THE HOBBIT

"It's his excessive consumption of mushrooms.  They've addled his brains..."--THE HOBBIT:  AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Today I saw AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, the first movie in Peter Jackson's prequel trilogy of Tolkien's ersatz folktale THE HOBBIT.  It was mild, conventional fun despite the rather slow pace, especially in the early scenes.  I kind of enjoyed their LORD OF THE RINGS movies, though some parts I liked more than others. (I felt the same way about the books.)  One quibble I have is that the goblins had too great a visual resemblance to the orcs, causing confusion.  Also, was the Shire modern enough for MAILBOXES?

There are some curious parallels between Tolkien and TH White's Arthurian series THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING.  THE HOBBIT and THE SWORD IN THE STONE were both published in the 1930s and have the feel of British boy's adventures from an era when the Empire was still largely unquestioned.  But LORD OF THE RINGS and White's three later books were both published in the 1950s and their greater complexity in some ways reflects the grim idealism of the postwar era.

Another curious thing is that Tolkien was Catholic.  I couldn't help noticing that many prominent British authors in the 20th century were in that nation's Catholic minority. (Other examples: Hilaire Belloc, GK Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, Anthony Burgess.)

Once again, I was in such a hurry that I forgot my house key.  But this time the door was left unlocked.