Review Detail

The series is absolutely fantastic! I prefer watching most films in shorter sittings, so the episodic format is perfect, and that alone makes this my preferred viewing experience of The Hobbit! I gave it a 10/10 because I think I don't think it gets better considering the source material, but I still wouldn't say that every episode has an equally good narrative. While episodes 1 and 2 are absolutely perfect, episode 3 feels a bit strange because the story rushes through so much in a single episode. Episode 5 is also very good, but it does of course almost entirely consist of fighting. I was very surprised that it includes a lot of scenes from the extended edition, but they do work fairly well in the context. I highly recommend getting the version of the edit with the Arkenstone and Gandalf in the beginning of episode 5 to add some much needed non-combat-related drama to the episode.