Well, everyone, today, we review a film that is part of a fantasy film franchise trilogy that was just released over twenty years ago. This time however, though Peter Jackson was not the director of this film in the Lord Of The Rings lore, he was said to be involved in it somehow, and some way. Oh, and that’s not all. Instead of this Lord Of The Rings being live-action, new film director Kenji Kamiyama decided to give this film the animation treatment, making it anime to be specific. So now, let’s discuss this latest installment in the Lord Of The Rings series, the one, and only Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim!
Plot: Set nearly 200 years before the War Of The Ring, an older tale occurred in Middle Earth in which a tragic event would spark war between King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the King Of Rohan, and Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), the leader of a tribe called the Dunlendings. Was Rohan saved by Helm, his children, and the rest of his kingdom, or did Wulf successfully conquer that kingdom in the end?
Well, now that we have this film included in the Hobbit, and Lord Of The Rings movie franchise, the question now remains, did it honor the legacy of the newer Lord Of The Rings from more than twenty years ago? Well, in more ways than one, very much so. First of all, despite the fact that there may have been some scenes that might not have worked as well, be it in animation, or live-action for a Lord Of The Rings kind of film, Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim does a fantastic job of accomplishing that task. Director Kenji Kamiyama, despite being the one to direct this new film instead of Peter Jackson, really did seem to understand how the Lord Of The Rings was suppose to work, and work well. I mean yes, because this film had an anime type of animation, this film can have the feel of an overall feel of an anime film, including those of the Studio Ghibli film library. Nevertheless, from start to finish, you can also tell that this film could have easily been made into live-action, and the storyline would have still worked in more ways than not. Yeah, with the more mature storyline, as well as how violent this movie is (and not to mention that this film has a PG-13 rating), this film, like the other films, is most definitely more for teens, and adults. In other words, this is an animated film that is NOT for kids. Speaking of the animation, it was amazing to see how well the animation worked, even for a film that was built on anime. I mean even if you have everything that comes with an anime film, whether it’s the movements of the characters, the way that the mouth of any character moves when a character speaks, you name it, there are also a few times in this movie, when the animation seems to be smoother, whether it’s certain monster creatures attacking, grass blowing in the wind, and scenes like those. As a result, some of the animation can feel Americanized at times. Next, there are also the characters. Let me tell you, most of them are really great. And emphasis on most of them! For one, Freca, despite only being in the film for a little bit, was a very well developed one. Same goes for Wulf, Freca’s son, who served as the villain for this movie. Oh, speaking of villains, that’s another rather interesting aspect of this new Lord Of The Rings film, the fact that this time around, the villain doesn’t have any magical powers, does not serve as a sorcerer, or any of those things like most of the villains in previous Lord Of The Rings movies. That is with the exception of the villains from at least the Hobbit prequel trilogy. Anyway, the other characters, like main hero Helm Hammerhand, his daughter, Princess Hera, Hera’s brothers Hama, and Haleth, her cousin Frealaf, and characters like them, are really well done too. As for the storyline, and the world building, that was also really well done. What’s more is that there are ways in which this film sets things up for the events that would later take place in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. This most notably includes a surprising appearance of a character from the original Lord Of The Rings trilogy, as well as a couple minor characters, and mention of another main character from the original trilogy. Honestly, you can tell that Kamiyama, despite having his own style of directing, and writing stories, was willing to honor the works of Tolkien’s books, and Peter Jackson’s film version of the story as much as possible. Because of this, it is tragic that a lot of people didn’t seem willing to give this film a chance. And yeah, it’s too bad, because people will most definitely be surprised by how well done things are in this film, be it the relationship between Hera, and Wulf, including the whole thing of friends turned to enemies, Helm’s relationship with his family, and subjects, the betrayal of other former friends to the main heroes, and a great many of the action, and battles that occur in this film. Oh, and one other thing! Did I forget to mention Eowyn, who was the daughter of King Theodin in Two Towers, and Return Of The King, narrates this film? That was a nice touch to this film too. Additionally, there was also the score in this film. Even though the score is composed by a different person instead of Howard Shore, Stephen Gallagher, in this case, he surprisingly does well with making it sound familiar with Shore’s score from the original trilogy. Once again, it just comes to show much respect, and honor that the filmmakers tried to give to the original Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Finally, for positive aspects, this film does well with teaching great lessons about humbleness, learning to not be eager to have power, and other lessons like those.
With all that said, does this film hit all the right marks like the original trilogy did? Well, not quite! Don’t get me wrong, it hit a lot of the right ones. However, there were a couple areas in which the film fell slightly short. For one, Hera did seem to be almost a little too perfect. Yes, she did have humble attitude, and did portray one, or two times when she seemed to have struggles. However, in more ways than not, she did seem to be a little too perfect, like a Mary Sue type of character. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Mary Sue term, feel free to look it up. Again, Hera doesn’t quite fall into that category, but, yeah, she can come fairly close. The other final thing is that Wulf, he was a fantastic villain for the most part. However, his character, in terms of how he was handled with things like his arc, and things like that, could have probably been handled a little better.
And that’s my review for Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim. Even if a couple of the characters could have been handled a little better, this Lord Of The Rings film, overall, does well with honoring, and respecting the work of the live-action trilogy. What’s more is that does well with setting up events that would later occur in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Because of all this, it’s a shame that this Lord Of The Rings film wasn’t more popular, and we may not see more Lord Of The Rings films with the anime style after this. Oh well! Well, for those of you that are open to seeing Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, definitely go see it if you haven’t, and/or if it’s still playing at a theater near you! I can guarantee you will enjoy it more than you think!
Final Rating: 9/10 ⭐️
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 