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🐴 The Lord of the Rings: The ⚔️War of the Rohirrim

I saw it this afternoon and liked it. It was my first time seeing an anime film. I agree that Hera's physical strength was a bit too exaggerated, but I liked her character. Overall, I think it was a good movie. I especially enjoyed the way Haleth and Hama were done. I wish they could have had more screentime. I think Wulf was a bit odd. They could have made his motives more clear. Also, he should have listened to General Targ more, since he was giving pretty good advice.
 
Its not worth owning on physical medIa thats for sure. All i can say, atleast its not worse than Rings of Power. But thats not saying much
 
I fell asleep around when they found
Helm frozen like a statue (aka dead) fighting off an army himself outside the gates. I’ll need to find time to go back and watch the rest again. It had finished when I woke up 😂.
(surprised I made it as far as I did)
 
You mean you have never seen one turn into a popsicle in 1 night of blizzard? You dare to say thats unrealistic
 
Okay, I started writing a review but I was having a hard time putting my thoughts into words and it was gonna be super long. I’m tired, so instead enjoy a brief synopsis of what I was going to write.

This film is one of those ones where if you wanted to like it, you liked it, and if you didn’t want to like then you wouldn’t--If that makes sense. It sits at a pretty medium quality that lets it be easily interpreted one way or the other, I think.

On an objective level, it’s fine. A lot of the things I was worried about the film fumbling were actually okay, a little messy but still fine. All of it was passible, all of it was professional, it didn’t feel low quality or cheap.

Personally, I really liked the film (as I said before, it’s like an 8/10 for me). But I went into it wanting a fun anime fantasy adventure, and that’s what I got. I think there are issues with it on closer inspection, but it’s a lovable film with a good heart. It’s the sort of story that makes me want to rewrite it or expand on the characters because it could’ve been better, instead of hating it because it could've been better. Does that make sense?

I think the writing and themes were alright, there were some seeds of a deeper conflict between the characters, but I found it because I was actively digging and I don’t know if it was intentional. I felt like the girl power thing was done alright, if a bit cheesy. A lot of girl power stories don’t include healthy relationships between women or the empowerment of older women, but this film did which was cool! All of the characters were simple, but they were very consistent and all of their actions felt natural. I also know that a lot of people were worried Hera would overshadow Helm Hammerhand and the other more canon characters. She was the main character, but I felt like all the other characters got time in the spotlight and more then enough appreciation.

All of the references to lotr were integrated into the plot really well and I liked it quite a bit. The narrative was crafted in a way that made them feel natural and less forced.

The film's main issue is that it’s not very clear at certain points, and at the same time it could’ve used more subtlety at others. The characters are good characters, with interesting plot threads but a lot of it is easily missed or spelled out too easily. I feel like this sort of thing could be fixed with a few more passes over the script, pushing some details to the background and bringing others forward. I think some of the plot holes could easily be fixed if some of the dialogue or actions were clearer to the audience.

I liked the narration by Eowyn, it was a cool connection but I feel like the narrated parts were done too often and weren’t done tastefully. It strayed into just telling the audience what was happening.

The film-making itself was fine, the voice-acting was pretty standard with a few moments I felt could’ve been better. The animation was high quality enough to pass as professional but was clearly on a budget, to me. Their attempt at integrating 2d with 3d didn’t really work that well. There were some scenes where they were clearly trying to do a more out-there and impressive shot but it fell through 50% of the time. My brother thought he saw some rotoscoping, but I didn’t catch it, so who knows.

But yeah . . . A tropey and simple film for sure, but a fun film with a good heart. I liked it and was really pleased with the experience in the theater. I do already like 2d animation and basic fantasy stories already though, so I’m biased 😅
 
I can understand your opinion and agree with many of your points, but overall I'm not as forgiving as you are.
I rate this movie “only” 6 out of 10. It wasn't a disaster for me, on the contrary, a lot of it was very coherent. For example, I liked the general style, the background graphics such as the design of Meduseld, the design of the characters and races in general. For the most part, the movie was also not influenced by modern, politically motivated themes, which I find very positive. The fact that the events are told from the perspective of a strong woman who doesn't actually appear in the canon is a bit borderline, but I thought it was just about okay, especially as Helm dies before the end of the war. The only thing that annoyed me was that the ending was changed to the disadvantage of Frealaf compared to the original book in order to establish Hera as the ultimate heroine. There were also some very nonsensical scenes, such as the one with the tentacle monster, which was also very badly designed.
The animations were generally very cheap and bad on a technical level, and you could see that in almost every scene.
The battle scenes were also anything but epic. It is clear that too little time and effort was put into the production. A Tolkien adaptation has to be first-class, anything less is an insult to the very broad fan base. A Tolkien film adaptation has to be top-notch. Period.
At Amazon we had the failure on a content level (which is even worse, and I give this very bad series a maximum of 3 out of 10), here especially on a technical level, while the story is not really good either, but still okay.
 
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Annatar said:
I can understand your opinion and agree with many of your points, but overall I'm not as forgiving as you are.
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Yes, as I said with my first point, I was definitely forgiving with this film because I already liked the concept and medium, and wanted to like the film.
Annatar said:
The only thing that annoyed me was that the ending was changed to the disadvantage of Frealaf compared to the original book in order to establish Hera as the ultimate heroine.
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Can I ask what the original story ending for him was? Because I felt almost opposite to this. Frealaf got to have the throne at the end of the story, acknowledging his good works and his loyalty to Rohan. Hera stepping down and going on her own, less glorious path was even a surprise for me. It was nice to have an ending where the protagonist doesn't end up with a throne that they logically don't want/aren't prepared to handle. Unless you were talking about something else? I simply don't see how he was 'disadvantaged' unless you mean his banishment, which was clearly a (somewhat heavy-handed) reference to Eomer and a plot device, not an attempt to push his character out of the spotlight.
Annatar said:
There were also some very nonsensical scenes, such as the one with the tentacle monster, which was also very badly designed.
Click to expand...
Now I will admit, that the watcher in the water design was one of the few parts of the movie that felt distinctly anime to me. A lot of aquatic/ octopus based monster designs in JRPG's and manga look very similar. I did think that it was a bit odd that they chose to loose some of the monsters iconic mystery, as it comes fully out of the water in broad daylight, but I didn't think it was egregious. Watching it eat the oliphant was probably one of my least favorite scenes--I would have rather it be more subtle, with just the tentacles pulling it into dark, shadowy water never to be seen again. Maybe some scary eating noises, as Hera waits for the coast to be clear, but something less violent and dynamic.
 
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J. Magi said:
Can I ask what the original story ending for him was?
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That is, of course, a very plausible and legitimate question. I'm just wondering why no other Tolkien-reader has been able to answer it yet. I have not been online in this forum for a few days, and I would expect there to be enough experts who know the answer by heart, but unfortunately they seem to have already turned their backs on the movie completely.

I think it's a bit of a shame that the movie is ignored by many Tolkien fans just because it's anime in style. You can certainly criticize the film, also because of the poor animation from a technical point of view, but you should at least bear in mind that the earliest Tolkien adaptations were also animated films. So for me (as a somewhat older Tolkien film connoisseur) it's not a total break in style just because it's (once again) animated...


Well, the book describes Frealaf coming out of Dunharrow after the harsh winter and defeating Wulf in Meduseld:

‘Soon after the winter broke. Then Frealaf, son of Hild, Helm’s
sister, came down out of Dunharrow, to which many had fled;
and with a small company of desperate men he surprised Wulf
in Meduseld and slew him, and regained Edoras. There were
great floods after the snows, and the vale of Entwash became a
vast fen. The Eastern invaders perished or withdrew; and there
came help at last from Gondor, by the roads both east and
west of the mountains. Before the year (2759) was ended the
Dunlendings were driven out, even from Isengard; and then
Frealaf became king.
Helm was brought from the Hornburg and laid in the ninth
mound. Ever after the white simbelmyne grew there most thickly,
so that the mound seemed to be snow-clad. When Frealaf died
a new line of mounds was begun.’

So in the end, unfortunately, some quite important things are different or missing. In favor of a fan fiction.
Don't forget, Hera isn't even mentioned by name in the book, only that Freca wanted to marry Helm's daughter to his son Wulf. Everything else is fan fiction.
As I said, I don't mind at all if the role of Helm's daughter is expanded and everything is told from her point of view. On the contrary, I even think it's a clever move. However, when heroic deeds that canonically belong to others are then attributed to Hera, it goes a bit too far. If it had stayed closer to the original at the end, my comparatively not too bad rating of the movie would have been even much better. Unfortunately, this point really annoyed me because it was simply unnecessary.

J. Magi said:
I simply don't see how he was 'disadvantaged' unless you mean his banishment, which was clearly a (somewhat heavy-handed) reference to Eomer and a plot device, not an attempt to push his character out of the spotlight.
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I hope you can now see roughly what I mean.
In contrast, the harsh banishment of Frealaf by Helm, which you mention here, doesn't appear in the book at all. Helm is portrayed more harshly here in the movie in contrast to the book, while he is otherwise portrayed more as a positive hero (in the movie). In the book, he is indeed morally questionable, where he also deals the first (and last 😅) blow against Freca.
 
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Thank you very much for your insights and thoughts! Reading about the differences was interesting!

I can totally see how you would be frustrated with the change to Frealaf's role in the story.

However--and maybe it's because this movie is my first experience with the characters--I find myself personally not minding too much? It's true that perhaps that final victory should have been given to Frealaf, but I think the change feels like a natural effect of how they chose to adapt the story. I guess in my mind, switching around who did what, even giving new characters pre-existing victories isn't too egregious. All of the changes are made to serve the new plot, which helps it be more internally consistent. I'd rather watch a film that is different from canon if being closer to canon in some elements would've made things messier.

And by that I mean, having Hera as the pov character and still having Frealaf be the hero at the end would be more difficult to pull off well, whereas what they went with is more straightforward. Having the main antagonist overcome by someone who isn't the main protagonist can surely be done, but it would require more complicated thematic buildup. That, and a very different approach to the story they clearly wanted to tell. I'm not saying it's the best way to do things, or that I prefer it to something more faithful to the canon, but it's very understandable from a writing point of view.

Take the eagles, for example. It's an element that I had a hard time seeing them integrate well. Banishing Frealaf gave them a really good reason to have the eagles play a logical role in the story. Both elements are different from canon, but they bounce off each other to make a new story that's pretty good. Of course it's a shame he got sidelined to some degree, but I thought the final scene between Hera and Wulf was fun, and found their conflict interesting (If in need of expansion).

That said, I'm definitely the type of person who's fine with a little exploration by adaptations to create something new. I definitely won't claim this film pulls any of it's new ideas off flawlessly, but it's a fun version, and the fact that it's not exactly the same as the book makes me want to go read the original! I love the opportunity to see characters, events and locations in a new way. I find this sort of thing engaging--though I completely understand that others might not.
You're wording here is confusing me a little (So forgive me if I misinterpret), are you saying that Helm is more morally grey in the book, whereas in the movie his banishment of Frealaf is the only harsher action he takes?

I would disagree to some extent, as I think film Helm was a fairly good morally grey character. We can tell from most of his actions that deep down he values his children more then Rohan, and banishing Frealaf was a direct result of that 'compass.' But I don't how 'bad' Helm in the book was, so perhaps he's better in the film by comparison?
 

I tried watching it last night, I only managed 5 minutes before turning it off. I watched an episode of Columbo instead.

The animation is what put me off, it was ghastly.
 
Vorondil said:
View attachment 40033
I tried watching it last night, I only managed 5 minutes before turning it off. I watched an episode of Columbo instead.

The animation is what put me off, it was ghastly.
Click to expand...
I never went back to finish it, not worth it to me. Glad others could enjoy it just wasn’t something that I liked
 
I was worthy of a watch. I may watch it again at some point. I thought the cheap animation was a nod to Bakshi's Lord of the Rings...
 
Halasían said:
Did you Hang up already? 😆
I knew you had some hang ups.
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Very few 😉...... mostly when people totally misuse words; e.g., "exponential", "caveat", "decimate" .
(Please, don't get me started 😬...)
 
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I watched it last night and liked it OK. Thought the first half was dragging on a bit too long before the story really got moving forward. I thought the second half was very good, exciting, emotional, music, etc.

Figured I might as well do a rewatch tonight. Just finished, and liked it even better. No problem with the first half this time. I think it was better not having to focus so much on keeping track of the characters the second time through. So, it was easier to sit back and enjoy the story.

There was a nice touch as the final song began near the end of the closing credits:

IN MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED KING OF ROHAN
Bernard Hill
1944-2024​
 
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