The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim shows Middle Earth like you’ve never seen it before through gorgeous anime styled animation, even if the story misses that spark that has made other stories in this world riveting and epic sagas of adventure, magic and heroism.

 

Any project set within the world of Middle Earth, no matter the form, has the insurmountable standard set by Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy that it is measured against, which is regarded by most to be one of the greatest film trilogies ever made. But since Jackson first took audiences to Middle Earth, audiences have been enchanted by the world and will continue to be for decades to come. Spinning off from the stories related to the One Ring, audiences revisit Middle Earth with a tale from Rohan’s past in a way they have never seen this world come to life. Through Japanese anime styled animation, director Kenji Kamiyama creates a gorgeous vision of Middle Earth with an exciting new hero in Hèra, even if the story itself feels underdeveloped in terms of characters and depth to fill the entire film’s runtime. 

 

Without hesitation, the highlight of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is the beautiful animation. Under the talented direction of Kamiyama, he reimagines Middle Earth through an anime lens of stunning hand drawn animation. The result is remarkable and engrossing world building of a world that film goers are well versed in, delivering it in a new and exciting form. Some of the shots in the film are stunning and evoke the magic of the cinematography of Jackson’s films, even if some moments of three dimensional computer generated animation for the environmental background slightly distract from the impressive two dimensional animation. Helping to create that feeling epic feeling of Middle Earth is Stephen Gallagher’s musical score, while not delivering any outstanding new themes, plays with those of Howard Shore from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, reusing themes and musical phrasings to energize the audience with moments of one of the most recognizable movie scores of the twenty-first century.

 

Leading the film is Gaia Wise as Hèra, and she is wonderful in the role. Capturing the unwavering heart and determination of her character, Wise truly makes Hèra one terrific new hero of Middle Earth that easily becomes a fan favorite of the film. Opposite her is Luke Pasqualino, who captures the requisite gruffness and cold brutality of Wulf, creating both a formidable villain and a complex relationship with Hèra, even if the film fails to capitalize on the latter. Brian Cox towers over the film as King Helm Hammerhand, injecting this hot headed and temperamental ruler of Rohan with a biting vengeance and strength that at times echoes his great performance as Logan Roy, which is exactly what the role requires. Miranda Otto’s narration as Éowyn is strong, telling the story of Hèra with the strength of her character from The Lord of the Rings trilogy who was no doubt inspired growing up hearing the story of Hèra. To remind viewers that this story is in the same world of The Lord of the Rings, the late Christopher Lee makes a brief appearance as Saruman the White, and while it’s nice to see his character live on through unused dialogue from the live action films, given he’s there for all of ten seconds, it truly begs the question of why this was necessary as it does nothing for the story nor his character. And those who closely listen may just hear two other stars of The Lord of the Rings pop up as Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd do have a small cameo.

 

It’s not hard to imagine that the story of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim would be a tale told by the maidens of Rohan in the halls of Edoras during a great feast, as evidenced by Éowyn’s narration of the film. As Samwise Gamgee would say, it’s a great story; one that really matters, as Hèra is a phenomenal lead character. In the opening thirty minutes of the film, the writers set the stage of a conflict between the royal family of Rohan and one of its powerful pledges, riddled by a troubled past and fractured friendship between the two descendants of each house. But, as the story progresses past the instigating event that sets the story into motion, it fails to dig deep into the characters. The complicated friendship and love between Hèra and Wulf is merely teased in two small scenes, then never tapped into again, forgoing great dramatic material to really flush out the conflict at the centre of the film. Wulf himself is not given a strong arc, and the most fascinating moments of Hèra’s arc with the other female characters exploring the shieldmaidens of Rohan are not given the dedication they deserve, as they are without question some of the best moments of the film. Instead, the screenplay is set on unfolding a predictable story with nods to the main trilogy of films and what could potentially come with future tales in the realm of Middle Earth, that while is not bad and is full of some exciting fight sequences that fans have come to expect from properties in The Lord of the Rings franchise, it never feels fully formed enough to justify the film’s over two hour runtime. 

With the endless writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, there are countless possibilities of stories to be told in the world of Middle Earth, especially stories not connected directly to the main The Lord of the Rings storyline that can enrich and deepen the lore of this marvelous world. And while The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim attempts to do this; it never truly accomplishes it despite intriguing characters and beautiful animation. Packed with stunning animation that evokes the beauty of the world that Peter Jackson created on screen over twenty years ago, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim does a wonderful job capturing the magic of Middle Earth with exciting battles and a terrific heroine in Hèra even if the surface level story does not fully utilize the building blocks it sets up in its first act.