TOLKIEN | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"TOLKIEN"
(2019) (Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins) (PG-13)

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: A young man's time spent with his three best friends, the love of his life, and in trench warfare during WWI end up helping inspire his later world-famous works of fiction.

PLOT:

It's the middle of WWI and J.R.R. "Ronald" Tolkien (NICHOLAS HOULT) is a young college student who's now found himself in the middle of deadly trench warfare. Despite being ill, and with the aid of Private Sam Hodges (CRAIG ROBERTS), Ronald is trying to find one of his best friends, Geoffrey (ANTHONY BOYLE), who's reportedly somewhere nearby on the front lines. As the horrors of that play out and Ronald hallucinates at times from his illness, mustard gas and the rest of the warfare, the story rewinds to his earlier days.

That includes Ronald (HARRY GILBY) at a young age ending up orphaned alongside his younger brother upon the death of their single mother and then being placed by his legal guardian, Father Francis (COLM MEANEY), into a boarding home alongside fellow orphan Edith Bratt (MIMI KEENE). Enrolled at the prestigious King Edward's School, Ronald initially finds an adversary in the headmaster's son, Robert Gilson (ALBIE MARBER), but the two quickly form a strong bond along with fellow classmates Christopher Wiseman (TY TENNANT) and Geoffrey Smith (ADAM BREGMAN).

Years later, Ronald (NICHOLAS HOULT), Geoffrey (ANTHONY BOYLE), Robert (PATRICK GIBSON), and Christopher (TOM GLYNN-CARNEY) are still fast friends who've formed the Tea Club and Barrovian Society where they discuss art and other matters of the day. At the same time, Ronald has begun courting Edith (LILY COLLINS), but as the group splits up to go off to different colleges and WWI looms on the horizon, their friendships and relationships are put to the test, all of which eventually helps inspire Ronald to later write his world-famous works of fiction.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're fans of the author and his works ("The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings"), they might be interested.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For some sequences of war violence.

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