
One Anime to Rule Them All (Or Not!): The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review
By A.M.G. Steele
Reviewer, Pastrami Nation
In a world where intellectual property reigns supreme, it is no big surprise that movie studios find ways to keep some of their biggest franchises alive and in the public eye. This can often lead to over-saturation, leaving even the most diehard fans exhausted (particularly when the finished products fail to dazzle), but from time to time, the reveal of a new title is positively tantalizing.
When I first saw the trailer for Kenji Kamiyama’s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime film, I was excited that I hadn’t been in years. As someone who grew up with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, everything that has come after—particularly the bloated, overly CG-laden Hobbit trilogy and mega-budget lore-averted Rings of Power Amazon series—has disappointed in spades. Seeing a trailer that honored the golden age of LOTR media and united the fantasy giant with iconic Japanese animation had me intrigued from the start, and despite mainly being an at-home moviegoer at this stage of my life, I knew a theater viewing was warranted for such a spectacle!
The central plot of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens with Dunlending lord Freca and his son Wulf visiting the hall of the long-remembered King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. Their political purpose—to hopefully join Wulf and Helm’s daughter, Hèra, in marriage, thereby keeping Gondor out of the picture—is ultimately unsuccessful. Neither Helm nor Hèra take kindly to the suggestion, and Helm, depicted as a royal hothead, engages in combat with the coarse Freca, resulting in the latter’s demise. Thus begins a story of familial revenge for Wulf, as well as one of pride, duty, and determination for Helm Hammerhand, his children, and his people.
Detractors of the film have pointed out a couple of distinct issues—inconsistent animation showcasing remarkable dips in quality and a seemingly social justice-ridden concept at the cost of Tolkien’s rich lore. While not entirely without merit, these criticisms are overblown and have caused the anime to be treated with much less appreciation than it deserves.
The animation is, overall, quite lovely. Still, a rushed release deadline (reportedly due to licensing and future motion picture plans) forced the team to cut corners on animation in particular scenes, often in incredibly strange places. In the film’s opening sequence, Hèra is interacting with a great eagle, a moment that is both epic in visual and scale, but Hèra’s animation falters, line work becoming weak and inconsistent even though the scene does not have the benefit of distance to obscure lackluster visuals.
In other scenes, much further away, background characters’ facial animations become overly simplistic and silly in otherwise robust environments. In one, an entire army of men running towards the camera is actually faceless, but movement makes the moment less egregious than the opening faux pas. While these screenshots yield some potentially amusing reaction images, they are unfortunate inclusions in the film’s final cut, particularly because the film otherwise takes such painstaking care of both character and environment design.
As for the concerns related to the plot, I will admit that the film stands stronger without the bookends narrating Hèra’s forgotten role in Middle Earth, as the story is more effective as a piece focused on an entire family’s plight. Hèra, her father, and her brothers have such interesting interactions with each other, and the strength of the story comes from their bonds with one another and with the people of Rohan. The bookends oversimplify the myriad of human layers at play and can portray a political narrative even if most of the film does not support it.
Ultimately, the film is a fun, surprisingly brutal portrayal of a less commonly shared Middle Earth history. The way screenwriters Jeffrey Addiss, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou, and Will Matthews highlight pieces of Tolkien’s lore (e.g, the Shieldmaidens of Rohan and the naming of Helm’s Deep) creates exciting moments for The Lord of the Rings fans, as do the appearance of familiar voices amongst the film’s dynamic voice cast and lovely, reverent score. A smattering of questionable animation and unnecessary narrative bookends cannot squash a film that aims high and lands, despite its missteps, well above average.
Rating: FOUR Pastrami Nations out of FIVE.
