Before the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), my only experience with the work of J. R. R. Tolkien was today’s film, the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit.  I saw it as a child and was enchanted by it.  Memory is a funny thing.  It can also cause you to forget things from your childhood that may not have been as great as that first time.  I also feel like a bad Catholic for saying this, but I do not like any of The Lord of the Rings stories, though I have mostly only ever consumed them as films.  This includes the prequel to the famous series, which is The Hobbit, though I did read that book ((1937).  It is thin tome, particularly when compared to its literary successors, yet they managed to squeeze a trilogy out of its roughly 300 pages.  I do not like those, either.  Today, while scrolling through Amazon Prime, I saw that the 1977 cartoon was available for rent, so I thought I would revisit my childhood to test whether it withstands the test of time.  The best I can say for it is that it is only seventy-eight minutes in length.

The best thing for The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (voiced by Orson Bean), is to live out his days in the peace and quiet of his burrow under the hill.  This is not to last as one day he is visited by Gandalf (voiced by John Huston), the famous wizard and the narrator of the story.  Bilbo is a little amazed that such an august figure would be aware of a hobbit, but the visitor has come to recruit a burglar.  Bilbo is no thief, but Gandalf’s insistence comes with a band of thirteen dwarves, refugees from Lonely Mountain led by their king, Thorin Oakenshield (voiced by Hans Conried).  In order to convince Bilbo of the role he is to play with this group, they tell him a tale of dragons and riches.  The riches belong to the dwarves, but it was usurped some time ago by Smaug (voiced by Richard Boone), an immense, fire-breathing wyvern that also devastated the town of Dale that sits at the foot of the peak.  A further incentive is added that guarantees Bilbo an equal share of the wealth to be recovered.  Still, as with everything Gandalf relates, including the map of Lonely Mountain he provides, their path is shrouded in riddles.  In other words, Bilbo is not told what exactly he will be needed for, but it is enough to get him to go along, if reluctantly.  His resolve is tested almost immediately when they come across a set of trolls.  Being hungry, they send Bilbo in to burgle some supplies.  It nearly ends with them all being eaten, and Gandalf has to intervene in order to save them.  Get ready for a lot of this in the first half of the proceedings.  Once rescued, they spend some time with Elrond (voiced by Cyril Ritchard), who is able to identify the weapons taken from the trolls and reads the hidden runes on the map.  Specifically, they learn of a secret entrance into Lonely Mountain that will only be revealed at a special moment.  To open it, Gandalf provides Thorin with a key, and they resume their journey.  It does not take long for them to again get into trouble, this time with goblins after taking shelter from a storm in their cave.  Once more, Gandalf intervenes, but as they flee, Bilbo falls into a hole.  When he lands at the bottom, he finds a ring that, when worn, can make a person invisible.  This comes in handy when he is accosted by the jewelry’s former honor, the frog-like Gollum (voiced by Thedore Gottlieb).  In order to get away, Bilbo must outwit Gollum.  From there, they are taken to the edge of the Mirkwood forest by large, sentient birds of prey called Wargs.  And He will bear you up on eagles’ wings, I suppose, but this Catholic digresses.  It is at this point that Gandalf leaves them, saying that he has urgent business to attend to elsewhere.  We never learn what it is, but it just means that our band of fourteen are left on their own . . . to be cocooned by giant spiders.  With the use of Bilbo’s ring and his glowing sword, which he names Sting, he frees his companions . . . only to be captured by wood elves.  We have an encore performance from Bilbo, who sneaks the keys from the guard, gets the dwarves into wine barrels, and sends them down the river to Lake Town.  This is where the remnants of Dale settled, and their leader, Bard (voiced by John Stephenson), vows to help them in any way he can.  It is then on to Lonely Mountain where they eventually use the key given by Gandalf, and with some assistance from a little bird.  Since this is what Bilbo had originally been enlisted to do, in he goes.  His interactions with Smaug not only serve to enrage the dragon, but reveal the one weak point in the scales.  This information is passed on to Bard via the bird, who fires an arrow into that spot, killing Smaug, who had been in the process of destroying Lake Town.  The dwarves are overjoyed, but are prepared to fight the combined armies of the men of Dale and the wood elves with only their thirteen, much to Bilbo’s horror.  The others have come for their share of the wealth of Lonely Mountain.  The dwarves are further emboldened by the arrival of an army of their brethren.  Before these former allies shed blood, Gandalf finally shows up to warn of the approach of the goblin horde.  What saves the combined forces of the dwarves, elves, and men is the appearance of the Wargs.  They win, but it costs Thorin his life.  Bilbo says goodbye to Thorin before returning home with Gandalf, who warns the hobbit that the adventures may not be finished.

Maybe I am the jerk here, but the fact that The Hobbit concludes with the suggestion that more stories are ahead does nothing to improve my enjoyment.  Neither does Gandalf’s random appearing and reappearing.  There have been some Christian commentators who have likened the wizard to Jesus, but I feel like that comparison works better for those subsequent stories.  I guess the argument could be made that God does not have to explain everything to us.  Instead, we should place our trust in the Divine and that should be enough, as it is (usually) for Bilbo and the dwarves (band name!).  This could also be related to my overall distaste for fantasy tales.  I like clearer plots, and while that might not sound like a Christian thing to say, I would argue that Scripture reveals Jesus’ coming and going.  The character who is likeable throughout is Bilbo.  He is the only voice of reason in the last twenty minutes of the film, and before this, once he accepts his role, is always willing to come to the aid of his companions.  Further, he obeys their commands, even if with some trepidation.  There are some great Catholic ways of looking at his part.  One of the early things I appreciated is his saying yes to stepping into the unknown.  To calm his fears, Gandalf tells Bilbo to think of pleasant things.  Faith is about making that leap that is belief in God, and prayer can be likened to thinking of pleasant things.  The Bible is another source of that pleasantness.  Additionally, I am with him when he talks of not understanding war.  His main contention is that there are enough riches for everyone, and thus there is no need for fighting.  God blessed this Earth bountifully, and Bilbo’s words are as true today as they were when Tolkien wrote them.

If anything I have written about The Hobbit makes you want to watch it, then God bless you.  If anything has offended you, then please forgive me.  I say this last bit to the fans of these stories, who are many.  Unfortunately, I am not one.