I hadn't been aware that a J.R.R. Tolkien biopic was in the works, and so it came as a pleasant surprise when my wife and I learned about it. We saw "Tolkien" in theatre, and both of us really enjoyed watching it.
Nicholas Hoult was a fitting choice to portray Tolkien as a young man. There were also great performances by Lily Collins as Edith Bratt, and the actors who portrayed Tolkien's friends, the other members of the T.C.B.S. club.
I had read both Daniel Grotta-Kurska's "unauthorized" and Humphrey Carpenter's "authorized" biographies of Tolkien, published around the time of Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" movie, and so was already somewhat familiar with Tolkien's life.
I didn't realize the film had received such mixed reviews, or that the Tolkien Estate didn't endorse it. (Certainly, there were liberties taken with historical facts. Tolkien and Bratt were married by the time he went to fight in WWI, for instance).
Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the Inklings, particularly J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, and so am also looking forward to seeing "The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis".
As for "Tolkien", I think it needs to be understood that a biopic is a form of storytelling, just as historical films should not be equated with documentaries, and so my wife and I are looking forward to watching it again, this time with our kids.
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