The Lord Of The Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) Review: It’s Great To See Middle Earth Back On The Big Screen

The first animated The Lord of the Rings motion picture brings great voice acting but tries to do a little too much at times.

The universe of The Lord of the Rings is my favorite fantasy place of all time. For me, the tales of Middle earth isn’t just a make-believe place, I feel like it has come and gone in the past and just waiting for my turn to sail The Great Sea of Belegaer into the Undying Lands. I have seen all the movies, the TV Show and played most of the video games and am always hungry for more Tolkien. 

I also have mixed feelings about continuing superb franchises with other stories. We are seeing some of the backlash in Star Wars, the MCU and soon to be Harry Potter. In my opinion, I don’t mind expansion on universes but let’s leave the original stuff alone. There is so much lore in The Lord of the Rings that still needs to be explored, and I am so glad that Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim did that. And in a different way too.

The Lord of the Rings The War of the Rohirrim is set roughly 200 years before the events of The Hobbit and mainly follows the story of the men of Rohan. They are attacked by Wulf and the people of Dunland and it is up to Helm Hammerhand and his daughter Hera to lead their people to safety at the refuge of the Hornburg, more commonly known as “Helm’s Deep” as featured in The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers. I bet you can guess how the fortress got its name. 

I do want to start off saying that yes, I may be a bit biased when reviewing these types of movies. They just hold a special spot in my heart. The lore explored in The War of the Rohirrim was just enough. Director Kenji Kamiyama did an excellent job at not throwing every single race and every single story into a two hour film. However, I do think the movie lacked pacing at some points. There were a few scenes that definitely felt rushed and others that seemed to drag. But there were also some scenes that were perfect. 

The voice acting was immaculate. We were able to hear Miranda Otto reprise her role as Eowyn in which case she was the narrator to the story. Gaia Wise, who voiced Hera, did a great job for her breakthrough role. I am excited to see where her career will go. Brian Cox was great as Helm Hammerhand. His old, raspy voice fit into that king vibe perfectly. I could even hear some Bernard Hill in his lines.

There are some issues I have with the film though. The first being the pacing. It seems like they are trying to fit a whole story into a just over two hour runtime that should have either been condensed down, or made into a two part series. This inhibited my connection to certain characters such as Hera’s brother and other side characters. Another slight problem that I noticed was that the animation wasn’t the greatest. I do enjoy good studio Ghibli and anime movies but there were a couple instances during this film that didn’t fall together great. It was bad enough to totally take away from the film but is still something that I noticed.

Final Thoughts: 

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim serves as a solid origin story for one of the many races in Middle Earth. It would have been great to see other races such as the elves, dwarfs and orcs be involved a little more but maybe that is a story for another day. Obviously I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. So I have to recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy. It was great to see the world of Tolkien be explored a little more and I look forward to seeing what else these types of developers and film producers have in store for us.

4/5

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Sam Majewski
Sam Majewskihttps://letterboxd.com/majewsam
Watching movies to me, is like entering another world. Some people can sit down and watch a 2 hour long film but others prefer to binge watch a tv show that has 40 minute long episodes. For me, well I love both. I am a huge fan of fantasy movies such as Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter, though I tend to stray to different genres here and there, mainly historical dramas and 80s slashers. When I am not watching movies, I’m either at the gym, the mountains, or working as a veterinary technician. MY FAVORITE MOVIES: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, There Will Be Blood, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Last of the Mohicans, Schindler's List
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The universe of The Lord of the Rings is my favorite fantasy place of all time. For me, the tales of Middle earth isn’t just a make-believe place, I feel like it has come and gone in the past and just waiting for my...The Lord Of The Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) Review: It’s Great To See Middle Earth Back On The Big Screen