The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim takes place 183 years before the events of The Two Towers (2002). We follow the story of the history behind Helm’s Deep, long before the fateful war, and the depiction of the blood-soaked times of the fortress’s founder, Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the king of Rohan. We see this through Héra’s (Gaia Wise) perspective, as she finds herself in the center of events.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an animated film set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings universe, and especially in the same cinematic world as Peter Jackson’s famous films. Miranda Otto (Éowyn) reprises her role from the films and serves as the film’s narrator. Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) also appear – but this time as orcs.
Although the film has an interesting premise and an exciting story, there are several aspects that prevent it from reaching its full potential. One of the biggest weaknesses is that the script is based on only one and a half pages from Appendix A in The Lord of the Rings book, which makes the story feel thin and drawn out. Instead of having a deep and well-developed plot, the film is filled to the brim with unnecessary scenes, which often feel forced and lack the epic feel that Tolkien’s works usually have.
Something that also detracts from the overall impression is unfortunately the animation. Although some scenes are visually impressive, the animation often feels choppy and half-finished, especially in dialogue scenes where the characters are sometimes animated from behind to avoid having to synchronize lip movements. This gives the film an uneven quality and means that it lacks the polished feel you would expect from a major production within The Lord of the Rings franchise.
What bothered me the most is that they have chosen to animate the backgrounds in 3D with 24 frames per second, while all the characters and the foreground are animated in 12 frames per second. Now, 12 frames is standard in animation – each frame is used twice to save time and money. However, this is not the case in 3D-animated films. The result is that the background and foreground do not really match, which quickly becomes distracting. In addition, many animations are very simple, with, for example, garments fluttering in the slipstream in a very short animation cycle that is repeated over and over and over again…
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is currently only available on Blu-ray in Sweden. If you want it in 4K, you have to cough up five hundred kronor and buy a foreign edition. The picture is razor sharp with good colors – nothing has been lost in the transfer, and the lower resolution is not experienced as a problem. The soundtrack is in Dolby Atmos, which is a huge plus, as we can take part in the high-resolution sound even if we do not have access to a high-resolution picture. The sound is impressive, and it is noticeable that a lot of energy has been put into creating an immersive soundscape. The disc also contains a lot of interesting bonus material, which is always a huge plus.
In summary, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a film with an interesting basic idea, but it unfortunately suffers from a weak script and uneven animation. For fans of The Lord of the Rings, it may be worth seeing to explore the history of Rohan, but it does not reach the same level as previous films in the series.
SF Studios sent review copies for this test. Senders of material have no editorial influence on our tests, but we always write independently with you readers and consumers in focus.
