The movie “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” was released Dec. 13 in theaters. Set in the classic fantasy world of Middle-earth, and styled as an anime separate from the live-action trilogy, the film’s runtime stretches a little beyond two hours; maybe a long commitment, but it works well in the cinema setting. It was written by Jeffrey Addis, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, directed by Kenji Kamiyama and produced chiefly by Warner Bros. Animation.
The film centers around Héra (voiced by Gaia Wise), a princess and shieldmaiden in Rohan who is forced to confront her childhood best friend Wulf (voiced by Shaun Dooley), as Rohan’s king (voiced by Brian Cox) betrays Wulf’s father, an ambitious lord. Héra is forced to flee with the people of the kingdom to the city of Gondor, where a siege is laid by Wulf’s bandit army and Héra is forced to find her own courage so she can save the city’s people.
The movie follows a basic plot structure that doesn’t leave much room for surprises, despite some plot twists given to characters along the way. The size of its cast was fairly short for a two-hour-long movie, which worked given its scope. Its narrative was very much “good vs. evil,” particularly evident by the one-dimensional nature of the villain, Wulf. While this can be forgiven given the tradition for Lord of the Rings narratives to be black-and-white, with obvious good guys and extremely evil bad guys, don’t expect to be thematically wow’d by the movie.
With regard to its loyalty to the source material, the War of the Rohirrim strays away from the main events of Middle-earth during the time of Frodo Baggins, set 200 years before those adventures. It has some references to Sauron’s search for the Rings of Power and puts into place Gandalf’s alliance with the region of Rohan, but otherwise deals with the rivalry between Wulf and the dynasty of Helm Hammerhand, which we see is honored by the nickname given to Gondor– Helm’s Deep.
The dialogue in the movie was often bland and succinct. I recall being able to predict characters’ lines before they were spoken, and none of the characters’ individual personalities or motives shined out much. Particularly the villain, who at no point showed remorse or emotional complexion after the death of his father. He acted as a vessel for evil—despite not being under the influence of Sauron. However, the voice acting was either decent or featured genuine passion, which helped me get involved more with the characters’ struggles.
The animation was serviceable for an anime. I would compare its quality to that of an anime television show, with the characters’ mouths and movements sometimes flaky. The pacing of their movements alone helped pad out the runtime. With more funding provided to animators, the scenery and objects of the movie would have been able to fulfill their massive potential. The real visual standouts came from the background environments, which were largely made with CGI. Some larger scenes were actual eye candies, like the siege tower at Gondor or the distant torch lights of the soldiers at the battle in Rohan. I felt that the backgrounds gave scenes vibrance and a distinct mood, more so than the characters did.
The movie was overall a pleasing two-hour-long escape. It didn’t enjoy any plot refinement, lacking serious attempts at twists. But the story was still put-together and coherent, and that is enough for putting people in settings. The characters were given emotional pivots and development (aside from the villain), which led to generic heart-aching moments. I would recommend it to non-Lord of the Rings fans and fans equally since it isn’t severely reliant on the property. Watch if you want a comfortable story and are interested in seeing a cool animation set in the same world as Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim:” ★★★☆☆
