The Hobbit: Tolkien Edit

I won’t delve too much into the review of this trilogy, so if you would rather read a review of that go on here! Still here? Good. Now if you’re reading this I’m assuming you’ve already seen all three Hobbit movies. I, along with legions of other fans, have lambasted Peter Jackson for extending this beloved book to a longer movie series than it should have been. So it was only a matter of time before one of us would edit the movies down to what we thought would be appropriate story-telling. That fan who made this is all necessary would be The Tolkien Editor. Many thanks to him to editing it down to a movie that feels way more enjoyable. Long and short of it, this fan edit feels a lot more concise. Peter Jackson’s version came to a running time of about 8 hours; whereas this fan edit cut it down to 4.5 hours. This cut out a lot of the excess fluff that really wasn’t necessary. There’s no mention of Galadriel, Saruman, Radagast, or Sauron. This erases any questions non-book fans could have of why they didn’t know beforehand that the Dark Lord was making a comeback. Then the whole pale orc story was kept to a minimum and their only major role was in the final battle. It also made it more enjoyable as the pace went along at what I was expecting. Even if this version were to be split into two movies that would have made much more sense to me. They could have split it right after the barrel ride and either right before they meet Bard or just after. Also, since the pace was quicker and fluff was cut it really felt more Bilbo-centric! Which was one of the biggest gripes I had with these movies. It really felt like a movie titled The Hobbit was focused on the sole hobbit in it. I’m also extremely pleased they practically cut out Legolas and Tauriel. I’m not alone in feeling that those two were forced in with their love triangle with Kili. However, because of certain scenes in the original movies, there were some parts that had to include the two elves. For example, Fili’s and Kili’s deaths weren’t shown nor were they mentioned after the battle. If I had to pick a gripe about this edit, it would only be for cutting, “That’s What Bilbo Baggins Hates!” I think those three or so minutes were fine and could have been added on. It’s only a matter of time before someone else attempts to capture Tolkien’s world on screen again so maybe then we’ll see a version of The Hobbit that pleases more people.