The Real Middle Earth (review)

Completeist fans of The Lord of the Rings are the only ones who’ll get much kick out of this dry documentary about author J.R.R. Tolkien and where he may have found inspiration for his fantasy epic. Tolkien scholars discuss the English place names and landmarks the author would have encountered during his childhood in the Midlands and in his many years in Oxford, explain Tolkien’s fascination with the ancient langugages that he played with in Rings, and generally drone on pedantically about things that may or may not have piqued the writer’s creativity. Actually, completeist will probably have heard all this before. Extras include extended interviews with the Tolkien scholars and profiles of production folks involved in making the recent film trilogy. And there’s the purpose of this disc: to separate fans of Peter Jackson’s films from some more of their dough. [buy at Amazon]

(Technorati tags: Real Middle Earth, Tolkien)