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Friday, December 13, 2013

Hobbit: AUJ: Extended Edition Review

Today The Desolation of Smaug comes out in theaters! To prepare for the film, I bought and watched the Extended of Edition of An Unexpected Journey. Is it the definitive version of the film, or is it just an overly bloated edition of Middle Earth?
The Extended Edition adds about 15 minutes of additional footage seamlessly into the film, along with 11 hours of new behind the scenes footage and interviews. While this Extended Edition is a must own for any Tolkien fan, especially since it only costs five dollars more than the standard edition. As for the new scenes themselves, with the exception of a few notable scenes, they do not add nearly as much as to the film as the Extend Editions of the LOTR. The Extended Edition should be named, "An Unexpected Musical" because there are at least three more songs added to the film, two of which I have included below. While I am glad many of the new scenes were not in the original cut of the film, this extended edition will be the definitive edition for me and the one that I always watch. Obviously, spoilers for the film are ahead.
The scenes that are noticeably extended are the prologue, which adds some interesting information that was not in the previous cut of the film, and the scene between Elron and Bilbo added gravity to his decision to almost leave the group later in the film (was Elron and Bilbo's meeting in the theatrical cut?). Most of the other scenes consisted of humor and songs that were fortunately cut from the theatrical edition of the film, but those scenes are great to see in the Extended Edition. Most of the extended scenes take place during the prologue, Rivendell, and in the Goblin tunnels. Below are two scenes from the Extended Edition that I found on YouTube with my thoughts about the specific scene.


The Goblin King's "Goblin Town" song was fortunately not included in the theatrical edition of the film. While the song is not bad by any means, it just seems incredibly corny, especially the Goblin King's rockstar ending to the song. Also the Goblin King reading "Made in Rivendell" on the bottom of the Elven candelabra was kind of dumb, unless it was in the book. 


Kíli mistaking an Elf man for an Elven Maiden is quite humorous and Bofur's song are fun additions to the film, even if they do not add much to the story. However, the scene between Elron and Bilbo is great.  


Here is my favorite scene of the entire Extended Edition. The scene reminds me more of the Lord of the Rings than the rest of the film, and it should have been included in the theatrical edition. 

The Movie: 10/10- Watching the Hobbit again for the first time since watching it in theaters was the most fun experiences I have had rewatching a movie since rewatching The Avenger for the first time. While the Extended Edition did not add much in terms of quality, the film itself is easily the best fantasy film since the Lord of the Rings, and even thought it never reaches the LOTR's level, it still remains one of my favorite movies.

Video: 9.9/10- An Unexpected Journey is easily one of my best looking Blu-Rays. Some of the CGI effects are more noticeable, but the video is crisp, and Peter Jackson's brilliant direction and cinematography look amazing in full 1080p. 

Audio: 9.9/10- Howard Shore's score sounds amazing! Anything his main theme plays, you can literally feel it. The sound effects are all clear and easy to hear, plus the character's voices are much to distinguish watching it at home rather than in the theaters. 

Extras: 10/10- The Hobbit contains part seven and eight of the appendices set that was started with the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition collection, which is cool because the other Extended Editions will presumably complete the set. While I have not watched the bonus features or listened to the commentary, I have read that they are just as comprehensive and detailed as the Lord of the Rings' bonus features. There is a short video about New Zealand and how where they filmed some parts of the movie, which is the only bonus on the main disc other than the commentary. My only disappointment with the extras is that a list of which scenes are added and extended is not present like the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition, which would have made noticing what parts were added significantly easier and the experience more enjoyable. While I normally would not care, the Blu-Ray's cover and box art is quite nice and looks great.

Overall 9.8/10- When it comes to Extended Editions of any film, my philosophy is more is always better, and pacing is not relevant because it will obviously be slower. While the Hobbit's Extended Edition is not the game changer the LOTR's Extended Editions were, if you are a fan of Middle Earth and Tolkien's writing, buy the Extended Edition of the Hobbit; it is a must have for any collection. The extras and relatively cheap pricing made it worth the purchase for sure, particularly if you do not already own the standard edition.

Note: Now that finals are over, I will try and catch with replying to comments, and thanks everyone for the comments and thanks to Jamie for filling in for me.


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15 comments:

  1. The "Lord of the trivia" is here to point out a couple of things. Clip 1: The "Goblin Town" song was written by Tolkien, although in my opinion the presentation of it was ruined by excess Goblin King grossness. Also, since the dwarves never actually stole anything from Rivendell in the book, it shouldn't be there in the goblin tunnels anyway, but can be explained by the dwarves' obsession with treasure and hating elves. . I've read that there's also a shot of the goblin king reading something labeled "Made in Gondolin" which is a fan-service shot b/c Gondolin was an Elven city that was sacked by Sauron's forces in the Silmirillion. Clip two :Kili's gender misidentification may very well be a reference to the claim in the LOTR that dwarf women can't be distinguished from dwarf men. At least that's how I will take it. Reviews have also said that Bofur's song is the same one Tolkien had Frodo sing in the Prancing Pony, but which was of course cut out of the film because it would have made the scene go on too long. (There are about ten verses to the whole thing.) I have a feeling you mean "between Gandalf and Elrond" b/c there's no indication that Elrond ever says a word to Bilbo. In the book, the discussion goes straight from the labels on the swords to the moon-runes on the map, and then there is really no dialogue until they leave Rivendell.

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    1. Oh sorry I missed the third clip. It wasn't in the theatrical cut or the book, but it looks great.

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    2. I figured the Goblin Town was by Tolkien, but I agree, the Goblin King is way too far in the ridiculously gross direction to make it good. For some reason I thought the Goblin King said, "Made in Rivendell" but maybe I remember it wrong and he actually said "Made in Gondolin." Haha, I did not think about that when Kili thought the Elf guy was a girl; that is a great reference. I thought Bofur's song sounded familiar, that song was a couple of pages long.

      I added the clip with Elrond and Bilbo right before your second comment and I going to comment and tell you earlier but I did not get back on the computer until now. But yes, that scene was my favorite new scene of the EE.

      -James

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  2. I really enjoyed the extended scenes too. I didn't like the Goblin King's song being so extended as much (even if it was from the book) and it was jarring when it returned to the original track (one second he's joking around and the next he's angry like he just noticed the dwarves who've been there the whole time?) But I loved the other bits, especially Bofur's song! Bofur is one of my favorites, and that's the song Frodo sings at the Prancing Pony in the book, which I've always liked and wished to hear a tune to! :D

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    1. I agree, that scene in particular felt a little odd in the editing compared to the other extended scenes. Even though the song would have been a bit much in the theatrical, I did enjoy hearing it in the Extended Edition for sure! :D Bofur is a good character; I know there are a lot of fans of the character actually. :)

      -James

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  4. cool im going to see the second one today

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  5. Awesome! I hope you enjoy it; I plan to see Desolation of Smaug on Tuesday.

    -James

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  6. I didn't have such a problem with this one as others did. Sure, it felt overlong and unnecessary in ways, but when it was fun and light, it was a great time that only Peter Jackson himself could offer us. Good review James.

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    1. Thanks Dan O. I agree, only Peter Jackson could have given us a fantasy such as this, and he certainly did it well.

      -James

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  7. Thanks for this comprehensive review! It's confirmed me in my satisfaction with owning the theatrical version on DVD. Maybe if, in the end, I love the second or third movie (or both) so much I want the extended versions of them, I'll pick this up too, but for now, doesn't sound like I need a second version.

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    1. I am glad I was able to help! Waiting for the inevitable trilogy release. While some of the scenes are good, that Elrond and Bilbo one is the best of the lot, but other than that, it is not a must own if you did not like the movie.

      -James

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    2. I liked the movie, but I didn't love it like I love the LOTR trilogy, so I'll probably wait for the trilogy release, like you said :-)

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  8. I fear I'm not finding "The Hobbit" movies as good as "The Lord of Rings" ones. They have wonderful escenes, the scenary is amazing but... I find them weird. The soundtrack, although it's really brilliant, it's not as good as the one composed for LOTR. And well, this is my point of view as a designer, but the outfits are somewhat poorer. I mean, it's not that they're awfully designed, it is that the ones from LOTR are way more better. But they've changed the designers working on the films, and you can notice it.
    What I liked most about AUJ was the beginning, because it was just like the book. I remember that I was whispering the words by heart from my seat. And I absolutely loved "Blunt the Knives". One thing I missed from the dwarves's arrival to Bag's End was that they came there all together, and the whole company fell upon Thorin, who was grumpy all the night because of that not so epic way to arrive to Bilbo's xD
    I'm looking forward for your review about The Desolation of Smaug, because sure you'll find plenty of things to talk about :P

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