Oh the book, yes. Of the Peter Jackson movies hell no. What he and Fran did to the book was a travesty. At the very least I wish he'd been as financially limited as he'd been with the LOTR films so that his use of CGI would have been minimal. Even though they were technically "inferior" the visuals were far more realistic in the LOTR movies.

@AlienFanatic said:

Oh the book, yes. Of the Peter Jackson movies hell no. What he and Fran did to the book was a travesty. At the very least I wish he'd been as financially limited as he'd been with the LOTR films so that his use of CGI would have been minimal. Even though they were technically "inferior" the visuals were far more realistic in the LOTR movies.

Check this out. I just watched watched it this weekend and it feels very much like the book. I now have it with my LotR movies.

http://www.maple-films.com/downloads.html

I'd say I'm a fan, though there are definitely things I don't care for about the first two movies (haven't gotten around to the third one yet). I adore Bilbo and really like Martin Freeman playing him, the way he emotes himself is great. The long scene where he plays riddles in the dark with Gollum is a favorite of mine, I've watched it over and over. I usually prefer to focus on things I like rather than things I dislike, so...

Anyway, the answer to your question is a yes ^{^} And thanks for the wordpress link, I've bookmarked it to more thoroughly look over later! It sounds exactly like what I've been yearning for: "my main goals in undertaking this edit were to re-centre the story on Bilbo, and to have the narrative move at a much brisker pace."

I have a lot of disdain for the amount of CGI in the Hobbit movies. And I've never cared much for Dwarves; they seem like Klingons, so one-dimensional and uninteresting in character.

I really liked Martin Freeman as Bilbo, though, and agree his scene with Gollum was the capstone of all three movies. I kind of like that Jackson had the restraint not to bring Gollum back more, just for publicity's sake.

Klingons, perfect fit. lol When you consider he cuts about half the movies out to reach his JRR Tolkien goal that says a lot about all the unneeded stuff.

Hmm, sweet I'm d/ling that fan edit version. Thanks! I might actually enjoy the Hobbit trilogy now. It could have a rightful place next to the LoTR films in my viewing marathons when I get into a Tolkien mood.

I use Handbrake with its awesome presets for just about any device.

https://handbrake.fr

http://www.maple-films.com/downloads.html

We just watched the Maple Edit and it was amazing.

I've just watched the Peter Jackson's movie and it is almost unrelated I would say to Tolkien's book. While I was watching it I wondered why he didn't keep the original plot and he mixed and matched it with subplots from other Tolkien's books or stories. The Hobbit is a book for children, so all that excess of violence, beheadings and battles are unsuitable in a movie with the tittle of the book targeting children audiences.

Now, if Peter Jackson wanted to sell this movie to a more adult audience then he had no reason to add the songs, the comic Troll characters and the Brown Wizard with the little animals etc, half of The Hobbit's plot so to speak. In such a case it would be better if he had tried to make a movie based on any other Tolkien's stories or just the Silmarilion that is by far a more complex, interesting story, at least for adult audiences.

In any case the movie I just watched is not Tolkien's The Hobbit. It is indeed a travesty as Alien Fanatic said above.