Movie Review: A 'Lord of the Rings' tradition turns small-scale in the anime 'Rohirrim'

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It’s a discombobulating experience, after a “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that was built, down to every frame and hobbit hair, for the big screen, to see something so comparatively minor, small-scaled and TV-sized as “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”

The film, set 183 years before the events of “The Hobbit,” is a return to Middle-earth that, despite some very earnest storytelling, never supplies much of an answer as to why, exactly, it exists.

“Rohirrim,” which sounds a little like the sound an orc might make sneezing, is perhaps best understood as a placeholder for further cinematic universe extrapolation from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. (A live-action movie about Gollum is due out in 2026.) Here, the thin basis in Tolkien comes from the “Lord of the Rings” appendix, which lists a history of Rohan, the plains kingdom south of the Elven forest of Lothlórien.

A small army of screenwriters – Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou – have from those faint embers conjured a fiery war movie, made as an anime by director Kenji Kamiyama (“Ghost in the Shell: Stand Along Complex,” “Blade Runner: Black Lotus”). The obviously talented Kamiyama fashions some dazzling vintage anime visuals that — and perhaps this isn’t all bad — feels a world apart from Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth features.

But “The War of Rohirrim” also feels conspicuously closer to 1990s direct-to-video release than an heir to some of the grandest big-screen fantasy storytelling of the past 25 years. Though there are many — too many — examples of Hollywood over-mining once-rich intellectual property, this dull, appendix-extracted anime adds to a not particularly Tolkienist tradition.

Tolkien diehards, though, may be grateful for whatever “The Lord of the Rings” morsels they can find. And there is some precedent. Before Jackson (an executive producer here) built Middle-earth in New Zealand, “The Lord of the Rings” prompted a pair of 1970s animated TV specials and a not-much-remembered animated 1978 movie.

“The War of Rohirrim” concerns the adventures of Hera (voiced by Gaia Wise), daughter of Helm Hammerhand ( Brian Cox ), the Rohan king. Cox, coming off of “Succession,” again finds himself beset with trouble over the future of his throne.

Things get underway when Freka (Shaun Dolley), leader of the Dundelings, offers his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) to marry Hera and take the throne. After a swift refusal, a fight ensues, and with a mere punch, Helm accidentally kills Freka. Given how extreme Wulf’s vengeance is following this punch, it’s fair to wonder if “The War of Rohirrim” could have been started just as easily with a slap or, perhaps, an overly aggressive noogie.

But only self-seriousness reigns in this “Lord of the Rings” adventure. When the battle begins, Hera must save her people, which she strives to do by retreating to a fortress dug into a mountainside. Hera’s story is said to be one lost to history in the opening narration, but “The War of Rohirrim” is just as much an origin story for the stronghold that will later be known as Helm’s Deep.

I don’t begrudge any Tolkien addict a little anime fun — and maybe these references and callbacks will be enough to conjure some of the majesty of the books or Jackson’s movies. You can tell "Rohirrim” was made with sincere belief in the world Tolkien created. But I found the connective tissue, like the few notes from Howard Shore’s original score that float in, only reinforced how such grander movie ambitions once came to Rohan. “The War of the Rohirrim” does manage to recapture one trait of the earlier films: at 134 minutes, it’s long.

“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” a New Line release is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for strong violence. Running time: 134 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.