“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” Review

Perhaps it’s because the title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but The War of the Rohirrim will undoubtedly be referred to as the Lord of the Rings anime movie. The title is appropriate for more than being helmed by Kenji Kamiyama of Blade Runner: Black Lotus fame or having the look of a typical anime aesthetic. There’s an elongated story that lavishes on the majesty of the high-fantasy setting but rarely veers from its stern tone of thrones and honor. While you won’t need to do your homework for this Lord of the Rings prequel, you might need a few cups of coffee handy for a film that spends so much time salivating over its gorgeous animation and rousing battle scenes that the spectacle grows more tiresome than towering.

I will say that the story is easy enough to understand, and the likely teenage audience should be able to jump right in without cracking open some Tolkien. The kingdom of Rohan is ruled by the bold King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), who is bound by honor for his people and stuck in his traditional ways. His daughter, Héra (Gaia Wise), defies the expectations of a princess. She enjoys riding horses and interacting with giant birds and favors armor more than dresses. So, it’s little surprise that when the neighboring kingdom’s blunt prince Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) asks for her hand in marriage, Héra is more inclined to decline. She’ll be forced to go to war against him, not just for the embarrassment of a declined marriage, but because Helm feuds with Wulf’s father, who dies in a literal let-us-take-this-outside duel. A war for Rohan is on, with Héra leading the charge.

It makes sense that this PG-13 animated film went to theaters instead of being relegated to home video, as Warner Bros has favored for their similar approach to franchises like DC Comics and Mortal Kombat. The animation is breathtakingly vibrant, with plenty of little details in the lighting, shading, and costumes. However, therein lies the problem with the anime approach, where the visuals are so detailed there’s almost a fear of the movement matching the design. While not as stiff as budgeted anime productions, there’s undoubtedly a jerkiness to how the characters commit to movements that are not just swinging swords or delivering stationary monologues. The results are still better than one might expect for a 2D animated film with a $30 million budget, but the stiffness is still present in a few scenes where characters are expected to walk or prep their horses. Hayao Miyazaki, a director who made something as simple as putting on shoes believable and thoughtful enough to create a perfect illusion, was a great inspiration for the film. Be it the budget or a rushed schedule, this isn’t precisely Miyazaki.

Stiffness can also be felt in how the story is approached, with little room to get used to this world beyond who is in charge and where fights will be held. The few moments of wonder and danger are mainly in the third act, where Héra horseback rides up to a towering pique and later witnesses a lake monster devour a rampaging elephant. The film could’ve used more of that wonder if only to break up the by-the-numbers plot of Wulf becoming a tyrant and Héra becoming a hero, the two of them destined to do battle with swords amid a grand war. That said, when the film does get around to its moments of armies and violence, there are some dazzling sights to appreciate the stylish carnage, even if the tale being told doesn’t feel comparatively standard.

The War of Rohirrim is a Lord of the Rings detour that is more appealing for its anime style than its prequel screenplay. While the film does try to find its footing, it sadly stumbles in feeling derivative enough to see the corporate notes plastered all over the frame. The characters never really resonate beyond ho-hum platitudes of heroic fantasy, the animation (though detailed in design) looks standard enough that it could’ve been shot out of an AI prompt, and the story is still bound by the Lord of the Rings mythology so hard that it falls back on narration from Miranda Otto and old recordings of Christopher Lee for the correlations. There are some moments of fantastical allure here and there, but the anime staging feels so routine that the film feels more like a marketing tool than a compelling fantasy wielding the Tolkien book series into new territory. For a film centered around fantasy adventure, this picture doesn’t veer too far from home.