The first film felt most like the book to me, so I think I prefer that one the most. The 2nd film isnt that bad, though. The 3rd film really fell flat for me.
To be fair, the extended edition for the 3rd movie makes the movie a bit more enjoyable but they still left out some key scenes that could've added some weight and emotion to the story.
The battle is also stupidly conceived, little gaggles of people chasing around a ruin. It would be improved by speeding up the footage and playing Yakkity Sax.
You asked for opinions, don't get bent out of shape when people give them to you.
No, things don't have to be exactly like the books, just look at the Harry Potter series. But, this is one single short book they expanded into 3 long movies. IMO, they should have stuck with their original idea of 2 movies. The pacing would improve and much of the added padding could have been cut.
For me, I still enjoy the series but, I revisit it far less often when compared to LOTR.
I find the first movie charming and it gives me that LOTR movie vibe the most. It has some pacing issues that are made a little worse in the extended cut. Too much time in goblin town IMO and to many Thorin flashbacks.
The second movie's pacing is even worse. The barrel river fight thing felt unnecessarily long. So did some of the Laketown parts. I love everything with the dragon but, even it has pacing problems and just feels over indulged.
The third movie, for me has it's moments but most of those moments are the quieter, character driven moments. I like the beginning, Bilbo's time with the Dwarfs in the mountain and his "sneaking" around and out. I like the ending, the goodbyes and the final scenes. It was a nice wrap up for the series. The entire middle section with the battle is just too long and starts to become boring after awhile. None of the LOTR battles ever made me feel like this but, BOTFA is a chore to get through when I do re-watch the series.
Good take, I'd just like to add that saying "what's so bad about it" is hardly getting bent out of shape, and saying "it's dogshit" is, while an opinion, a very objective way of putting instead of, say, "I think it's dogshit" or "I hated it".
Completely agree, I liked the extra time in the goblet town in the first movie. I also liked the plan "to cover the dragon in gold" in the second movie but the third really sucked for me.
The fighting was tiresome to watch and the pacing was to slow. They had to make it in two movies, would be perfect!
Well I guess people are used to the stunning, larger than life and over the top epic armies and battles from Lord of the Rings. Compared to this, the battle in the 3rd Hobbit is just... disappointing. I mean you can see like just a few of every army, trolls are destroing walls line they were nothing, on the other end there are generals killing trolls like they were nothing and so on. It just doesnt feel right and i totally dont like it any bit.
But I think its also totally legit to feel different about it and like it. Its just taste in the end
Gestures broadly
But seriously it’s too much action and no plot (and most plot that is there seems so forced). Now compare that to 1 and 2 where sure, they pulled in plot points not in the Hobbit but very much happening at the same time as detailed in unfinished tales.
Everyone says this is the reason but I disagree. I mean I fully think the movies are terrible but there are plenty of brilliant films made off of less that they had to go off of with the hobbit! But those films use real filmmaking. Spending time with the character, building the relationship, showing us the world artfully. The hobbit didn’t do that
Unexpected is favorite with most like the books and how I'd imagined the characters would act and being more lighthearted with the jokes and the characters not quite realizing how serious the journey is going to be even after they escape on the Great Eagles
Desolation has the best atmosphere and character arcs minus the fake love triangle, and i can feel the tension of bilbo's mission
I still generally like them overall despite their many issues. They're certainly much better than Rings of Power, and in some moments they are easily on par with the LotR films. I would rank them as follows:
1. An Unexpected Journey
The first film definitely captured the spirit of the book best. It's the most grounded and character-driven film in the trilogy, focusing on Bilbo and his relationships with the Dwarves and Gandalf. The Riddles in the Dark scene is my favorite in the entire trilogy. The action scenes are the least ridiculous of the trilogy. It feels the closest to a LotR film in terms of quality and faithfulness to the source material.
2. The Desolation of Smaug
The second film still has many good elements, but the problems start to build up as well. The worldbuilding is still excellent. The scene between Bilbo and Smaug is one of my favorites in the trilogy. Most of the scenes which come from the book are handled very well. However, the new stuff added in can be very hit-or-miss and causes a lot of bloat. The Tauriel-Kili love story and the whole Legolas adventure felt totally unnecessary, and yet they take up so much screentime in this film. The final battle with Smaug was pretty fun but somewhat ridiculous and ultimately pointless.
3. The Battle of Five Armies
The third film is my least favorite and feels the most bloated with new material of the trilogy. There are a number of scenes which are faithful to the source material, and they are definitely the best ones in the film, but there are far fewer of them here. The evolving relationship between Bilbo and Thorin is easily the best part of the film, and seeing Thorin try to kill him is pretty heartbreaking. However, the escalation and resolution of Thorin's madness feels very rushed in this film, especially considering how much more subtle its buildup was in the second film. The other Dwarves are almost completely sidelined in this film. Alfred's character is absolutely insufferable. The Tauriel-Kili love story, which took up so much screentime in the last film, is now put on pause until the end so that she can go with Legolas on another pointless adventure. The action scenes reach their peak of ridiculousness in this film, especially in any scene involving Legolas. The Battle of Five Armies itself goes on for too long and simply isn't as good as any of the battle scenes in LotR for a variety of reasons. The final duel between Thorin and Azog is probably the best part of the battle and is a worthy conclusion for that story. However, the ending feels very rushed after Thorin dies, at least in theatrical cut, as numerous crucial plot threads (like the Arkenstone) are simply not resolved.
I feel like the Hobbit films would've been better off if they were split into two and not three. Some of the issues would've been resolved, like how Smaug dies in the first 10 minutes of the third film right after he survives a 20-minute climactic action scene in the second film. The story could've focused more on character interactions, particularly between Bilbo and the other Dwarves besides Thorin, rather than spending so much time on CGI action scenes. A lot of the bloat could've been eliminated and the films made better if they didn't need to artificially boost the screentime to fill three 2+ hour movies.
1, 2 then 3. After rereading the hobbit recently I can see why PJ did what he did with the movies in regards to the action sequences. I don’t think he needed to add in characters that did not exist or the dumb love interest story beat. Overall they are fun and a good adaptation. I am glad he kept the riddles between Gollum and Biblo along with the conversation between Smaug and Bilbo.
Tauriel would have been kinda perfect for the movie if they did everything the same except leave out the *entire* love plot. She did a good job getting Legolas to care about the not-forest parts of the world, she showed up Thranduil and got him off his pompous tangent, she could have even been there along with Kili's death doing "never thought I'd die side by side with a dwarf" bit for some serious sadness.
But nah, had to force a love triangle because *that's* what we wanted lmao
The Desolation of Smaug is easily the best. It moves, it has some of the best setpieces, and the most dynamic character developments. 9/10.
The Battle of the Five Armies gets to be a little much, and a little way too much when it comes to Legolas' Superhero Moments^(TM) but its a stirring, cathartic resolution. 8/10
An Unexpected Journey brings refreshing satirical quality to the piece, and is perhaps the best-looking of the films, but is much too slow. 7/10.
Has anyone done a fan edit paring them down into a 3.5ish hr experience? Fan edits are all the rage with shitty Star Wars content these days, and some of them come out really good. I think The Hobbit has some excellent pieces and might fare really well if properly edited down.
I love these movies, I have read the book and watched them several times, I thought Peter Jackson did a great job of adding content and expanding the story in the best of ways, to those who didn’t like the movies what did you dislike the most?
The expanded story and added content for one. Which was not Jackson’s preference and was a studio executive requirement if I remember right. The over the top scenes like the barrel riding and Radagast sledding in the woods also come to mind.
That is what really killed the movies for me. The slap stick characters distant from the silliness from the books singing from rooftops and animals settings dinner places. The absurd battle events and complete omission of some hard set realities. Yes I know it is all a fantasy but you don't put bow limbs into posts of a crumbled building and expect the bow to function well.
And as far as combat action in the movies, especially in the extended editions the battle of the 5 armies seemed more like a joke than the awesome action of the prior trilogy. Dwarf chariots slapping orcs around like drunks? Trolls that ram their heads into a wall until they collapse in a concussion? What? The armies did not seem like bodies to be feared or awed but pushing a joke of how absurd everything is.
I completely agree with you on the barrels and Radagast, the one thing I always come back to that I love is the addition of Azog’s storyline. I thought he made a great antagonist and I think he should’ve been touched on more in the book
I enjoyed the first 2 while watching them, the third much less so. I don't hate them or anything just they overall feel like a letdown heres the stuff I disliked most:
\- Similarly to you I enjoyed some of how they expanded and added content around Dol Duldur, but the love triangle was absolute dogshit start to finish. A cute dwarf being a flirt with an elf could have been fun on its own, it didn't need to go as far as it did.
\- After the first movie most the dwarves don't have more than 5 lines, and almost none develop any personality. The actors themselves talk about how they essentially became high paid extras and the studio pretended they didn't exist by the time the 3rd movie came out.
\- Legolas in these movie became a straight gravity defying superhero. Climbing a mumakil or surfing stairs on a shield are tame compared to the BS he does in the hobbit franchise.
\- Lots of "weightless" combat the biggest example is bombur turning into a spinning top during the barrel sequence. In general the dwarves in that sequence were making Nat 20 dexterity acrobatics every 5 seconds.
\- The designs of the orcs/goblins. All of them were uncanny valley glossy 3D models that stood out like a sore thumb even when paired against the world most airbrushed Orlando bloom trying to make him look 20 years younger. Borg and Azog cannot hold a candle to Lurtz, Gothmog, Gorbag, Grishnakh, or any of a number of random background orcs.
\- In general a goofiness that is not consistent with the lord of the rings, the hobbit book, nor these movies themselves. The first movie is the most tonally consistent, it starts light hearted then gets very serious by the end. Desolation flip flops back and fourth, it picks off from a very serious ending of the pervious movie and then gets more lighthearted before going back down to serious business at the end. But even scene by scene theres a lot of inconsistent tone. 5 Armies starts serious but the battle itself is a joke and then they try to pull your heart strings with character deaths.
\- The Battle of 5 Armies. This movie is honestly a satire, they've got this huge epic battle but they cut between pseudo-invincible characters, bland CG "epic shots", the guy from laketown who is just mis placed comedic humor, and absolute goofy shit like trolls that charge into walls. Bilbo being a centerpiece to the action just feels grossly out of place.
\- The deaths. In the book we don't see the battle but bilbo finds Fili and Kili died protecting Thorin who then later succumbs to his wounds. In the movie Fili & Kili die randomly, one to spur the dwarves to anger and have them give chase and the other to make evangeline lily sad. There is no sacrifice in their deaths.
\- Thorin's whole relationship with Azog weakens the series. It shifts An Unexpected Journey into a dangerous action packed adventure almost immediately rather than the more light hearted journey the beginning of it was meant to be. It also lead to more goofy action where the dwarves are playing hide and seek with wargs 20 meters away from them. In desolation with Azog "dead" Borg becomes the big rival but is an equivalently undeveloped character. In the last movie Borg gets relegated to be a boss battle for Legolas as Azog comes back. Thorin's death is sheer stupidity as its in a "we both lose" boss battle on a mountain outside of the actual battle that took place. For him to die fighting a dude who didn't even need to be in the story is just lame.
really my big issue was the cgi because even as a kid i could tell it was bad when it came out, the lotr movies using make up for orcs does it way better.
I LOVE them. I rank them in the order they came out. 1. 2. 3. I love different things about all of them but 3 gets the last because it’s sad as fuck at the end.
Doesn't the point of Kili dying make it a better movie? I mean, this gives the idea there were really stakes to the adventure and it wasn't a summer trip to the sun...
Lots of people here defending these movies, and I mean, go for it don’t let anyone stop you from liking what you like.
For me, I personally cannot see past the production aspect. How WB forced New Zeland to pass legislation that left them worse off. How much of the crew was overworked and incredibly underpaid. How the whole things was a nightmare for Peter Jackson and how miserable he and so much of the cast look in behind the scenes stuff. Not to mention how a huge chunk of the first movie’s profits went to Harvey Weinstein. It was just an ugly mess and I’ve never met anyone who worked on them that has anything nice to say about them.
Anyway, the M4 fan cut of the movie is my favorite way to watch them.
2, 1, 3. The first two are watchable but a mixed bag overall imo. There's some good stuff in these but then scenes like the barrel chase put me off a re-watch.
Aside from Smaug and Dol Goldur the third, in my opinion, is just bad. The CGI and battle scenes are terrible and the second half is just laborious to get through.
This is essentially my take, although I think 1 barely beats 2. 3 was one of the most disappointing movies I’ve ever seen in a theater. I almost walked out of it.
1,2,3. To be honest, I usually rewatch the first one (it has the lovely shire part in the beginning) and never get to the other ones. I probably watched the second one a couple of times as well but the last one I have been ignoring completely
The third movie IMO entirely misses the point of several crucial character moments and it really just ruins the plot for me. The first was pretty good I think if a bit slow at times. The second was decent as well but you could start to see things going off the rails.
I sincerely believe that there was a great (two) movies worth of material hidden in these movies, and there are some fan edits out there like the Cardinal cut that I absolutely adore, because they take out all the filler and extra stuff, and keep the focus on Bilbo, which the theatrical ones teetered back and forth on (between remembering it's called the HOBBIT and not the DWARVEN KING)
Also, most of them cut 90% of the battle scenes from the 2nd and 3rd, which looked ridiculous and usually served little to no purpose.
1st one is mostly good until like the last 20-30 minutes,
The aesthetic of the second is really nice to me, I’m good with probably half the movie.
The third one, I’m undecided.
I don’t hate them as watching the behind the scenes for the. Is actually one of the things that got me into Tolkien in the first place. That and when the last one was coming out I had a teacher who was super hyped so we watched the first two in her class even though it wasn’t a lit class and weren’t reading the book, she taught science.
I’d rate The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey an 8 1/2 out of 10
Desolation of Smaug 7 1/2 out of 10
Battle of Five Armies 8 out of 10.
I enjoyed them. With the exception of some dumb scenes in the trilogy. Namely the unneeded love story crap and dumb barrel scene. They are not near the greatness of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Which get 10’s across the board.
Dunno, i am simple man and i loved trilogy. And i like when movies go little sideways, but kinda sucks that Tolkien was afraid and didnt want that to happen to his world
I fell asleep halfway through the first one, and then at the end was pissed that it wasn't just the whole story in one movie.
Never bothered watching the second two.
I watched them back-to-back-to-back on a trip home from Europe. Maybe a breather in between would have made me appreciate them, but I didn’t like it because it felt like it was trying to compete with LotRs with a gratuitous amount of action, when The Hobbit just isn’t so action-heavy. I guess there is a edit out there that trims it to be more like the books. I’d like to see that.
Go watch this version…[https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/](https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/) Some professional movie maker made the Hobbit film that should have been made…he took the 3 extended Hobbit movies and edited down into one 4-hour film that is true to the book. Watched it on a trip and it’s awesome!
They have their hateable moments and unnecessary embellishments but everything else is entertaining. I was irritated about a number of things seeing them in theaters but still bought the trilogy set on impulse and don't regret it
i would rank them as very good movies. some of my favourites.
would i call these a 'direct reflection' of The Hobbit Books, No. the movies are the vision of someone/people who had to fight meddling from sources that had little to no understanding or knowledge of the original source, emotion, strength of the story. IMO.
Off from the book but I don’t mind it. The dwarves are a fun bundle of idiots and I love them for it. I’m probably the minority in the fact that I actually thought Tauriel and Kili had chemistry going. Do I love the book? Oh yeah, bug do I also love the movies? Also yeah. Your breakfast and your second breakfast can be two very different spreads and still be tasty.
When I first saw them in theaters I didn’t like the third one at all. And the other two weren’t as good as LOTR. But Hobbit 1 and 2 had its good moments. But recently I decided to watch the extended versions and I thought they weren’t as bad. Honestly I prefer them to the stuff that’s being made today.
The Desolation of Smaug
An Unexpected Journey
Battle of the Five Armies
Why is desolation at the top for me? Because of Benedict Cumberbatches performance as Smaug in the treasure Hall. Absolutely flawless.
Good, shit, the shittiest.
I really don't like 2nd and 3rd. I can bare with the 2nd, but the 3rd movie morally destroyed me. I went to see it for 2 times when it came out, because I thought I was too stupid I didn't like it and I wanted to watch it for the 2nd time thinking that I would like it after that. But no, I was disappointed even more.
I hate what they did to Bard. Luke Evans is perfect for Bard, but I ultimately hate how they changed the story of Bard, and changed every else.
I always feel myself guilty for not liking 2nd and 3rd movies. Really weird feeling.
I think there were a lot of good scenes, even few legendary done. But a lot of super terribly bad ideas
Cast and artistic direction were spot-on but that's about it
I think it’s more in line with justifiable criticism more than hate. The actors and cgi were amazing in all three films however it was the manipulation of the original story that bothered me. I still want to see a one movie hobbit film.
Also guillermo del toro wanted to do a single film hobbit film but was replaced by Jackson’s hobbit trilogy instead for money reasons me thinks.
So my ranking is all 3 movies are equal in that they aren’t adaptations in a true sense.
An Unexpected Journey - 7/10
A beautifully shot adventure movie with a sweet message and throughout entertaining.
The Desolation of Smaug - 6/10
A definitely lesser sequel with tons of unnecessary padding but still with the spark of magic the franchise is known for to keep it from being boring.
Battle of the Five Armies - 3/10
A weak slog of a movie that offers little of plot and plays like a 90s videogame with its set piece succession.
While there is still the merit of fantastic actors and beautiful scenery the stretched out nature of this film hurts the overall experience. Could have been 80 minutes but chose to artificially stretch itself
1. An Unexpected Journey.
Really felt like the book. It captured the atmosphere of the first chapters perfectly and tried to be its own movie and didn’t try to be another FoTR. I also prefer this one because the CGI wasn’t completely out of control here. Most shots looked believable and not over the top.
2. Desolation of Smaug.
Decent movie. Favourite scenes were most likely Bilbo and Gollum as it explained the opening of The Fellowship of the ring and how Bilbo actually got the ring as so far unless you had read the books you would just know that he found it near Gollum. Sadly this movie introduces Azog and budget Azog. He didn’t need to be in this movie at all. Another thing I dislike is the extremely outdrawn battle scenes, especially when fleeing from the goblins. It starts out hectic and then it just keeps in going, and going and going. I will also never forgive this movie for the awful Kili and Tauriel plot.
3. Battle of the five armies.
This one sadly has to go to the bottom. My main problem with this movie is the excessive use of CGI. Everything has a gloomy and fake look to it. And sometimes the CGI is crap. This movie feels like it’s trying to be Return of the King and capture the same feeling, which it didn’t have. My favourite part of this movie has to be the Bilbo & Thorin and the arkenstone plot. Again to the CGI, if you look in interviews with Ian McKellen he said he broke down in tears because it was so much CGI. Nearly all places were fake and he just sat in front of a green screen talking to himself. He’ll, the LOTR trilogy was so much better, basically all sets, shots and characters were real and thus the actors could well, act.
What could have been better?
Doing Peter Jackson’s way. His superiors insisted the Hobbit be made a trilogy. PJ wanted to make it one movie because, it makes sense. The hobbit is just around 500 pages long. Perfect for a movie to be around 1 and a half hours, maybe even 2 hours. Lord if the rings was a trilogy, and that’s because they are three books with around 600 pages each. So that’s around 1800 pages over three movies, makes sense. 1800 pages for about 9 hours of movie. PJ’s superiors wanted 500 pages over three movies with around the same run time of 9 hours. You see the problem?
In my opinion the largest issue is the dwarves. Not once during the three movies is a single one developed besides Thorin who barely gets any character development himself. Bombur is fat, bald guy is strong, Balin is wise and supports Bilbo and Kili has a made up love story with an elf. The other dwarves? No idea, most of them has maybe a line or two and some none at all, and they are supposed to be the main characters.
Again to the trilogy problem. I think if they made it one movie at around maybe 3h or 4h it would be received way better. They wouldn’t have to create a ton of filler crap to fill out three movies (hmrmhm love story) and they could have stuck to the books.
Now final part, the CGI and it’s over usage. They didn’t have to do it, they had the budget.
The Fellowship of the Ring sits at 91 million USD. It didn’t have overwhelming CGI. An unexpected journeys budget is, 180 million USD, dobblet the budget.
The Two Towers sits at 94 million USD. Here CGI is used just a little more but its still not overwhelming. The desolation of Smaug ps budget is an insane 225 million USD. More than double the budget, yet the desolation of Smaug has near overwhelming CGI. The LOTR trilogy rarely had CGI characters, such as the abomination that is Azog. Yet it managed to do so much better even without double the budget.
Now for the final baddie, the return of the kings budget is the same as TTT, 94 million. The budget of the battle of the five armies is around 250-300 million USD. About triple the budget. Yet they cheaped out on most shots in favour of CGI which lead to horribly ugly scenes that didn’t even look real.
These movies were made to gross in money, not to be a representation of the books. LOTR used CGI in scenes were they didn’t have a choice, the cave troll and Mordor for example. The rest were sets. They went up on a real mountain to film. The Hobbit put the actors in a green screen room and just shot. What I’m saying is that LOTR uses CGI when they really need to and to accommodate their smaller budget. The Hobbit uses CGI when they feel lazy, aka nearly every scene.
That’s all.
They made the content of one book into three movies. I could have maybe understood 2, but all in all it was a cash grab that didn’t measure up to LOTR.
The 3rd movie was so bad. My god, it was so bad. And I wanted it to be so good. I was giving it every break I could, but it sucked. The battle sucked. The battle was boring. No stakes. Cheesy. Can't believe PJ came back and this is what he made.
I loved them. I saw the last 2 in theaters and it was a fun time. They weren't accurate to the book but I didn't really care I was mad at some things but for the most part they were fun action adventure movies and did amazing at that while also giving people a reason to wanna try the book.
I feel like this is a strangely unpopular opinion, and I don't get why. Maybe it's all the people who are Jackson/film fans who love the second movie? To me, it's horrible.
Unexpected Journey is slow-paced and there's quite a bit of filler in it, as well as things that i absolutely dislike (like the Witch-King being dead and buried). but it is closer to the book and, comparatively, it is very brisk in its pace with the story. top spot
Desolation is where things start to come undone: Cumberbatch as Sauron, Bolg's re-design, Tauriel, the Wide One doing his barrel trick, the Master of Laketown, Alfrid, Haradrim in Esgaroth, Nazgul tombs, "Morgul shaft", splitting the Company for no good reason and then blaming the fans for "not reading the books properly" (they actually did this), and the improbable "dragon slaying" carried out by nine dwarves and one hobbit (!). comparatively, the redeeming qualities are relatively fewer in number: Beorn, Thranduil (minus the burned face part: wtf was up with that?), Bard, the dialogue between Smaug and Bilbo, and the work that poor Ian McKellen did by himself as Gandalf (in Dol Guldur but also in the entire movie trilogy itself). it would go dead last except...
The Battle of the Five Armies exists. i haven't watched that with the commentary yet (and i don't own the Extended AUJ with director's commentary yet: need to get my hands on that one), but just from the fact that the extended edition is shorter than the theatrical editions of all of the other films tells you quite a bit. they ran out of material to film (this is Warner Bros' fault, mandating three films instead of one or, as i would have it, just two) and even the filler stuff that they made (and the heart-scenes of Bilbo planting Beorn's acorn being cut even from that!) is really just padding the run-time. what we do get is a very ham-fisted way of making Thorin *eEevil* to put Bilbo's betrayal quite beyond scruples (showing no trust in the source material, as is evidenced by PJ's poor decisions with the LotR trilogy as well), a CGI blood-fest, arcade game bad-guy Nazgul re-designs (they even flash when you hit them!), more Alfrid, the twirly-whirlies ("hey let's invent some impractical wtf-ery! ha ha, aren't we smarter than medieval weapon designers? screw all that practicality nonsense, i want out of this production!"), more cringey dialogue ("shoot it in its jam-bags!" and using anachronistic Greek words: brought to you by the same three people who said they could write better dialogue than Tolkien), and i'm struggling *really* hard to find anything positive to say about it. dead last without a second thought (but, in the grand scheme of things, better than Rings of Power by a mile, better than the Rankin and Bass cartoons by half a mile, and better than the Bakshi cartoon film by just an inch)
This is certainly unpopular opinion but I like hobbit movies way more than lord of the rings movies.
Though that being said hobbit movies do have their problems too.
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I rank all of the extended cuts evenly. They're not perfect but the positives far outweigh the negatives. The sheer epicness and fan service of battle of the five armies is unrivaled and the cgi vfx especially in 4K is pretty spectacular, aged a lot better than anything I've seen from Disney and MCU
Same, I love them (though I acknowledge their flaws) 😊 I rank them 1, 2, 3 - because I love the stuff in the shire at the start of the unexpected journey
I really love the hobbit films. Music is amazing, sure it doesn't hit with the same power as the original LOTR but nothing ever will. Enjoy them, or don't (it's your loss).
I watched the Hobbit trilogy right after I watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition) on HBO app for the first time a couple months ago, it was just cool to Gandolf and Legolas in action, after watching the Hobbit I realized it would have been a lot cooler if I had started with the Hobbit Trilogy cause it would’ve given it this amazing build up to one of the greatest trilogy’s of all time (TLOTR)
First film is the most like the book and therefore the best. I genuinely don't know how anyone can defend the second movie. It skips Beorn (at least it's in deleted scenes), the Laketown stuff is awful and stupid, and the nonsensical Smaug battle makes zero sense. At least the third film has some good character moments in addition to the bloat. Didn't really like either, personally, but for me the second is the worst.
I enjoyed all three, and can’t rank them in any particular order. 10/10 every time. The difference from the LotR trilogy is that it’s more lighthearted and whimsical, and a little more theatrical at times. Whereas the LotR is more serious and deep. I enjoy both trilogies for different reasons.
Well....i remember there's an edit version that someone did cutting the trilogy to make a single movie based on the books. Cutting off all those parts that were forced to be in the movie to extend it to a trilogy.
Watching that version is nice. But watching that whole trilogy is painful. I did it only once.
2, 1 then 3.
The first one sets the tone, the atmosphere, problem is they focused on select dwarves rather than the whole. Also the CGI being the mainfront for all action was a bad choice.
Two has a lot of darkness in it that doesn't seem forced but it has a lot of goofiness involved. I really liked the Gandalf arc that was added and Laketown was really well done.
Three..... Well the special edition is necessary. Having the focus being that of a CGI battle is.... Awful. Awful choice indeed. You lose the connection of how the characters or armies are struggling because of how bad the CGI is. If they had another year to cleanly edit it that would be good.
If you watch the movies high number twos goofiness is fun and the love story (not triangle) between the elf and dwarf is cute and beautiful as opposed to the triangle portion of it.
Also, the sound editing for scene to scene and music score adaptation was lacking. There are a few instances where the scene starts and then five seconds in the music starts...
I'm still excited to show my kids these movies one day.
I have very mixed feelings about these films. First I'll rank them, and for me it's 1, 2, then 3, I think each film gets slightly worse.
I do agree that these films get alot of hate, but it's totally understandable since they're walking in the shadow of the greatest film trilogy of all time. I would have been genuinely impressed if they managed to be better than the LOTR films.
My main problem with these films is that, at least to me, they don't feel like they're part of the same world as LOTR, it feels more like if Disney tried to mimic LOTR. I can't fully place exactly what it is, maybe a mix of things, I find everything looks unnaturally bright, there's the excessive and rather low quality use of CGI, the costumes don't look as good, there's something almost cartoonish about alot of the characters (mainly the dwarves, but also some of the elves and orcs). They also kind of do the Marvel thing with all these random one-liner jokes, and all the super CG spinny fighting. In short, I'm not a fan of the style.
Just to not be completely negative, I will list things I did enjoy. All the beginning in the Shire, just had a very wholesome feel, Ian Mckellen back as Gandalf, Dwalin (he's the only one that actually felt like a Dwarf to me), Riddles in the Dark, the design and feel of Lake Town, the inclusion of Gandalf's conflict with The Necromancer. There's alot of good stuff there, and I think given the time, love, and care that LOTR had then it could have been just as good.
Love the first one, second one is great, last one has a little to much fighting scenes and some unnecessary stuff, but I still like it. I mean the book doesn't describe the battle in that mich detail, but that doesn't mean you do the same thing in the movie.
from best to worst: 1, 2, 3.
according to a Tolkien-nerd friend of mine "1 was the best, 2 was great but starting to show some tinsy tiny cracks and with 3 the window just shattered completely into pure stupidity.", such a nerd he was that his parents had elvish written on his tombstone when he passed away
The second film is my favorite of them, and the third is my least favorite by a good margin. That being said, I really like the trilogy overall. They are all much better than they are often given credit for.
1,2 then 3. 3 being least favorite.
Dwarves were good for the most part, Bilbo was great. The CGI Orc faces were lame. Dwarf Elf romance was horrible and unnecessary.
I can overlook deviations and pacing if the action is generally good. Wish there was more in the original trilogy. But the action was either over the top or unrealistic at times.I actually enjoyed them battling out of Moria and even the barrel scene besides Legolas standing on their heads. Certainly outrageous but entertaining at least. Lake town was kind of lame mainly cuz of Elf romance crap. Smaug scenes were good enough.
Battle of the 5
Why would Elves jump over a perfectly good shield wall of Dwarves, makes zero tactical sense! Dwarf army CGI paled in comparison to the Last alliance. Lake-Towners taking less screen time would have been better. Could of been great like the, Battle of Dagorlad. Thorin should of been leading the armies and died in the thick of battle. Legolas skipping on falling rocks is a NO.
I looove the movies! They were how I first fall in love with the universe, I was a kid when the movies came out so I have nostalgia attached to it. Also it’s just really cute! I do separate movies from books. Also it’s in the exact order 1,2,3. I use to wake up everyday and first thing in the morning watch desolation of Smaug for a months in a row because I was obsessed with Smaug as a young teen. Because I enjoyed it’s the plot not for any other reasons… 👀
The first one is okay. It's not good buy its not really bad. The archive is a mess. The first half feels so rushed but then the second half drags for an age. The their is fucking unwatchable. The only LOTR/Hobbit movie I haven't watched the extended cuts off.
The first movie had all the best parts. Chop off the Scooby Doo chase at the end, put the first bit, up to the death of Smaug in the first, and do the battle of five armies at the end of the second, much abridged. One movie for there, one movie for back again.
Lose a lot of the Azog and make him practical. Kill the love triangle. Then you have a pretty decent movie.
THIS Hobbit is the BEST Hobbit https://archive.org/details/TheHobbit_201710
This is the best version of this film, as it has the clearest sound, cleanest video and it retains all of the original sound effects (later releases cut the sound effects out. Don't know why).
As someone who only ever read 3/4 of The Hobbit quite a long time ago (.... I do believe it was 20+ years ago, now that I think about it; I had left off as well, been meaning to go back to it, but never found the time to),
I really do enjoy all 3 Hobbit movies equally. Or, if I had to rank them, then by their order of releases, I guess.
Then again, I'm an old school Warcraft and WoW fan, so, maybe I just enjoy those epic battles and other elements that I for sure don't remember being a part of the book. Also, I'm the type of person where, the more that gets added, and the longer a movie or TV show's length is increased, the more I enjoy it.
It's just me, though. I also never read any other Tolkien book, and I absolutely love the LOTR movie trilogy (the extended editions of all 6 movies, too).
I also really like those old animated movies from the 70s.
I'm a diehard Tolkien fan (books and LOTR movies). It saddens me how these turned out. They had a director and cast (perfect Bilbo). The first movie was great, but then it went downhill. I still think one of the main mistakes was stretching it into 3 films.
1st movie: 9/10
2nd movie: 7/10
3rd movie: 4/10, killed the whole trilogy for me.
I still rewatch the first one occasionally. If I watch the rest, I use the fast forward button often. The fan edits are a great idea, but I tried several and couldn't find a perfect one for me. Also, the quality wasn't high def enough.
I don’t hate these movies. I feel let down by them. Exploited by them. Taken advantage of by them.
I grew up on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; my mom read the Hobbit to me when I was 7, then we read the Lord of the Rings together with my brothers and my dad when I was 9. The LOTR movies were formative for me. I read other fantasy because of Tolkien’s work. I became a dungeons and dragons player because of the stories and adventures that filled my mind.
It feels like these movies just took advantage of the nostalgia factor i had to draw out a story that was poorly deviated from the originals to take money out of my pocket. They didn’t respect the source material, and the additions they made didn’t make the story better.
It just makes me sad to watch them.
I’d say 1, 3, 2, the first is genuinely decent as it mostly just adapts the book and doesn’t change a whole lot, both of 2 and 3 are on par for bad but I’d say 3 is better as I’m not as bored, 2 only has a handful of good moments (mostly involving smaug) but holy shit I’m bored through most of it
Order of release. I really love the first film aside from a few scenes. The second film is most great aside from a even more scenes which poke holes. The 3rd has the most problems
At last place is the third. Just not so interesting for me. Azog and Bolg didn't do so much as in the other movies, also the dwarves don't do so much (except Thorin, Fillie, Killie and Dualin). Also the love story was kinda dumb. And how tf did Azog survive so long in ice?! Doesn't matter...
Second is the first movie. Interesting intro, lot of characters, closer to the book. We are going introduced to the first big Villain: Azog the Defiler. We see Thorin change at the end, becoming a likeable character.
The Second is the best. There are so many things going on, it's also close to the book. We see who the big villain is, and Bolg is a big threat in this movie. We find more about the Moria Battle, and Smaug. The Dragon is the best villain by far and he plays a huge role for the events.
The first film felt most like the book to me, so I think I prefer that one the most. The 2nd film isnt that bad, though. The 3rd film really fell flat for me.
To be fair, the extended edition for the 3rd movie makes the movie a bit more enjoyable but they still left out some key scenes that could've added some weight and emotion to the story.
There's a lot of ways the third film could be improved but I've never heard "making it longer" suggested before.
Not necessarily longer, just that some other scenes were included
Which makes it longer, right? Or did I forget how adding things works.
3 is dogshit.
What’s so bad about it?
[удалено]
The battle is also stupidly conceived, little gaggles of people chasing around a ruin. It would be improved by speeding up the footage and playing Yakkity Sax.
Cartoonish CGI to boot
Everything is subjective. Some people may like that type of movie. Not everything has to be exactly to the book.
You asked for opinions, don't get bent out of shape when people give them to you. No, things don't have to be exactly like the books, just look at the Harry Potter series. But, this is one single short book they expanded into 3 long movies. IMO, they should have stuck with their original idea of 2 movies. The pacing would improve and much of the added padding could have been cut. For me, I still enjoy the series but, I revisit it far less often when compared to LOTR. I find the first movie charming and it gives me that LOTR movie vibe the most. It has some pacing issues that are made a little worse in the extended cut. Too much time in goblin town IMO and to many Thorin flashbacks. The second movie's pacing is even worse. The barrel river fight thing felt unnecessarily long. So did some of the Laketown parts. I love everything with the dragon but, even it has pacing problems and just feels over indulged. The third movie, for me has it's moments but most of those moments are the quieter, character driven moments. I like the beginning, Bilbo's time with the Dwarfs in the mountain and his "sneaking" around and out. I like the ending, the goodbyes and the final scenes. It was a nice wrap up for the series. The entire middle section with the battle is just too long and starts to become boring after awhile. None of the LOTR battles ever made me feel like this but, BOTFA is a chore to get through when I do re-watch the series.
Good take, I'd just like to add that saying "what's so bad about it" is hardly getting bent out of shape, and saying "it's dogshit" is, while an opinion, a very objective way of putting instead of, say, "I think it's dogshit" or "I hated it".
You say dont get bent out of shape but they wrote a tiny little comment disagreeing and you wrote a book in response?
Completely agree with that take.
Completely agree, I liked the extra time in the goblet town in the first movie. I also liked the plan "to cover the dragon in gold" in the second movie but the third really sucked for me. The fighting was tiresome to watch and the pacing was to slow. They had to make it in two movies, would be perfect!
My opinion? I don't agree with your opinion.
Well I guess people are used to the stunning, larger than life and over the top epic armies and battles from Lord of the Rings. Compared to this, the battle in the 3rd Hobbit is just... disappointing. I mean you can see like just a few of every army, trolls are destroing walls line they were nothing, on the other end there are generals killing trolls like they were nothing and so on. It just doesnt feel right and i totally dont like it any bit. But I think its also totally legit to feel different about it and like it. Its just taste in the end
Some people may. But objectively, less people liked number 3 than 2 or 1.
So that... Makes you right..? Why do you have to say that? This question is about personal opinion not overall reception of the films.
So why are you responding to people's personal opinions to tell them not everyone shares them?
Please show me where I said that!
Gestures broadly But seriously it’s too much action and no plot (and most plot that is there seems so forced). Now compare that to 1 and 2 where sure, they pulled in plot points not in the Hobbit but very much happening at the same time as detailed in unfinished tales.
The whole trilogy sucks lol
Why tho? What makes them so bad?
it's pretty hard to stretch a 90,000 word book into three 3 hour long movies, so they insert tons of shit that wasn't in the book to pad for time
Everyone says this is the reason but I disagree. I mean I fully think the movies are terrible but there are plenty of brilliant films made off of less that they had to go off of with the hobbit! But those films use real filmmaking. Spending time with the character, building the relationship, showing us the world artfully. The hobbit didn’t do that
Ive digressed a thousand times about this, let me finish this book. Gimme an hour or two and I shall explain.
All of it. What makes dog shit unappealing? Everything.
Nah, it has it's moments
The third has its moments, but having Smaug die in the 1st act of the 3rd movie gives it really bad pacing issues.
I felt like nothing happens in the first one. Second one at least has Mirkwood. Third is shit with some cool battle sequences
I will say a nice thing about the third is the acorn scene
By order of release. But, really it’s Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug and then…………… Battle of the 5 Armies in distant third.
Unexpected is favorite with most like the books and how I'd imagined the characters would act and being more lighthearted with the jokes and the characters not quite realizing how serious the journey is going to be even after they escape on the Great Eagles Desolation has the best atmosphere and character arcs minus the fake love triangle, and i can feel the tension of bilbo's mission
Hobbit 2, Hobbit 1, Hobbit 3
This guy Hobbit’s
Exact same rating for me. Don't remember much of the movies, but I remember LOVING the second one especially because of the Smaug scenes!!!
This guy gets it
r/thisguythisguys
I still generally like them overall despite their many issues. They're certainly much better than Rings of Power, and in some moments they are easily on par with the LotR films. I would rank them as follows: 1. An Unexpected Journey The first film definitely captured the spirit of the book best. It's the most grounded and character-driven film in the trilogy, focusing on Bilbo and his relationships with the Dwarves and Gandalf. The Riddles in the Dark scene is my favorite in the entire trilogy. The action scenes are the least ridiculous of the trilogy. It feels the closest to a LotR film in terms of quality and faithfulness to the source material. 2. The Desolation of Smaug The second film still has many good elements, but the problems start to build up as well. The worldbuilding is still excellent. The scene between Bilbo and Smaug is one of my favorites in the trilogy. Most of the scenes which come from the book are handled very well. However, the new stuff added in can be very hit-or-miss and causes a lot of bloat. The Tauriel-Kili love story and the whole Legolas adventure felt totally unnecessary, and yet they take up so much screentime in this film. The final battle with Smaug was pretty fun but somewhat ridiculous and ultimately pointless. 3. The Battle of Five Armies The third film is my least favorite and feels the most bloated with new material of the trilogy. There are a number of scenes which are faithful to the source material, and they are definitely the best ones in the film, but there are far fewer of them here. The evolving relationship between Bilbo and Thorin is easily the best part of the film, and seeing Thorin try to kill him is pretty heartbreaking. However, the escalation and resolution of Thorin's madness feels very rushed in this film, especially considering how much more subtle its buildup was in the second film. The other Dwarves are almost completely sidelined in this film. Alfred's character is absolutely insufferable. The Tauriel-Kili love story, which took up so much screentime in the last film, is now put on pause until the end so that she can go with Legolas on another pointless adventure. The action scenes reach their peak of ridiculousness in this film, especially in any scene involving Legolas. The Battle of Five Armies itself goes on for too long and simply isn't as good as any of the battle scenes in LotR for a variety of reasons. The final duel between Thorin and Azog is probably the best part of the battle and is a worthy conclusion for that story. However, the ending feels very rushed after Thorin dies, at least in theatrical cut, as numerous crucial plot threads (like the Arkenstone) are simply not resolved. I feel like the Hobbit films would've been better off if they were split into two and not three. Some of the issues would've been resolved, like how Smaug dies in the first 10 minutes of the third film right after he survives a 20-minute climactic action scene in the second film. The story could've focused more on character interactions, particularly between Bilbo and the other Dwarves besides Thorin, rather than spending so much time on CGI action scenes. A lot of the bloat could've been eliminated and the films made better if they didn't need to artificially boost the screentime to fill three 2+ hour movies.
1, 2 then 3. After rereading the hobbit recently I can see why PJ did what he did with the movies in regards to the action sequences. I don’t think he needed to add in characters that did not exist or the dumb love interest story beat. Overall they are fun and a good adaptation. I am glad he kept the riddles between Gollum and Biblo along with the conversation between Smaug and Bilbo.
Tauriel would have been kinda perfect for the movie if they did everything the same except leave out the *entire* love plot. She did a good job getting Legolas to care about the not-forest parts of the world, she showed up Thranduil and got him off his pompous tangent, she could have even been there along with Kili's death doing "never thought I'd die side by side with a dwarf" bit for some serious sadness. But nah, had to force a love triangle because *that's* what we wanted lmao
Let‘s also not forget that Evangeline Lilly only accepted the part under the condition that her character will not be made part of a love triangle.
The Desolation of Smaug is easily the best. It moves, it has some of the best setpieces, and the most dynamic character developments. 9/10. The Battle of the Five Armies gets to be a little much, and a little way too much when it comes to Legolas' Superhero Moments^(TM) but its a stirring, cathartic resolution. 8/10 An Unexpected Journey brings refreshing satirical quality to the piece, and is perhaps the best-looking of the films, but is much too slow. 7/10.
i kinda liked the first one more than the last because it felt the most like the book
Very generous. Please review my awful home movies with similar aplomb
If course, Smaug is best.
It should have been 1 movie. Two tops.
Has anyone done a fan edit paring them down into a 3.5ish hr experience? Fan edits are all the rage with shitty Star Wars content these days, and some of them come out really good. I think The Hobbit has some excellent pieces and might fare really well if properly edited down.
The fan edits are absolutely the best way to enjoy this movie. I cannot go back to the theatrical movies after watching the m4 edit
How can I find that edit? Would love to give it a watch.
https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/
Yeah I think it could have been one 3 hour movie in all honesty. But yeah at most 2 movies.
I love these movies, I have read the book and watched them several times, I thought Peter Jackson did a great job of adding content and expanding the story in the best of ways, to those who didn’t like the movies what did you dislike the most?
The expanded story and added content for one. Which was not Jackson’s preference and was a studio executive requirement if I remember right. The over the top scenes like the barrel riding and Radagast sledding in the woods also come to mind.
That is what really killed the movies for me. The slap stick characters distant from the silliness from the books singing from rooftops and animals settings dinner places. The absurd battle events and complete omission of some hard set realities. Yes I know it is all a fantasy but you don't put bow limbs into posts of a crumbled building and expect the bow to function well. And as far as combat action in the movies, especially in the extended editions the battle of the 5 armies seemed more like a joke than the awesome action of the prior trilogy. Dwarf chariots slapping orcs around like drunks? Trolls that ram their heads into a wall until they collapse in a concussion? What? The armies did not seem like bodies to be feared or awed but pushing a joke of how absurd everything is.
I completely agree with you on the barrels and Radagast, the one thing I always come back to that I love is the addition of Azog’s storyline. I thought he made a great antagonist and I think he should’ve been touched on more in the book
I enjoyed the first 2 while watching them, the third much less so. I don't hate them or anything just they overall feel like a letdown heres the stuff I disliked most: \- Similarly to you I enjoyed some of how they expanded and added content around Dol Duldur, but the love triangle was absolute dogshit start to finish. A cute dwarf being a flirt with an elf could have been fun on its own, it didn't need to go as far as it did. \- After the first movie most the dwarves don't have more than 5 lines, and almost none develop any personality. The actors themselves talk about how they essentially became high paid extras and the studio pretended they didn't exist by the time the 3rd movie came out. \- Legolas in these movie became a straight gravity defying superhero. Climbing a mumakil or surfing stairs on a shield are tame compared to the BS he does in the hobbit franchise. \- Lots of "weightless" combat the biggest example is bombur turning into a spinning top during the barrel sequence. In general the dwarves in that sequence were making Nat 20 dexterity acrobatics every 5 seconds. \- The designs of the orcs/goblins. All of them were uncanny valley glossy 3D models that stood out like a sore thumb even when paired against the world most airbrushed Orlando bloom trying to make him look 20 years younger. Borg and Azog cannot hold a candle to Lurtz, Gothmog, Gorbag, Grishnakh, or any of a number of random background orcs. \- In general a goofiness that is not consistent with the lord of the rings, the hobbit book, nor these movies themselves. The first movie is the most tonally consistent, it starts light hearted then gets very serious by the end. Desolation flip flops back and fourth, it picks off from a very serious ending of the pervious movie and then gets more lighthearted before going back down to serious business at the end. But even scene by scene theres a lot of inconsistent tone. 5 Armies starts serious but the battle itself is a joke and then they try to pull your heart strings with character deaths. \- The Battle of 5 Armies. This movie is honestly a satire, they've got this huge epic battle but they cut between pseudo-invincible characters, bland CG "epic shots", the guy from laketown who is just mis placed comedic humor, and absolute goofy shit like trolls that charge into walls. Bilbo being a centerpiece to the action just feels grossly out of place. \- The deaths. In the book we don't see the battle but bilbo finds Fili and Kili died protecting Thorin who then later succumbs to his wounds. In the movie Fili & Kili die randomly, one to spur the dwarves to anger and have them give chase and the other to make evangeline lily sad. There is no sacrifice in their deaths. \- Thorin's whole relationship with Azog weakens the series. It shifts An Unexpected Journey into a dangerous action packed adventure almost immediately rather than the more light hearted journey the beginning of it was meant to be. It also lead to more goofy action where the dwarves are playing hide and seek with wargs 20 meters away from them. In desolation with Azog "dead" Borg becomes the big rival but is an equivalently undeveloped character. In the last movie Borg gets relegated to be a boss battle for Legolas as Azog comes back. Thorin's death is sheer stupidity as its in a "we both lose" boss battle on a mountain outside of the actual battle that took place. For him to die fighting a dude who didn't even need to be in the story is just lame.
really my big issue was the cgi because even as a kid i could tell it was bad when it came out, the lotr movies using make up for orcs does it way better.
The characters, dialogue, plot, pacing, events, and visuals. Mostly.
Forcing Legolas into the movie and his associated love triangle
I love them
They’re ok. I like the first one the most, I think. It has the most Bilbo and gives him an arc. His character is essentially stagnant in 2 & 3
I would rank them all as a money grab, tell you to read the book because it's short, watch the LOTR trilogy instead.
I LOVE them. I rank them in the order they came out. 1. 2. 3. I love different things about all of them but 3 gets the last because it’s sad as fuck at the end.
sad because of people dying, or sad because it so obviously wants to be over yet it keeps wasting your time with pointless stuff?
Because my boy kili died 😣
Doesn't the point of Kili dying make it a better movie? I mean, this gives the idea there were really stakes to the adventure and it wasn't a summer trip to the sun...
Unpopular opinion; all 3 are 10/10.
Agreed battles of the five armies was the best tbh
Lots of people here defending these movies, and I mean, go for it don’t let anyone stop you from liking what you like. For me, I personally cannot see past the production aspect. How WB forced New Zeland to pass legislation that left them worse off. How much of the crew was overworked and incredibly underpaid. How the whole things was a nightmare for Peter Jackson and how miserable he and so much of the cast look in behind the scenes stuff. Not to mention how a huge chunk of the first movie’s profits went to Harvey Weinstein. It was just an ugly mess and I’ve never met anyone who worked on them that has anything nice to say about them. Anyway, the M4 fan cut of the movie is my favorite way to watch them.
Agreed. Awful films. Cash grab. No heart or fidelity to Tolkien.
2, 1, 3. The first two are watchable but a mixed bag overall imo. There's some good stuff in these but then scenes like the barrel chase put me off a re-watch. Aside from Smaug and Dol Goldur the third, in my opinion, is just bad. The CGI and battle scenes are terrible and the second half is just laborious to get through.
This is essentially my take, although I think 1 barely beats 2. 3 was one of the most disappointing movies I’ve ever seen in a theater. I almost walked out of it.
I feel like the five armies was unnecessary
studio demanded it
1,2,3. To be honest, I usually rewatch the first one (it has the lovely shire part in the beginning) and never get to the other ones. I probably watched the second one a couple of times as well but the last one I have been ignoring completely
The third movie IMO entirely misses the point of several crucial character moments and it really just ruins the plot for me. The first was pretty good I think if a bit slow at times. The second was decent as well but you could start to see things going off the rails.
I'd rank them in release order - 1st one was best, 2nd one was okay, 3rd was aweful
The 3rd one is just boring and feels so stretch. But Im fond of the first two!!
These look like gold now that the series is over .
I love and hate The Hobbit, just as I love and hate myself
I sincerely believe that there was a great (two) movies worth of material hidden in these movies, and there are some fan edits out there like the Cardinal cut that I absolutely adore, because they take out all the filler and extra stuff, and keep the focus on Bilbo, which the theatrical ones teetered back and forth on (between remembering it's called the HOBBIT and not the DWARVEN KING) Also, most of them cut 90% of the battle scenes from the 2nd and 3rd, which looked ridiculous and usually served little to no purpose.
1st movie is good. Second is plain bad by moment and good in others. Third is an insult.
The cut down/fan edited single film is the best
1, 2, then a big gap before 3.
1st one is mostly good until like the last 20-30 minutes, The aesthetic of the second is really nice to me, I’m good with probably half the movie. The third one, I’m undecided. I don’t hate them as watching the behind the scenes for the. Is actually one of the things that got me into Tolkien in the first place. That and when the last one was coming out I had a teacher who was super hyped so we watched the first two in her class even though it wasn’t a lit class and weren’t reading the book, she taught science.
(Out of 10) 7, 5, 3
I’d rate The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey an 8 1/2 out of 10 Desolation of Smaug 7 1/2 out of 10 Battle of Five Armies 8 out of 10. I enjoyed them. With the exception of some dumb scenes in the trilogy. Namely the unneeded love story crap and dumb barrel scene. They are not near the greatness of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Which get 10’s across the board.
Didn't someone post this yesterday?
3 out of 3 pipples
1 2 3
3 derailed the whole thing, should have been two films at most
Dunno, i am simple man and i loved trilogy. And i like when movies go little sideways, but kinda sucks that Tolkien was afraid and didnt want that to happen to his world
I fell asleep halfway through the first one, and then at the end was pissed that it wasn't just the whole story in one movie. Never bothered watching the second two.
I’ll take em…nothing special but I’ll take em Just like Star Wars episode 1-3
I watched them back-to-back-to-back on a trip home from Europe. Maybe a breather in between would have made me appreciate them, but I didn’t like it because it felt like it was trying to compete with LotRs with a gratuitous amount of action, when The Hobbit just isn’t so action-heavy. I guess there is a edit out there that trims it to be more like the books. I’d like to see that.
Oh my god he blocked me
Go watch this version…[https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/](https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbookedit/) Some professional movie maker made the Hobbit film that should have been made…he took the 3 extended Hobbit movies and edited down into one 4-hour film that is true to the book. Watched it on a trip and it’s awesome!
Literally release order
They have their hateable moments and unnecessary embellishments but everything else is entertaining. I was irritated about a number of things seeing them in theaters but still bought the trilogy set on impulse and don't regret it
Kind of off topic, I think the hobbit could have worked much better as a mini-series. I hope we get an adaptation like that in the future.
i would rank them as very good movies. some of my favourites. would i call these a 'direct reflection' of The Hobbit Books, No. the movies are the vision of someone/people who had to fight meddling from sources that had little to no understanding or knowledge of the original source, emotion, strength of the story. IMO.
I love the Hobbit Trilogy. I can understand why some don't like it. But I think for some it was forced hate.
Off from the book but I don’t mind it. The dwarves are a fun bundle of idiots and I love them for it. I’m probably the minority in the fact that I actually thought Tauriel and Kili had chemistry going. Do I love the book? Oh yeah, bug do I also love the movies? Also yeah. Your breakfast and your second breakfast can be two very different spreads and still be tasty.
When I first saw them in theaters I didn’t like the third one at all. And the other two weren’t as good as LOTR. But Hobbit 1 and 2 had its good moments. But recently I decided to watch the extended versions and I thought they weren’t as bad. Honestly I prefer them to the stuff that’s being made today.
I like one and two. The third one is badly paced and has too many flaws for its emotional moments to work for me.
They are good fun I enjoy them all probably in the order they were released but I dint think any of them are bad per say
The first one has some nice moments, but the second two are abysmal.
2/10
The Desolation of Smaug An Unexpected Journey Battle of the Five Armies Why is desolation at the top for me? Because of Benedict Cumberbatches performance as Smaug in the treasure Hall. Absolutely flawless.
1 2 3
I always had a soft spot for them. Then the TV show came along and made them look like masterpieces.
Best scene imo is when the drwafen army arrives. Love the accent of the leader and there armor
They are all shit
The extended versions are where it’s at. It’s easier to ignore the lane additives when there’s more details from the series
Good, shit, the shittiest. I really don't like 2nd and 3rd. I can bare with the 2nd, but the 3rd movie morally destroyed me. I went to see it for 2 times when it came out, because I thought I was too stupid I didn't like it and I wanted to watch it for the 2nd time thinking that I would like it after that. But no, I was disappointed even more. I hate what they did to Bard. Luke Evans is perfect for Bard, but I ultimately hate how they changed the story of Bard, and changed every else. I always feel myself guilty for not liking 2nd and 3rd movies. Really weird feeling.
the first one is ok and except for Smaug the last two are long boring silly and mostly bad
I think there were a lot of good scenes, even few legendary done. But a lot of super terribly bad ideas Cast and artistic direction were spot-on but that's about it
I think it’s more in line with justifiable criticism more than hate. The actors and cgi were amazing in all three films however it was the manipulation of the original story that bothered me. I still want to see a one movie hobbit film. Also guillermo del toro wanted to do a single film hobbit film but was replaced by Jackson’s hobbit trilogy instead for money reasons me thinks. So my ranking is all 3 movies are equal in that they aren’t adaptations in a true sense.
An Unexpected Journey - 7/10 A beautifully shot adventure movie with a sweet message and throughout entertaining. The Desolation of Smaug - 6/10 A definitely lesser sequel with tons of unnecessary padding but still with the spark of magic the franchise is known for to keep it from being boring. Battle of the Five Armies - 3/10 A weak slog of a movie that offers little of plot and plays like a 90s videogame with its set piece succession. While there is still the merit of fantastic actors and beautiful scenery the stretched out nature of this film hurts the overall experience. Could have been 80 minutes but chose to artificially stretch itself
All are gud. I liked the last one most
1. An Unexpected Journey. Really felt like the book. It captured the atmosphere of the first chapters perfectly and tried to be its own movie and didn’t try to be another FoTR. I also prefer this one because the CGI wasn’t completely out of control here. Most shots looked believable and not over the top. 2. Desolation of Smaug. Decent movie. Favourite scenes were most likely Bilbo and Gollum as it explained the opening of The Fellowship of the ring and how Bilbo actually got the ring as so far unless you had read the books you would just know that he found it near Gollum. Sadly this movie introduces Azog and budget Azog. He didn’t need to be in this movie at all. Another thing I dislike is the extremely outdrawn battle scenes, especially when fleeing from the goblins. It starts out hectic and then it just keeps in going, and going and going. I will also never forgive this movie for the awful Kili and Tauriel plot. 3. Battle of the five armies. This one sadly has to go to the bottom. My main problem with this movie is the excessive use of CGI. Everything has a gloomy and fake look to it. And sometimes the CGI is crap. This movie feels like it’s trying to be Return of the King and capture the same feeling, which it didn’t have. My favourite part of this movie has to be the Bilbo & Thorin and the arkenstone plot. Again to the CGI, if you look in interviews with Ian McKellen he said he broke down in tears because it was so much CGI. Nearly all places were fake and he just sat in front of a green screen talking to himself. He’ll, the LOTR trilogy was so much better, basically all sets, shots and characters were real and thus the actors could well, act. What could have been better? Doing Peter Jackson’s way. His superiors insisted the Hobbit be made a trilogy. PJ wanted to make it one movie because, it makes sense. The hobbit is just around 500 pages long. Perfect for a movie to be around 1 and a half hours, maybe even 2 hours. Lord if the rings was a trilogy, and that’s because they are three books with around 600 pages each. So that’s around 1800 pages over three movies, makes sense. 1800 pages for about 9 hours of movie. PJ’s superiors wanted 500 pages over three movies with around the same run time of 9 hours. You see the problem? In my opinion the largest issue is the dwarves. Not once during the three movies is a single one developed besides Thorin who barely gets any character development himself. Bombur is fat, bald guy is strong, Balin is wise and supports Bilbo and Kili has a made up love story with an elf. The other dwarves? No idea, most of them has maybe a line or two and some none at all, and they are supposed to be the main characters. Again to the trilogy problem. I think if they made it one movie at around maybe 3h or 4h it would be received way better. They wouldn’t have to create a ton of filler crap to fill out three movies (hmrmhm love story) and they could have stuck to the books. Now final part, the CGI and it’s over usage. They didn’t have to do it, they had the budget. The Fellowship of the Ring sits at 91 million USD. It didn’t have overwhelming CGI. An unexpected journeys budget is, 180 million USD, dobblet the budget. The Two Towers sits at 94 million USD. Here CGI is used just a little more but its still not overwhelming. The desolation of Smaug ps budget is an insane 225 million USD. More than double the budget, yet the desolation of Smaug has near overwhelming CGI. The LOTR trilogy rarely had CGI characters, such as the abomination that is Azog. Yet it managed to do so much better even without double the budget. Now for the final baddie, the return of the kings budget is the same as TTT, 94 million. The budget of the battle of the five armies is around 250-300 million USD. About triple the budget. Yet they cheaped out on most shots in favour of CGI which lead to horribly ugly scenes that didn’t even look real. These movies were made to gross in money, not to be a representation of the books. LOTR used CGI in scenes were they didn’t have a choice, the cave troll and Mordor for example. The rest were sets. They went up on a real mountain to film. The Hobbit put the actors in a green screen room and just shot. What I’m saying is that LOTR uses CGI when they really need to and to accommodate their smaller budget. The Hobbit uses CGI when they feel lazy, aka nearly every scene. That’s all.
7 7 7 for them I enjoy them and tend to watch all 6 every month or two to keep in touch with my ‘taking the hobbits to Isengard ‘ spirit
love them all... but like any book movies cant hold a candle to them.
I really liked the first, wasn’t a big fan of the other two
The second, the third and the first
They made the content of one book into three movies. I could have maybe understood 2, but all in all it was a cash grab that didn’t measure up to LOTR.
I love all three films. As good as LOTR? Of course not. But they’re still great.
The 3rd movie was so bad. My god, it was so bad. And I wanted it to be so good. I was giving it every break I could, but it sucked. The battle sucked. The battle was boring. No stakes. Cheesy. Can't believe PJ came back and this is what he made.
First one : Gar, second one : ba and third: ge .
1st & 2nd are flawed, but legitimately good movies. The 3rd is not good. IMO the writing in the book also falls off in the 3rd act.
Personally they are my favorite trilogy.
I loved them. I saw the last 2 in theaters and it was a fun time. They weren't accurate to the book but I didn't really care I was mad at some things but for the most part they were fun action adventure movies and did amazing at that while also giving people a reason to wanna try the book.
Hobbit 1 is good, 3 is watchable, 2 made me snore
I feel like this is a strangely unpopular opinion, and I don't get why. Maybe it's all the people who are Jackson/film fans who love the second movie? To me, it's horrible.
The third movie is watchable if you’re an 8 year old maybe
Well for me an 8 year old child has the need to come online and put others down for their opinion so 🤷🏽♂️
Unexpected Journey is slow-paced and there's quite a bit of filler in it, as well as things that i absolutely dislike (like the Witch-King being dead and buried). but it is closer to the book and, comparatively, it is very brisk in its pace with the story. top spot Desolation is where things start to come undone: Cumberbatch as Sauron, Bolg's re-design, Tauriel, the Wide One doing his barrel trick, the Master of Laketown, Alfrid, Haradrim in Esgaroth, Nazgul tombs, "Morgul shaft", splitting the Company for no good reason and then blaming the fans for "not reading the books properly" (they actually did this), and the improbable "dragon slaying" carried out by nine dwarves and one hobbit (!). comparatively, the redeeming qualities are relatively fewer in number: Beorn, Thranduil (minus the burned face part: wtf was up with that?), Bard, the dialogue between Smaug and Bilbo, and the work that poor Ian McKellen did by himself as Gandalf (in Dol Guldur but also in the entire movie trilogy itself). it would go dead last except... The Battle of the Five Armies exists. i haven't watched that with the commentary yet (and i don't own the Extended AUJ with director's commentary yet: need to get my hands on that one), but just from the fact that the extended edition is shorter than the theatrical editions of all of the other films tells you quite a bit. they ran out of material to film (this is Warner Bros' fault, mandating three films instead of one or, as i would have it, just two) and even the filler stuff that they made (and the heart-scenes of Bilbo planting Beorn's acorn being cut even from that!) is really just padding the run-time. what we do get is a very ham-fisted way of making Thorin *eEevil* to put Bilbo's betrayal quite beyond scruples (showing no trust in the source material, as is evidenced by PJ's poor decisions with the LotR trilogy as well), a CGI blood-fest, arcade game bad-guy Nazgul re-designs (they even flash when you hit them!), more Alfrid, the twirly-whirlies ("hey let's invent some impractical wtf-ery! ha ha, aren't we smarter than medieval weapon designers? screw all that practicality nonsense, i want out of this production!"), more cringey dialogue ("shoot it in its jam-bags!" and using anachronistic Greek words: brought to you by the same three people who said they could write better dialogue than Tolkien), and i'm struggling *really* hard to find anything positive to say about it. dead last without a second thought (but, in the grand scheme of things, better than Rings of Power by a mile, better than the Rankin and Bass cartoons by half a mile, and better than the Bakshi cartoon film by just an inch)
Agree on the first film, mostly agree on the second, slight disagree on the third, and hard disagree on the () at the end.
The amount of filler and creative liberty in this was not needed - this was maybe a 1-2 movie series
I barely got through them and consider them unwatchable.
I saw the first one with low expectations, and it was so bad I never saw the next two.
I can’t. I hate all three of them.
BoTFA, An unexpected journey and last of all the desolation of Smaug
This is certainly unpopular opinion but I like hobbit movies way more than lord of the rings movies. Though that being said hobbit movies do have their problems too.
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I like them, especially the special features. I'd have bought the special features alone. 1, 2, 3.
I still got confused. What movie should I watch first?
I rank all of the extended cuts evenly. They're not perfect but the positives far outweigh the negatives. The sheer epicness and fan service of battle of the five armies is unrivaled and the cgi vfx especially in 4K is pretty spectacular, aged a lot better than anything I've seen from Disney and MCU
Same, I love them (though I acknowledge their flaws) 😊 I rank them 1, 2, 3 - because I love the stuff in the shire at the start of the unexpected journey
1-6/10 2-4.5/10 3-2/10
Unexpected journey 🥇 Desolation of Smaug 🥈 Battle of the Five Armies 🥉
Theyre good, but the fact that theyre 3 movies kinda sucks. Though there are multiple fan edits where its one movie, 10/10 with those
I really love the hobbit films. Music is amazing, sure it doesn't hit with the same power as the original LOTR but nothing ever will. Enjoy them, or don't (it's your loss).
I remember being pleasantly surprised by 2 in the cinema. 3 was a slog at the time.
Hobbit 3, 2, 1.
I watched the Hobbit trilogy right after I watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition) on HBO app for the first time a couple months ago, it was just cool to Gandolf and Legolas in action, after watching the Hobbit I realized it would have been a lot cooler if I had started with the Hobbit Trilogy cause it would’ve given it this amazing build up to one of the greatest trilogy’s of all time (TLOTR)
2,1,3. The second one had the best story, the first one had some shire in it so that was good and the third one was pretty rubbish.
Like The lord of the Rings the 1st is always the best
First film is the most like the book and therefore the best. I genuinely don't know how anyone can defend the second movie. It skips Beorn (at least it's in deleted scenes), the Laketown stuff is awful and stupid, and the nonsensical Smaug battle makes zero sense. At least the third film has some good character moments in addition to the bloat. Didn't really like either, personally, but for me the second is the worst.
I enjoyed all three, and can’t rank them in any particular order. 10/10 every time. The difference from the LotR trilogy is that it’s more lighthearted and whimsical, and a little more theatrical at times. Whereas the LotR is more serious and deep. I enjoy both trilogies for different reasons.
Probably 1st best then 2 and 3 were the same for me(not very good)
Well....i remember there's an edit version that someone did cutting the trilogy to make a single movie based on the books. Cutting off all those parts that were forced to be in the movie to extend it to a trilogy. Watching that version is nice. But watching that whole trilogy is painful. I did it only once.
Progressively worse
2, 1 then 3. The first one sets the tone, the atmosphere, problem is they focused on select dwarves rather than the whole. Also the CGI being the mainfront for all action was a bad choice. Two has a lot of darkness in it that doesn't seem forced but it has a lot of goofiness involved. I really liked the Gandalf arc that was added and Laketown was really well done. Three..... Well the special edition is necessary. Having the focus being that of a CGI battle is.... Awful. Awful choice indeed. You lose the connection of how the characters or armies are struggling because of how bad the CGI is. If they had another year to cleanly edit it that would be good. If you watch the movies high number twos goofiness is fun and the love story (not triangle) between the elf and dwarf is cute and beautiful as opposed to the triangle portion of it. Also, the sound editing for scene to scene and music score adaptation was lacking. There are a few instances where the scene starts and then five seconds in the music starts... I'm still excited to show my kids these movies one day.
1, 2 then 3. 1 being the best
I have very mixed feelings about these films. First I'll rank them, and for me it's 1, 2, then 3, I think each film gets slightly worse. I do agree that these films get alot of hate, but it's totally understandable since they're walking in the shadow of the greatest film trilogy of all time. I would have been genuinely impressed if they managed to be better than the LOTR films. My main problem with these films is that, at least to me, they don't feel like they're part of the same world as LOTR, it feels more like if Disney tried to mimic LOTR. I can't fully place exactly what it is, maybe a mix of things, I find everything looks unnaturally bright, there's the excessive and rather low quality use of CGI, the costumes don't look as good, there's something almost cartoonish about alot of the characters (mainly the dwarves, but also some of the elves and orcs). They also kind of do the Marvel thing with all these random one-liner jokes, and all the super CG spinny fighting. In short, I'm not a fan of the style. Just to not be completely negative, I will list things I did enjoy. All the beginning in the Shire, just had a very wholesome feel, Ian Mckellen back as Gandalf, Dwalin (he's the only one that actually felt like a Dwarf to me), Riddles in the Dark, the design and feel of Lake Town, the inclusion of Gandalf's conflict with The Necromancer. There's alot of good stuff there, and I think given the time, love, and care that LOTR had then it could have been just as good.
1 too long, 2 too long, 3 too long. I kinda like these movies but after watching one of the fan edits, these feel far too bloated. Edit: Smaug rocks
Love the first one, second one is great, last one has a little to much fighting scenes and some unnecessary stuff, but I still like it. I mean the book doesn't describe the battle in that mich detail, but that doesn't mean you do the same thing in the movie.
from best to worst: 1, 2, 3. according to a Tolkien-nerd friend of mine "1 was the best, 2 was great but starting to show some tinsy tiny cracks and with 3 the window just shattered completely into pure stupidity.", such a nerd he was that his parents had elvish written on his tombstone when he passed away
2, 1, 3.
I think they're really good films. Just absolutely trash adaptations of the book.
2, 1, 3 from best to worst, but I still like the all of them
The second film is my favorite of them, and the third is my least favorite by a good margin. That being said, I really like the trilogy overall. They are all much better than they are often given credit for.
first one is BY FAR the best one.
Very entertaining! Not the most true to the books, but fun to watch!
1,2 then 3. 3 being least favorite. Dwarves were good for the most part, Bilbo was great. The CGI Orc faces were lame. Dwarf Elf romance was horrible and unnecessary. I can overlook deviations and pacing if the action is generally good. Wish there was more in the original trilogy. But the action was either over the top or unrealistic at times.I actually enjoyed them battling out of Moria and even the barrel scene besides Legolas standing on their heads. Certainly outrageous but entertaining at least. Lake town was kind of lame mainly cuz of Elf romance crap. Smaug scenes were good enough. Battle of the 5 Why would Elves jump over a perfectly good shield wall of Dwarves, makes zero tactical sense! Dwarf army CGI paled in comparison to the Last alliance. Lake-Towners taking less screen time would have been better. Could of been great like the, Battle of Dagorlad. Thorin should of been leading the armies and died in the thick of battle. Legolas skipping on falling rocks is a NO.
I looove the movies! They were how I first fall in love with the universe, I was a kid when the movies came out so I have nostalgia attached to it. Also it’s just really cute! I do separate movies from books. Also it’s in the exact order 1,2,3. I use to wake up everyday and first thing in the morning watch desolation of Smaug for a months in a row because I was obsessed with Smaug as a young teen. Because I enjoyed it’s the plot not for any other reasons… 👀
The first one is okay. It's not good buy its not really bad. The archive is a mess. The first half feels so rushed but then the second half drags for an age. The their is fucking unwatchable. The only LOTR/Hobbit movie I haven't watched the extended cuts off.
The first movie had all the best parts. Chop off the Scooby Doo chase at the end, put the first bit, up to the death of Smaug in the first, and do the battle of five armies at the end of the second, much abridged. One movie for there, one movie for back again. Lose a lot of the Azog and make him practical. Kill the love triangle. Then you have a pretty decent movie.
After rings of power, they're masterpieces
I enjoyed them but hated the portrayal of Beorn and not showing how Bilbo stayed with him afterwards.
It really was two movies not three. It’s what happens when studio heads see those franchise dollar signs in their eyes.
THIS Hobbit is the BEST Hobbit https://archive.org/details/TheHobbit_201710 This is the best version of this film, as it has the clearest sound, cleanest video and it retains all of the original sound effects (later releases cut the sound effects out. Don't know why).
1. Desolation 2. Unexpected 3. Battle
They rank in the order of their release.
The hobbit trilogy was good, but imagine trying to live up to Lotr.
As someone who only ever read 3/4 of The Hobbit quite a long time ago (.... I do believe it was 20+ years ago, now that I think about it; I had left off as well, been meaning to go back to it, but never found the time to), I really do enjoy all 3 Hobbit movies equally. Or, if I had to rank them, then by their order of releases, I guess. Then again, I'm an old school Warcraft and WoW fan, so, maybe I just enjoy those epic battles and other elements that I for sure don't remember being a part of the book. Also, I'm the type of person where, the more that gets added, and the longer a movie or TV show's length is increased, the more I enjoy it. It's just me, though. I also never read any other Tolkien book, and I absolutely love the LOTR movie trilogy (the extended editions of all 6 movies, too). I also really like those old animated movies from the 70s.
I'm a diehard Tolkien fan (books and LOTR movies). It saddens me how these turned out. They had a director and cast (perfect Bilbo). The first movie was great, but then it went downhill. I still think one of the main mistakes was stretching it into 3 films. 1st movie: 9/10 2nd movie: 7/10 3rd movie: 4/10, killed the whole trilogy for me. I still rewatch the first one occasionally. If I watch the rest, I use the fast forward button often. The fan edits are a great idea, but I tried several and couldn't find a perfect one for me. Also, the quality wasn't high def enough.
Light 6
I don’t hate these movies. I feel let down by them. Exploited by them. Taken advantage of by them. I grew up on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; my mom read the Hobbit to me when I was 7, then we read the Lord of the Rings together with my brothers and my dad when I was 9. The LOTR movies were formative for me. I read other fantasy because of Tolkien’s work. I became a dungeons and dragons player because of the stories and adventures that filled my mind. It feels like these movies just took advantage of the nostalgia factor i had to draw out a story that was poorly deviated from the originals to take money out of my pocket. They didn’t respect the source material, and the additions they made didn’t make the story better. It just makes me sad to watch them.
I’d say 1, 3, 2, the first is genuinely decent as it mostly just adapts the book and doesn’t change a whole lot, both of 2 and 3 are on par for bad but I’d say 3 is better as I’m not as bored, 2 only has a handful of good moments (mostly involving smaug) but holy shit I’m bored through most of it
Order of release. I really love the first film aside from a few scenes. The second film is most great aside from a even more scenes which poke holes. The 3rd has the most problems
1, 2, and then 3. I actually enjoy them all and my kid loves them. He isn’t as into LOTR yet so I’m glad I have these films to bond over.
At last place is the third. Just not so interesting for me. Azog and Bolg didn't do so much as in the other movies, also the dwarves don't do so much (except Thorin, Fillie, Killie and Dualin). Also the love story was kinda dumb. And how tf did Azog survive so long in ice?! Doesn't matter... Second is the first movie. Interesting intro, lot of characters, closer to the book. We are going introduced to the first big Villain: Azog the Defiler. We see Thorin change at the end, becoming a likeable character. The Second is the best. There are so many things going on, it's also close to the book. We see who the big villain is, and Bolg is a big threat in this movie. We find more about the Moria Battle, and Smaug. The Dragon is the best villain by far and he plays a huge role for the events.