded in the EE, namely some slow, plodding sections and over-the-top silliness. Yet I enjoyed the EE more. Again, I feel this is because, with no prior exposure to most of these characters in my initial viewing, it took me a while to get to know them and care about them. I think this is why PJ made the Bag End scenes so long. Kerr's shortening to about 30 minutes certainly feels right now, but if this were my initial viewing, would I feel the same way? That's the tough thing about reviewing these fan edits; it's impossible to go in with a clean slate.

By far, for me, the biggest improvement is the cuts to the Goblin Kingdom scenes. Thank god the song is gone (the biggest problem I had with the EE). The chase scenes are so cartoonish and silly--like something from Sonic the Hedgehog--that the fact that Kerr completely removed them was a huge aspect of my enjoyment. Compounding the issue, these silly scenes were intercut with the Riddles in the Dark scene, the best part of the movie. It reminded me of the silliness of the Ewoks intercut with the Throne Room duel in RotJ. I would guess a lot of the silliness is in this movie to try to keep it more in line with the tone of the book (which, again, I haven't read). But I think it needed to be completely a children's story or completely in line with the LOTR trilogy. Kerr does about as good a job as I can imagine making it the latter.

It's impossible to say for sure if I would have enjoyed this version the best, had I seen it first. But it is now my go to version. I will need to grab the Blu Ray version as soon as possible!

One question I did have is where the video game sources were used. I didn't seen them referenced in the changes section.