Little Hobbit, The

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Little Hobbit, The
Faneditor Name:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2012
Original Running Time:
513
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
172
Time Cut:
341
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
This edit is a little under three hours. The edit is missing all of the superfluous material from the trilogy. The edit also works as a true standalone movie and prequel that does not cash in on any Lord of the Rings references that a first time viewer — given he is watching these movies in chronological order — would not know about.
This means no old Bilbo, no Sauron, no Legolas, a less menacing Ring, and no Frodo.
Needless to say there is also no love triangle.
Intention:
I tasked myself to edit the trilogy into less than three hours while still ensuring a watchable movie.
I basically thought to myself what a standalone cinematic release of a single Hobbit movie would have looked like.
Additional Notes:
My version is called The Little Hobbit, based on its runtime but also because the book was originally published as Der Kleine Hobbit in Germany, and though the title was changed to Der Hobbit quite a while ago, the original title is still very common.
Special Thanks:
Special Thanks to ssj for his continuous support, feedback, and curation.

For their general interest, kind words and suggestions in the project thread I'd also like to thank bumkin, Brumous, hasmak, musiced921, TM2YC, Neglify, revel911, addiesin, BandobrasTuk, douchebag, DigModiFicaTion and darth-gary.
Most of all, thanks a lot to my girlfriend Steffi and my good friends Lores and Geoffrey for their valuable feedback on my earliest rough cuts.
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
Among hundreds of small changes these are the most explicit ones:
- No prologue/old Bilbo
- Reworked opening monologue
- All flashbacks removed throughout the movies
- Shortened dwarf arrival
- No/as little as possible dwarf silliness and slapstick throughout the entire movie
- No dinner song
- No "I'm going on an adventure!"
- No orcs until BoTFA
- Troll scene trimmed/fight removed
- Radagast removed
- Rivendell trimmed
- Added extended scene of Elrond and Bilbo
- No council, Galadriel, Saruman
- No stone giants
- Goblin song removed, slapstick fight removed
- Gollum scene intact
- no orcs, wargs, eagles
- No Beorn
- Mirkwood trimmed; spiders severely trimmed; elven capture scene reduced to minimal
- No Tauriel, no Legolas, no love triangle
- No Gandalf side quest
- Barrel chase removed
- Laketown reduced to less than five minutes; no politics, no master, no Alfrid
- Dwarves find the hidden keyhole right away
- No orcs in Laketown
- Slapstick dragon fight and gold melting removed
- Bard doesn't use his son to fire the black arrow
- Laketown survivors plot reduced to minimal
- No Dol Guldur
- No Bard/Thorin negotiation
- Battle trimmed
- No auction or old Bilbo
Trailer

User reviews

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Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.9(7)
Audio Editing
 
9.7(7)
Visual Editing
 
9.9(7)
Narrative
 
9.4(7)
Enjoyment
 
9.4(7)
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(Updated: June 18, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
I have always thought The Hobbit should have been a single standalone film. Although it was cool seeing Christopher Lee and Sylvester McCoy back on the big screen I really didn't think it needed to be a "three parter" and wasn't sure why they were needed since they don't feature in the story.

Of course there are a lot of things that have disappeared to make this standalone film possible. Both Christopher Lee and Sylvester McCoy have gone. The Eagles are pulled back till the end of the film, which I think is a good move, as they simply were made as a tool to always get Bilbo and the dwarfs out of trouble, which makes Gandalf look rather weak and also the viewer must question why they simply didn't drop them off at their destination in the first place. Beorn is gone. A character I don't really miss (as let's face it...he's no Tom Bombadil) and the film moves fine without him anyway. At the end of the day, this is an edit on a mission and if you miss any of those characters or plots then this isn't the edit for you.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the whole Azog fight probably could have been left out since we have little mention of the character here. A lot of the humour is gone, but that's okay with me because it seems more in line with the LOTR films. I think the only place I seem to remember it being slightly rushed was from the spiders, but otherwise the edit seemed to flow nicely throughout.

Overall a superb effort on trying to pick the best from a bloated trilogy. I personally liked it and will probably watch The Hobbit like this from now on.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Amazing edit! Very good job.

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: February 27, 2020)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
The Hobbit novel, being a young adult book and at around 300 pages should have originally been released as a stand alone movie. For Peter Jackson to make it into three movies was clearly a cash grab from the success of the LOTR trilogy and was not necessary. There was so also so much unnecessary padding in these three movies to justify there existence. This edit give us the stand alone movie that should have been released. Mammam removes all the bloat from the three movies and give us most of the scenes from the book. The edit flows really well and it really feels like this could have been the cinematic release of the movie. I really enjoyed this movie and would highly recommended it. Great work Mammam!

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I think this is the version of The Hobbit I was looking for. I was stunned when I initially learned that what should have been a single film of a "children's book" was being expanded to three lengthy films and I wasn't surprised to see that it was mostly comprised of needless sidequests, characters, and action.

Mammam's cut fixes almost all of that. Fresh after having re-read the book, I almost couldn't tell that anything had been cut. It isn't a purist book cut, per se, but it is an excellent adaptation utilizing Jackson's material. Leaving in some of the things like the mention of Azog and the duel with him at the end was acceptable to me: it gave the Orcs a bit more of a reason to be there at the end (rather than appearing without warning in the book). All of the needless characters, cameos, and sidequests have been done away with. All the fat has been trimmed and what is left is a delightful meal.

The one odd moment for me was just after Thorin died and then it fades to Bilbo sitting alone. It seemed a bit incongruous, but that's minor. This will be my favorite version of The Hobbit from here on out I think.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This is a wonderful fanedit, proving that fitting all 3 Hobbit movies into one is not only doable, but improves the tale immensely. Even though this is not a 'Tolkien Cut', it nevertheless feels much more faithful to the spirit of the book than Jackson's bloated epics. I can't list the number of things which were cut that I ended up not missing in this edit. However I did keep a list of things I thought could be improved, mostly nitpicks but some more substantive suggestions:

Fading to black between shots at the beginning is a bit off-putting. Perhaps crossfades would work better.

Bilbo isn't properly annoyed at Gandalf when he sees him at the party.

Bilbo teleports at the discussion of Smaug at the party.

There's still a bit too much discussion of strategy at the dinner table.

Would have been nice to see 'I'm going on an adventure!'

Bilbo is oddly brave when deciding to free the ponies.

The Dwarves are very suddenly captured by the Trolls.

There's an odd transition from the Troll hideout to the crevice leading to Rivendell.

A mention of the Dragon Sickness would be good in Rivendell.

The transition from the march to the Misty Mountains to the interior of the cave is strange, since everyone is out of breath and dripping wet despite not seeing the rain. Keeping a bit of the rainy scene beforehand would have helped with Bilbo's decision to turn back to Rivendell.

Bilbo's scene with Gollum is wonderful but a few riddles could have been cut for time. The scene goes on for 15 minutes straight, so I'd suggest cutting up to 5 minutes from this.

Beorn is necessary in my opinion since he's the only way they get the ponies to get to Mirkwood.

Thranduil has little introduction. A few more shots before the Dwarves are imprisoned would help, or if Thorin's meeting comes before they are locked up.

A bit more of the barrel ride would be pleasant. Good choice in removing the battle though.

I didn't miss Laketown at all. It's a it sudden to see them walking to the mountain so quickly, but another establishing shot is all that would be needed here.

A bit of color correction and brightening of the shots of Thorin opening the mountain door would help mask the scene transition.

Focusing on the Arkenstone after the destruction of Laketown is a good choice. However, Beorn's absence is felt in the acorn scene.

There remains some confusion about why the orcs are attacking at this moment. Granted it's not well established in either the book or the original films, but it would be nice for this point to be more clear. It almost feels as if Gandalf's explanation confuses what could be a simple matter of revenge on the part of Azog.

Thorin must discover Bilbo's treachery.

It feels against character for Bilbo to put on the ring and head into danger without good reason. After all, he's no warrior.

The battle with Azog is rather superfluous, since we don't have enough knowledge of the two parties to care. It would be far more effective to have the fight be from Bilbo's perspective, where he sees only the aftermath. This cuts a good 5 minutes from the end.

2.5 hours is a good length for this movie. With the 10 minutes of additional cuts and the addition of some small moments and the Beorn scene this edit would be just about perfect.

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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