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Watch 'The Hobbit,' as told in 72 seconds of Lego stop-motion animation

Watch 'The Hobbit,' as told in 72 seconds of Lego stop-motion animation

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Save yourself 33,000 seconds over Peter Jackson's films

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Even if, like me, you have a love for all things Middle-earth, it's easy to say that Peter Jackson has probably gone overboard with his trilogy of films based on The Hobbit. (My point of view? Two films would have been plenty, and they don't need to be as long as they are, but I'm still happy to overindulge and spend more time in his gorgeous version of Middle-earth).

However, if you just don't have the attention span for more than eight hours of Hobbit movies, the YouTube stop-motion artists Brotherhood Workshop have condensed the story of The Hobbit down into 72 tight seconds (it is a kid's book, after all) and animated it using Lego's Hobbit-themed minifigs and sets. The results are simultaneously hilarious but also quite fun for Middle-earth fans — the whole thing feels like it could easily have been produced by Lego itself. It's also quite reminiscent of the surprisingly charming world of the Lego: The Hobbit video game. But if you're new to the story of The Hobbit and plan on reading the books and / or watching the films, we'd recommend not watching this clip — as tongue-in-cheek as it is, it does give away one of the main climactic points of the book.

As for the many extra stories that Jackson embellished or created to pad out his trilogy, Hobbit purists will be satisfied with this presentation — it sticks right to the plot of the book, with no details on what Gandalf is up to when he keeps splitting off from Bilbo and his company of dwarves. If you need the full, over-the-top, Peter Jackson treatment, the final film in his Hobbit trilogy opens on December 17th.

If you're rather just stick in the Lego version of Middle-earth, however, Lego itself has made several of its own videos in the style of this 72-second run-through — check them out below.