You would have thought that I would have bundled myself and the family out of the house at 11 pm in order to have seen it at 12:01 am on its opening day. After all, I did that with The Lord of the Rings films.

But I felt myself reluctant.

What I have read about the movie makes me uneasy. Turning it into a trilogy. Apparently, making the raid into the dungeons of the Witch-King of Angmar part of the story, rather than a tale told by Gandalf within the story. In general, making The Hobbit more epic, when the joys of the novel were in its slightness.

Built on a great, mythic foundation, but ultimately the story of friendship and the story of a sedentary man (or hobbit, actually) growing into himself as a resourceful and (when necessary) brave traveler. And the book within the book – the book that Bilbo Baggins writes about his adventures (and which Frodo completes) is titled There and Back Again. ‘Back Again.’ Not an epic. Not really, half the title of Bilbo’s book references the joys of returning to family and friends, hearth and home. Coming back changed, but coming back, nonetheless. In fact, it was only after this adventure that Bilbo adopted his cousin/nephew, Frodo, as his heir. He left a solitary bachelor and came back appreciating the family one makes for one’s self.

This is a very different kind of thing than an epic and that’s just fine.

So, I fine myself reluctant.