The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

This anime-style journey to Middle Earth dials back on risk and charm to robustly tell a simple tale of good versus evil.

Blazing its own trail that parallels its flesh and blood siblings, while also respectfully doing its own thing, this is the sort of expansion that properly revitalizes a well-known franchise.

...combining cutting-edge Japanese animation with the audiovisual language established by Jackson’s original trilogy of films.

There are morsels of Middle-earth magic here. And when Stephen Gallagher’s score liberally borrows from Howard Shore’s ‘Riders Of Rohan’ theme, few spines will go un-tingled.

It’s certainly interesting, and at times even exciting. Héra – an invention for the movie, as Tolkien’s legendarium is not overflowing with Strong Female Characters...

...dives into Rohan's history with an entertaining, Hobbit-sized adventure.