Hobbit Legendary Edit: A Lord of the Rings Prequel, The

This is one heck of an edit. From the moment the film starts you know it will be special. Wraith added an opening that sets such a completely different tone to the original film, it deserves all praise it gets!

It's also a great example of what a fanedit can achieve overall. Lean cuts, and a hugely entertaining experience overall.

Its as good as a prequel to LotR we will ever get. If you like the Hobbit you will love this. If you don't like the Hobbit, give this a shot! Odds are you will constantly be thinking 'hmmm, I thought I hated these films, maybe the bad parts haven't come up yet?'

Truly inspiring edit.

If youre going to watch any Hobbit fanedit, make sure its this one.

Crafted over the period of almost an entire decade by esteemed fan editor Wraith, comes an edit of the Hobbit that truly captures the feeling of Fellowship of the Ring.
It feels more like FOTR than either of the two sequels to Fellowship do. Thats whats so impressive about this. It has not only extensive narrative reworking, but actor work, soundtrack work, and sound effect work.
This LOOKS and SOUNDS like it came out in 2001 when Fellowship hit theaters. It captures that same exact feeling.

None of the other films in either the Hobbit or LOTR trilogy quite hit that bar, but here Wraith does it. The highest achievement here though is the brisk pacing. This is a Star Wars level triumph in terms of editing. MARVELOUSLY paced. Wraith managed to fit everything worth watching from all three films into one film, in less than 4 hours. This legendary edit incorporates many extended scenes or character moments most other hobbit edits miss.
Ive seen alot. This ones the best.

Its not just a great fanedit, its a great film in general, and lives up to it's namesake.

Legendary.

This went in quite an unexpected direction from what was expected after watching the trailer. Its begins with some lines from Saruman as was expecting but that was it for the superfluous narrative from him. While the inclusion of the Bree scene with Thorin and Gandalf which most single filmers drop lead me to believe Saruman was going to weave in the Dol Guldur sections with a curative aplomb, this indeed did not happen at all. The pacing being tantamount to the embellishment in Wraith's eyes it seems. And the pacing is certainly quite elegantly attended to in this edit. The HBBT as a true LOTR prologue is it? Great expectations!!

What strikes one most beyond that. And what it is in fact the thing that immediately puts this edit at the forefront of 'The Hobbit' edits is the work done on the visuals. Its got an old school 80s fantasy adventure look to it now in the vein of 'Legend'. More real, and yet more ethereal at the same time. Fuller textures. Fuzzy ambience filters. No idea; but its some retro magicianing!!!

In terms of the takings and the leavings I guess there will always be misgivings but U just can't argue with good pacing, and on top of this is the sense moodyness that the editor is going for that demands a no nonsense approach. My first missing piece was the burying of the treasure in the troll cave: I think that could be slipped in allright. And then the shock of the missing eagles rescue although one finds herein Beorn gains an edge; becoming part of the fire The Company is cast into out of the frying pan. It adds a sense of antiquity to the nature of the world setting. A certain fantasmagoria Tolkein no doubt intended but is erstwhile lost in interpretation. We do like the shades of grey to liven things up. Shading to the film's visuals going a long way to contribute to this heightened mystique of shadowyness. Darkness lurking beneath the light. Yet not all black and white....

Sometimes though, things are simply locked in place and that is that which brings me to the one major misgiving that ironically I somewhat begrudge. At the mountain things go nicely with the frakkas at the back door. Its a straight up key in hole payoff with no small print to besmirch the viewer. Only issue arises with the latter events with Smaug. I didn't like them myself at first. But talking about payoffs such a sudden demise is a heavy anti-climax. We need The Company to fight him in their forges with the golden burst out of the front gate to boot. Its just got to be done. Thorin looks way too bad without this sequence. These dwarves are our heroes. We need some heroics. Gold around front gate on Smaug's exit is glaring. Gold all over the bell on the rallying charge too. Gold is the best filling for holes after all....

While it is somewhat ludicrous, it does have a definite theatrical glory that - may be - made good by the stylistic editorial leanings towards the golden era of fantasy adventure Wraith makes happen in this aspiring fanfare of promise for LOTR fans!!!

I will not go into some of the stuttering video and audio irregularities here. It looks like Wraith is comitted to perfection as at present I have witnessed two reuploads of version 19 of 23 where some ironing out of kinks was done. Such a load of visual and soundtrack adjustments must be overloading the software. By the time U are reading this review they will probably be gone. Full lava flows from Mount Doom from me. Cheers!

Truly a great cut of this trilogy! At just around 3.75 hours, it fits nicely with the extended versions of the movies in this universe, and it leaves most of the slapstick and goofy jokes on the cutting room floor.

Wraith cuts some really silly stuff like the Barrel Escape battle, chooses the Mirkwood spiders instead of the sleeping water, tightens up lots of the movie and the final battle, and even leaves room for the two upcoming LOTR Legendary Edits via an epilogue to round out Wraith's trilogy. Obviously there is much, much more, but these changes alone were enough for me to love watching this.

Any visual or audio issues I noticed have been ironed out by the perfectionist themself. Absolutely will be watching again!

"I already have fanedits of The Hobbit; do I really need another one?"

YES! You need THIS ONE. Why? Because it is so different than the others. Prior to this, I leaned heavily into "The Battle of Five Edits" as my preferred Fanedit of The Hobbit, but this one is so different, it deserves a special spot in the collection. This one *feels* like a prequel to the Lord of the Rings, rather than an afterthought. So many changes, it almost feels like an entirely different Hobbit film entry. It's like comparing the Rankin-Bass take to the Bakshi vision from the animated days.

This one makes me want to move directly into Fellowship of the Ring once I completed it.