Animation

Tripwire Reviews The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Animated Movie

Published

2 years ago

December 13, 2024

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A Land Riven By War

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows reviews new animated film Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, out in cinemas from today…

Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Voices: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto

21 years after Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King and 10 years after The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, we return to Peter Jackson’s take on JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Except this time around, the story is set 200 years before the Lord of The Rings films, Jackson is only executive producer and Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim is an animated feature. Director Kamiyama is an experienced anime writer, best known for his work on the Ghost In The Shell TV series.

The riders of Rohan were possibly the most interesting of the races that we met in the LOTR films: a Viking-like group who lived in settlements with halls and a culture that was based on horses and a pantheistic religion. The Two Towers has at its centrepiece the battle for Helm’s Deep, which was named after the king here, so The War Of The Rohhirim adds a little extra historical context to the story of Middle-Earth that viewers of the Jackson trilogy will appreciate.

This story tells the tale of Hera (Gaia Wise), the daughter of the aforementioned King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox). Hera is a princess who is forced to grow up very quickly when Wulf, son of fellow lord of Rohan Freca (Shaun Dooley), decides to take his revenge on King Helm, who kills the boy’s father in combat.

The style of animation is a hybrid of classic anime and modern CGI, which lends it a unique feel, although sometimes it feels a little like a Saturday morning cartoon serial. The story moves on at a decent clip and Hera is a solid protagonist. Cox lends the whole thing a touch of extra gravitas and class as the king who morphs into something else around halfway through the film. It is pitched a little lighter than the Jackson films although there are a couple of engaging easter eggs in here too, references to Jackson’s Rings films and even a small cameo from a pivotal figure in those films. On the negative side, it is a little too long.

Middle-Earth is a rich tapestry on which to tell epic stories and LOTR: The War Of The Rohirrim is a fun and warm addition to the onscreen canon. With the new LOTR films announced, it seems that Jackson isn’t finished with Tolkien’s creations yet.

Here’s the film’s trailer