That’s what I’m Tolkien about!

The last time an animated Lord of the Rings-related film was attempted was Ralph Bakshi’s attempt back in 1978, incorporating the then new ‘rotoscoping’ animation style.

A financial success, it left many fans and critics disappointed before Peter Jackson came along and finally did the tome justice (shame about The Hobbit, Pete).

Fast-forward to 2024 and Japanese director Kenji Kamiyama has delved way into Tolkien’s appendices for a new animated adventure ‘The War of the Rohirrim’. In a mix of sword and sorcery fantasy and set almost 200 years before the events of LOTR, the story centres on the people of Rohan, led by King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox). Helm invites all other Rohan lords to Edoras for a meeting, including the boorish Freca (Shaun Dooley) who challenges the king to a fight when he refuses to grant rebellious daughter Hera’s (Gaia Wise) hand in marriage to Freca’s son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino).

This sets in motion a feud as Edoras’ inhabitants are forced to flee to Helm’s Deep and Hera fights to save her family.

A mix of Scandinavia, Anglo-Saxony and a healthy dose of Studio Ghibli-esque anime – which is mixed with gorgeous hand-drawn animation and motion capture – the film is complete with many scenes of wanton violence. All told, the ‘War of the Rohirrim’ is fairly decent stuff.

It’s a tale we’ve seen many times before about warring clans, honour, justice and the responsibility of power, yet Kamiyama manages to flesh out the story enough that it just isn’t going through the motions… he brings a few fair twists and turns to the story, which is engaging and certainly kept me entertained throughout.

The action sequences are suitably epic and, as said, filled with different visual styles; in fact you would swear that some scenes are actually real-life.

I know it’s hard to judge voice performances but kudos must go to Wise and Cox who capture the rebellious spirit of Hera and majesty of Helm respectively.

At 134 minutes, ‘War of the Rohirrim’ certainly doesn’t drag, and while Tolkien-purists will probably find some reason to grumble, it’s a fine addition to the Middle Earth canon.