So I finally got time to sit down and watch M4’s book edit. Honestly, I feel like this edit rescued The Hobbit movies for me. I was so disappointed with the theatrical releases deviations from the source material, adding subplots, etc. (the let down made worse by the excellent start with the meeting at Bag End) that I had basically written off getting to see Bilbo’s adventure brought to life on screen. Well, the thoroughly enjoyable 4 hours I just spent with M4’s edition changed all that! While not perfect, in my opinion M4 has done the best anyone could hope to given the available footage to work with, and this will be my recommendation to anyone looking for a movie adaptation of The Hobbit.