Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Arkenstone Edition, The

While many editors try to turn the Hobbit trilogy into one or two movies, this edit makes the case that these movies can shine individually. Indeed, by trimming some of the bloat, Kerr has revealed the gem of a film underneath. This version of an Unexpected Journey is a tight adventure with strong performances and clear character arcs. Highly recommended.

Professionally done. This is a great alternative to the original movie. My issue with the original movie was that sometimes it feels like we jump from a movie to a video game (stone giants, goblin town escape sequence). Radagast also had too many silly moments and his original introduction scene felt like we suddenly jumped to Narnia. All that and more was improved by this edit.

Another major improvement this edit has to offer is the sound editing and some alternative soundtracks (Thorin vs. Azog and eagles rescue scenes, especially) which work incredibly well.
I think, the minor negative I have in this regard is the missing sound piece from the scene when Gandalf breaks the rock to reveal sunlight on the Trolls. I liked that scene, as it originally was, with the Trolls' response to Gandalf.

Overall, it's an awesome work with a lot of heart put into it. This should have been the movie released in theaters.
Well done, Kerr.

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.

I can't say much which hasn't been said already in other reviews.

When I watched the first part of the Hobbit in the theater, I thought that there was a good movie hidden in the theatrical edit. Kerr was able to unearth this movie – or better – get the movie somewhat more down to earth. Gone are most of the many physical impossibilities, most of the "funny" stuff, the pacing is better, the story does focus much more on Bilbo.

Sure, I could imagine an even better version if Radagast's Raving Rhosgobel Rabbits were gone, too, if the orc subplot was toned down, and if the White Council vanished, but I totally understand the choices Kerr made to keep it compatible to what came in DoS and most likely will come in the final part (I still hope that an almost close to the book fan edit, without any added stuff, will be possible in 2015). I thoroughly enjoyed the edit (and the incredible audio wizardry, though in a few parts the dialog was a bit hard to understand).

Straight from the forum:

After having read through the thread and watching the edit, I don't have much to add but my own thanks for such a fantastic rework of the film. The pacing is far better than the original, the themes more consistent and less heavy-handed, the score fluid and engaging. There was perhaps one awkward cut during the White Council meeting, but if I hadn't known it was an edited version of the film, I likely wouldn't have noticed. Perhaps it's my audio setup, but I didn't have any issues with dialog volumes. I really appreciate your take on the overuse of CGI (i.e. best to be left on the cutting room floor), as it's becoming a worse and worse part of the series. I'm already looking forward to your take on DoS, if only to have that damn barrel scene fixed.