Warner Bros. returns to Middle Earth once again with an animated feature – The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. This project had the involvement of some of the team behind the Peter Jackson movies. So, how does it fare?
The honest answer is… not good. Rotten Tomatoes currently scores it at just 65% on 34 reviews at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Metacritic has it at 60/100.
The box office is looking wobbly too. According to Box Office Mojo, it has made just $1.8 million from 30 overseas markets where it is already open. What do the various summary pages say about The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim?
“It’s certainly more complete and satisfying than The Hobbit movies, but it can’t quite live up to its predecessors…It’s still awesome though and if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you’ll enjoy it. Just go in with slightly tempered expectations.”
Germain Lussier, io9.com
“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim eschews such resonant connections to our real world, instead favoring broad, unoriginal discussions of heroism and bravery.”
Cody Dericks, AwardsWatch
“That this entry in a fantasy series is relatively light on fantastical elements doesn’t help to disguise the lack of flavor to this lethargically-paced story.”
Josh Slater-Williams, Total Film
“The fourth best animated ‘Lord of the Rings’ feature, which sounds pretty good until you remember there are only four of them.”
William Bibbiani, TheWrap
“The War Of The Rohirrim may seem too adjacent a property to muster similar enthusiasm. Consequently, casual viewers may decide to skip this mediocre stopgap and wait for the live-action The Hunt For Gollum.”
Tim Grierson, Screen
“It may please the faithful, but it’s not quite epic enough to give less devoted viewers the same thrill they once felt from the live-action movies.”
Peter Debruge, Variety
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and is focussed on Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan who gave his name to Helm’s Deep.
The voice cast of the film includes Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand, Gaia Wise as Héra, Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, and Miranda Otto as Éowyn. It co-stars Lorraine Ashbourne, Benjamin Wainwright, Yazdan Qafouri, Laurence Ubong Williams, Michael Wildman, Shaun Dooley, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski.