By Trina Boice
Republished with permission from The Movie Review Mom.
GRADE: B
IN A NUTSHELL:
I was excited to learn more about Tolkien and really hoped this movie would be good. As an author of 29 books, I’m always fascinated to learn more about other authors. I loved learning some of the small details of Tolkien’s early life that influenced his work. Personally, I couldn’t get through his Lord of the Rings books, but I devoured the films.
“Gentle” seems to be a word that critics have been tossing around with this movie. What’s surprising is that, considering the incredible imagination of Tolkien himself, the movie is not very imaginative.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
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- Kids will be bored out of their minds.
- Kids will be bored out of their minds.
THEMES:
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- Not just friendship, but fellowship
THINGS I LIKED:
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- Congratulations to director Dome Karukoski for working on his first movie in English.
- Beautiful cinematography
- Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins are engaging leads.
- Colm Meaney and Derek Jacobi should be in every British period piece movie.
- If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings, you’ll be gifted with a lot of Easter Eggs in the movie.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
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- Tolkien’s family and estate have NOT endorsed this film. That makes you wonder why, right?
- I wished that there had been more in the movie about his writing career and how he became such a celebrated author later on in life.
INTERESTING LINES:
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- “A word isn’t beautiful just because of its sound. It’s a marriage of sound and meaning.” – Edith Bratt (Lily Collins)
