As an early gift to all us nerdy book types, and I suspect in order to get some sales in before the Mayan apocalypse next Friday, the Hobbit comes out today. Hearing that this movie – based on a book approximately 1/3 the size of the Lord of the Rings – was being split into three irritated me. I may have even mumbled that I wouldn’t spend my money in the theater to see what should be one movie exploited into three. Maybe.
Then an unexpected thing happened.
Our 8 year old declared a few weeks ago, rather out of the blue, that she wanted to see the Hobbit when it came out. It wasn’t necessarily surprising – she’s the one that read the Wizard of Oz and some of the Narnia books, so this wasn’t completely out of character. But I was pensive about it – she is only 8, and the movies are certainly more grown up than the cartoon we saw when I was a kid. On the other hand, I knew the book itself wasn’t grown up, and in fact was more of a bigger kids tale, so I made a deal with her. If she read the book, or at least made an honest showing of trying, I’d consider it.
Then her older sister (10) got word of this Faustian arrangement. This morning I was greeted with the fact that the youngest is now ahead of the oldest, barely, both of them having just meant Gollum. I didn’t exactly encourage a competition between them, although I am guilty nonetheless. They’re both reading, though, with the hope of finishing the book soon.
So. Looks like I’ll be taking a really, really long lunch break next week to go see what 1/3 of the Hobbit is like.
Related articles
- “Far over the Misty Mountains cold…” – An Immediate Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (hitchhikingmuse.wordpress.com)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) (noeltanti.com)
- Real Life Hobbit Green Dragon Pub Opens In New Zealand (geekologie.com)
