JRR Tolkien was my first major literary crush. Watership Down was a first love and paved the way for 17 years as a vegetarian and refusal to ever eat rabbit but reading The Lord of the Rings in my teens began a long-lasting love of epic fantasy. I read and reread it many times in my teens and 20s and owned pretty much every published book by or about Tolkien until his estate began churning out unpublished, and unfinished works.

I still love Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations – forgiving the shameful mischaracterised motives of Faramir and Treebeard and wishing he had broken the story up into even more films. I gave the movie versions of The Hobbit a good go but couldn’t forgive the many embellishments and wished he had kept it to a single movie.

It’s awhile since I’ve read a biography of Tolkien though, so my memory of him as a man is a bit sketchy. I remember him as someone fascinated with language (he thought the words ‘cellar door’ were an exceptionally beautiful sound independent of their meaning) and despairing of the industrialisation of his country. I remember his friendship with CS Lewis, and that he wrote The Hobbit as a story for his children.

This pleasant and engaging film by Finnish director Dome Karukoski focuses on 10 years of his life as a teen and a young Oxford scholar. We start with Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) on the Somme in 1916 amidst mud and death, searching for his friend Geoffery Smith (Anthony Boyle). Through flashback, we see the formation of Tolkien’s friendship with Geoffery, Robert Gilson (Patrick Gibson), and Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney) at a posh school where Tolkien is an impoverished orphan. They formed the TCBS (Tea Club Barrovian Society) and vow to change the world through art.

The story flows well and foreshadowing of Tolkien’s future novels are woven elegantly through the narrative. These are sometimes visions – the blasted fields of the Somme as Mordor or Isengard – or small moments, such as the soldier helping him in his quest to find Geoffery being called Sam. Tolkien’s budding relationship with Edith (Lily Collins) adds a little bit of heart and colour and interweaves small explorations of filial, romantic and unrequited love.

The estate of JRR emphatically declared no support for this film and I’m unsure why other than a desire to control the public narrative. There is nothing offensive about the portrayal, although I am sure there is embellishment and creativity around timelines. It’s the kind of story that anyone with access to Wikipedia and The Lord of the Rings might have created, which is not necessarily a criticism. It is safe, heartening and sure to appeal to those with a love of Tolkien’s works.

If nothing else, it highlights the horrors of the Great War and the impact this had on a generation.