Warner Bros. Discovery has been very vocal<\/a> about its desire to keep producing an untold number of stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s books<\/a> in hopes of recreating the monumental success of Peter Jackson\u2019s Lord of the Rings <\/em>movies<\/a>. Even though it wasn\u2019t a WBD production, The Rings of Power<\/em><\/a> <\/em>proved that Tolkien\u2019s appendices could <\/em>be fashioned into riveting explorations of Middle-earth\u2019s history that feel like something more than transparent cash grabs. Unfortunately, the same can\u2019t be said for the new animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Based on Tolkien\u2019s Lord of the Rings <\/em>Appendix A, director Kenji Kamiyama\u2019s (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex<\/em>, Blood: The Last Vampire<\/em>) The War of the Rohirrim <\/em>is an attempt at creating a mountain-sized fantasy epic out of a molehill of footnotes. At times, the film comes close to being a beautiful presentation of Middle-earth, and you can feel it trying to bring something of a feminist energy to the Lord of the Rings <\/em>canon. But The War of the Rohirrim<\/em>\u2019s characters are so two-dimensional and its story is so plodding that it\u2019s difficult to understand why the studio thought this particular bit of lore needed to be adapted for the big screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Set about 200 years before the events of Jackson\u2019s original Lord of the Rings <\/em>trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim<\/em> tells the tale of how King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) and his daughter, Princess H\u00e9ra (Gaia Wise), became legends while defending the people of Rohan. While the Rohirrim are no strangers to war, peace is what Helm longs for as he settles into his old age. As is tradition, Helm intends for his eldest son Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright) to one day take his place on the throne. It\u2019s obvious to everyone that H\u00e9ra is the most courageous of the king\u2019s children and the kind of person who could become a great leader. But as an adventure-loving free spirit, H\u00e9ra would much rather spend her days out in the wilderness with her horse instead of being saddled with royal responsibilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All seems well as Helm convenes a meeting of Rohan\u2019s great houses meant to map out a plan for the kingdom\u2019s future. But when conniving Dunlending Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) unexpectedly arrives demanding that H\u00e9ra be wedded to his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), it leads to a deadly skirmish that sets off a war and plunges all of Rohan into chaos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In The War of the Rohirrim<\/em>\u2019s focus on H\u00e9ra \u2014 who is never named in Tolkien\u2019s work \u2014 and her armed minder Olwyn (Lorraine Ashbourne), you can see co-writers Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou attempting to rework details from Appendix A into a more fully fleshed out narrative centering the women of Middle-earth. That goal feels like part of the reason the story is narrated by Rohirrim shield maiden \u00c9owyn (Miranda Otto, reprising the role from live-action Jackson films). That detail reinforces how WBD and New Line Cinema see War of the Rohirrim <\/em>as an expansion of their Lord of the Rings <\/em>canon. But the film wastes its potential to do anything truly novel with its central characters and instead uses them to tell a tale that\u2019s disappointingly rote and predictable. Shocking twists of fate aren\u2019t exactly the point of Lord of The Rings<\/em>, but it\u2019s kind of surprising just how much like Generic Fantasy\u2122 The War of the Rohirrim <\/em>feels as its story unfolds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There is little nuance to anyone\u2019s characterizations or motivations. H\u00e9ra\u2019s another headstrong princess whose gender keeps her from being seen as a valuable warrior, and Wulf reads as so transparently evil that he\u2019s hard to buy as the kind of villain capable of outmaneuvering his enemies. Those weaknesses would be easier to overlook if the movie had more to offer in the way of exciting visuals. But even when The War of the Rohirrim <\/em>is clearly trying to impress you with soaring shots of Middle-earth from Great Eagles\u2019 perspectives, it never feels like the movie is taking advantage of animation\u2019s ability to present fantasy worlds in ways that aren\u2019t possible with live action.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Often, The War of the Rohirrim <\/em>feels excessively committed to making its depiction of Middle-earth look and feel like what we\u2019ve seen in Jackson\u2019s films. While characters are artfully stylized, the settings they\u2019re moving through tend to feel like uninspired approximations of reality rather than places filled with monsters and magic. This becomes especially apparent during action set pieces and whenever things are engulfed in flames that seem digitally crafted and animated at a distractingly different frame rate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Between The War of the Rohirrim<\/em>\u2019s multitude of Lord of the Rings <\/em>musical cues and its smattering of on- and off-screen cameos alluding to future events, you get the sense that the studios are banking on fans\u2019 love of the live-action films to catapult this new feature to box-office success. But turning an appendix entry into a feature that puts butts in seats requires more than a bit of nostalgia, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim <\/em>just doesn\u2019t have what it takes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n