
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
Starring: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Miranda Otto, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley, Benjamin Wainwright, Yazdan Qafouri, Laurence Ubong Williams, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan
Director: Kenji Kamiyama

PRESTON

If you will, imagine two children playing with some generic action figures. They oscillate the figure in their hand between the two stiff, plastic feet in order to pantomime the gesticulations that accompany human speech to emphasize emotion. That’s the best way I can describe the atrocious animation style in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. There are odd pauses in speech where facial expressions would have really helped with audience connection to the characters. Instead, we get a bland and cliché storyline that drags for far too long, with only moments of interesting relief.

AMARÚ

My apathy for anime had a hard time reconciling with my love for all things Lord of the Rings, but the latter took over as The War of the Rohirrim delved deeper into its strong story. Director Kenji Kamiyama constructed an epic tale, taking cues from the best of the trilogy, The Two Towers, to build upon the lore of Helm’s Deep, with Brian Cox bringing its namesake, Helm Hammerhand, to life with beastly ferocity. While the rest of the characters are somewhat paint-by-numbers, and the animation vacillates from spectacle to spotty, there’s enough here to make fans happy with this return to Middle Earth.

KATIE

Despite its shortcomings, I really enjoyed The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The plot is straightforward and some of the dialogue feels perfunctory, but it gripped me emotionally. I cared about the characters, and found it easy to invest in Héra’s (Gaia Wise) fight for her people and her autonomy. The animation is uneven but often beautiful, and the anime style lends itself well to the exciting fight sequences, which are really dynamic and impressive. Plus, Brian Cox is a standout, giving a rousing vocal performance as Helm Hammerhand.

ADRIANO

A rep for Warner Bros. outright confirmed that The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was rushed in order for them to maintain the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's property. I gotta say… You can tell. There is nothing inherently wrong with the story, but it's so basic and unengaging. The movie does have nice visuals in its animation, but the overall vibe I walked away with was that I simply didn't care about the conflict, the characters, or really anything going on. I didn't hate anything about it, but it's just so lifeless.