PJ Media:

…Yet the new Disney film cuts out some of the most important influences in his life. The movie does not once mention the great ex-atheist and Christian author C.S. Lewis, a close friend of Tolkien. Indeed, Tolkien said he would never have completed The Lord of the Rings without Lewis’ “great encouragement.” The movie also does not mention the Inklings, the society of writers who read each other’s works and spurred both Lewis and Tolkien on to greatness. The film focuses on the early influences of Tolkien’s life, so these cuts may be justifiable.

Worst, however, is the film’s neglect for Tolkien’s faith, which inspired his entire life. The movie also cuts out the literary works that inspired his imagination — touchstones of the Western literary tradition. In fact, the author’s literary masterpiece The Lord of the Rings is heavily influenced not just by the Western literary tradition but by Christianity and Jesus in particular.

“This handsome, earnest, yet overstuffed and poorly paced film deviates frequently from the historical record,” Father Michael Ward wrote in The Catholic Herald. “Most seriously, it ignores Tolkien’s devout Christian faith: there is no indication that he served Mass daily as a boy or ever even entered a Catholic church.” Indeed, this may be a reason why the Tolkien estate disavowed the film…

Loconte, a Tolkien biographer, is intimately aware of just how deeply the Western literary tradition and the Catholic faith inspired this pivotal author.

“As a student at the King Edward’s School at Birmingham and later at Oxford, Tolkien was immersed in works such as The Aeneid, Le Morte d’Arthur, and Beowulf. Here are stories of the noble quest: the tragic hero who answers the righteous call on his life, acts with courage, and performs his duty—regardless of the chances of success,” Loconte said. “The triumph of multiculturalism, however, has mostly marginalized these works from the academy, along with the ideals and virtues they embody. Despite its respect for Tolkien’s intellectual life, the film’s writers seem unable or unwilling to explore it with care.”…

Loconte’s recent book recounts how World War I influenced Lewis and Tolkien in both their writings and their faith. The author of The Lord of the Rings drew on his faith for strength in the trenches. For a film focused on Tolkien’s struggle in World War I to omit this faith is a grave disservice, yet the author’s faith drove his entire life. Indeed, there is no scene of him praying or even speaking about religion.

“In fact, Tolkien was a regular churchgoer, and even attended Mass whenever he could while a soldier at the Western Front. In explaining the power of myths to grip our imagination, Tolkien spoke of the eucatastrophe—the reversal of a catastrophe through ‘a sudden and miraculous grace,'” Loconte explained.

The biographer appreciated much of the Tolkien film, but he argued the movie ultimately falls flat, failing to capture the true inspiration behind the author of The Lord of the Rings.

“Until Hollywood acknowledges this grace as a divine reality, as an authentic source of literary imagination, its treatment of Tolkien will remain small and insular, like a fretful hobbit afraid to ever leave the Shire,” he declared.

Same as Disney did with A Wrinkle In Time, the work of a very devout Christian:

Sadly, this is not the first time Disney has cut the Christian element from a film. Last year, the movie Wrinkle in Time removed Bible quotes from the original book, even though those quotes would have enabled the confusing storyline to make some sense. The movie was clearly less powerful with the Christianity removed, but Disney excised it, ostensibly for political reasons.