My Magical Place: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.'

Thus one of the greatest children's books introduced our little furry footed friends to the world and all were amazed and the world has never gotten over hobbits since.

Peter Jackson takes us back to his beautiful rendition of Middle-earth that we all fell in love with in The Lord of the Rings and from the opening scene it feels like we've never left. I'm thoroughly impressed by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro's story-telling ability; they manage to expertly navigate the line between being true to the source material (thus pleasing us rabid fans) and recreating the story where it is necessary. Jackson and his brilliant team set the bar quite high with The Lord of the Rings and I was afraid that The Hobbit would not live up to that standard - the book, after all, is a written for children and is much less epic in scale. The fact that Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) was involved didn't make me any more comfortable. I like Mr del Toro but his imagination is a bit too dark and twisted for Middle-earth.

I'm glad to report that my fears were unfounded and that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey lives up to Jackson's legacy and that the story is brilliantly told and the visuals are amazing. I'm not convinced by 3D technology yet and the 48 frames per second (over the standard 24) that the movie is filmed in didn't change much for me. Be warned that some people in the audience complained about headaches and dizziness. Bear that in mind when you go see the movie. Initially the movie was meant to be released in two parts but it's been decided on a trilogy now with The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again being released in 2013 and 2014 respectively. It's a cash-in scheme for all intents and purposes but if the quality's as good as the first offering fans won't mind forking out the cash for more Middle-earth goodness.

Sir Ian McKellan reprised his role as Gandalf and delivers yet another great performance as the wizard, if not better and more subtle. Also returning to their roles are Hugo Weaving as Elrond, the never ageing Cate Blanchett as Galdriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman and Elijah Wood and Ian Holm in cameo roles as Frodo and Bilbo respectively. Martin Freeman (Sherlock) plays the role of young Bilbo Baggins with nothing but charm; he brings the character to life. A very good looking Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his company of dwarves are very endearing and amusing. One can't help but love them. It's high time the dwarves get the spotlight. Andy Serkis deserves a special mention in delivering another haunting and, dare I say, heartbreaking performance as Gollum. I am especially glad about the inclusion and expansion of the character of the wizard, Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy). His absence in Lord of the Rings was understandable but it was still a loss. My inner fan boy is rejoicing.

If you're a fan of The Lord of the Rings or just want to see good fantasy movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey should be at the top of your list of December movies. Expect a hobbit, adventure, raucous dwarves, trolls, orcs, goblins, wolves, stone giants (uber cool, these), a hint at a dragon and just all-round magic. Some people felt the movie was too long but I felt it was too short. The wait till the next instalment is what is too long.

Heaven's Magic Machine

This is the magical scene that will play out in Heaven as I awake from death, as though it were a dream:

‘“Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?’ [Gandalf] said.
But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

“A great Shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.’
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

I’m sitting here pretending to be marking first year English assignments but because I suffer from ADD (or whatever they call it these days) I can’t pay attention to another string of words that make no sense to anyone in the universe or any of the infinite ones parallel to ours – not even the person who wrote them. Unlike J.R.R. Tolkien my mind does not conjure up hobbits when faced with the deadly dull task of marking, mine wanders to random things instead, like whether or not there will be magic in Heaven. The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings have me convinced that there will be tonnes of it.

What sort of magic will it be though?

To use Terry Goodkind’s terms, will it be additive or subtractive? Will it be the sort of magic worked not by our souls but worked on our souls as Peter Kreeft puts it? Will it be the charming magic of animated Disney movies that sees dishes washing themselves and beautiful Princesses aroused from eternal slumber by true love’s kiss? I’m secretly hoping for dragons and centaurs. I’d love to have tea with a majestic dragon, assuming dragons care for tea that is. Imagine how big a dragon’s tea cup must be!

I went to see Thor some time back and if Heaven’s anything like Branagh’s vision of Asgard I’d be quite chuffed; all the best parts of a fantasy medieval setting merged with futuristic technology that has no side effects like pollution. It would have to be bigger than Asgard though, so as to accommodate my dragons. I’m a big fan of flashy and destructive sorcery I must say: Wizard’s fire, the fiery tempests in Dragon Age, crazy chain lightning and such. I doubt there’s place for destructive magic in Heaven though, especially since I’m referring to post-apocalyptic Heaven, when Satan and all his crazy minions have been smote down by Heaven’s awesome Secret Fire-wielding host and the Flame Imperishable has been sent to burn at the centre of the universe(s) forever and ever. Amen.

I should expect a behind-the-scenes sort of magic then I guess, only a little more overt than can be glimpsed in Nature. God is a big fan of espionage after all, what with Him always working His magic from the least likely of places and in a most covert manner. Take for an example in The Lord of the Rings He doesn’t make so much as a peeping sound but in which His presence makes all the difference.

Heaven’s magic is, no doubt, rooted in beauty – the lofty beauty of an Elvish Princess like Lúthien that captures the hearts of admirers the world over but can only be won by the most noble of beings, and yet it is a beauty as humble and accessible as a Samwise Gamgee of the Shire. Beauty alone is not enough though, for it to be truly magical it must be accompanied by truth, wisdom and all that good stuff.

Arcane arts like necromancy are out of the picture then; zombies, as cool as they may seem, are only a mockery of real life after all. Such arts are of a lower type of magic, not that of creation (or sub-creation).

I would venture to say that the purpose of magic is not to be seen but to be experienced. Real magic feeds a deep human need for wonder. It speaks to us as though we are children exploring the world and looking at everything in it with awe. Scientists experience the universe’s magic as they set out to unravel its mysteries and theists (the real ones) encounter this magic in their unshakable faith.

In the Middle-Ages it was said that God wrote two books, the Bible and Nature. The world in which we live is a magic making machine and many of us don’t even notice it. Nature is God speaking to us of love, beauty, perfection, imperfection, death and many other such lessons beside. The universe, as such, is a picture of what the magic of Heaven will be like, the sort of magic whose presence is never noted but whose absence is immediately apparent.