IronWatcher’s review published on Letterboxd:
Watched in the cinema (188th visit in 2024)
Fans of "The Lord of the Rings" can't really complain about a lack of new content. The second season of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has just been released, which conjured up the fantasy world created by J. R. R. Tolkien on home screens at great expense. Two new live-action cinema films are currently in the works and are scheduled for release from 2026. Until then, "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is on the agenda. The franchise returns to the past in several respects. Firstly, it tells a story that takes place around 200 years before the events of Peter Jackson's celebrated trilogy. Secondly, it is an animated film. And anyone familiar with the various versions of Middle-Earth will know that several animated films were made in the beginning, long before the live-action films, of which "The Lord of the Rings" was even quite successful in 1978. However, while these were US productions back then, this time the focus was on the Far East. The European pseudo-medieval era is put into an anime guise.
That sounds a little strange, because two worlds collide. However, the result is much less exciting than one might have hoped. Kenji Kamiyama is an experienced director. However, his adaptation of the well-known original is very arbitrary. Of course, it was not to be expected that he would experiment as much as Ralph Bakshi did with the aforementioned 1978 version. But more than interchangeable 08/15 designs would have been possible. "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is completely devoid of a personal visual touch. At no point do you recognize your own vision. Technically, it is also mixed. Occasionally, the backgrounds are quite good. However, the animations are not up to cinema standard and are very unpleasantly jerky. It was clear that we wouldn't get a heartfelt project like "The Boy and the Heron". But it didn't have to be quite so unambitious.
The visual disappointment would be easier to put up with if the movie had something to offer in terms of content. But here, too, it falls far short of the mark. Anyone who liked the fantasy aspects of the novels or the adaptations, for example, need not even look past them. At an early point, there is an original monster that is staged in a terrifying way. Orcs make a brief appearance later on. But that's about it, "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is primarily about disputes between humans. There is as little to be seen of the many strange creatures that we associate with this world as there is of magic. Of course, purely human conflicts can also be exciting. But the characters here are too boring for that, especially as the cultural background is not elaborated. Wulf could and should have been a tragic figure. Here he seems more like a child who throws a tantrum because he hasn't been bought ice cream.
And as if all this wasn't modest enough, there are several reasons for annoyance. For example, when the enemy stands two by two in front of the gate and the huge army stands idly by, this is just as stupid as the claim that all the messenger birds are taken from the sky while at the same time an eagle flies past without a hitch. In too many places you simply realize that the four-person script team wasn't up to the task when idiocy meets pathos and gruesome dialogue. That may sound worse than it is. On the whole, "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is certainly fit for purpose. However, the potential that is shown in between is never fully exploited. Unfortunately, you can clearly tell that the film was originally only produced in order to keep the license. If you like fantasy anime, take a look, there is also a lot of action at the end. But it isn't the hoped for must-see.