War of the Rohirrim (2 stars out of 4)
The best thing about “War of the Rohirrim” is that it will send you out of the theater with Howard Shore’s “Lord of the Rings” themes echoing in your memory.
Specifically, “Rohirrim” uses cues from 2002’s “The Two Towers,” composed by Shore to evoke J.R.R. Tolkein’s great horse lords of Rohan, the scenic land of rolling hills and picturesque mountains where both films take place. Kenji Kamiyama’s animated film takes place about 200 years before the events of “The Two Towers,” purporting to follow the lost tale of a female hero of Rohan.
Like Eowyn, who narrates the story, Hera (voiced by Gaia Wise) is a natural warrior who would rather ride horses into battle than embrace the traditional feminine expectations of her community. So when the head of a rival faction proposes an arranged marriage to unite estranged communities, she bristles.
Lucky for her, her father, Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) sees through the ploy as a clumsy play for his throne. But when the king’s blunt rejection of the nuptials turns violent, a tragic sequence of events triggers a full-scale war between the factions.
To make things more complicated, Hera already had a history with Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), the rejected groom who is now leading the insurgent effort. It’s a decent twist on a fairly basic plot that not only evokes a lot of familiar elements and themes from “Two Towers,” but often seems to copy them.
That’s one of the big problems with “Rohirrim;” often it feels like you’re watching an animated remix of the previous film’s Greatest Hits, right down to the extended siege and battle at Helm’s Deep. Mix in some questionable animation and some transparent preoccupation with social messaging, and “Rohirrim” has a lot more in common with the clumsy “Rings of Power” series than Peter Jackson’s celebrated trilogy.
To be fair, it’s hard to be judged against one of the greatest film trilogies of all time (and trilogy writer Philippa Boyens gets a story credit here). Even so, it’s hard to be satisfied with a Happy Meal when it keeps reminding you of the steak dinner that came before.