The War of the Rohirrim: Anime Middle-earth

[Kuruharan]

The important question, of course, is how it stacks up to the Rankin-Bass cartoons.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

The important question, of course, is how it stacks up to the Rankin-Bass cartoons.

With some of the flawed animation, I thought it rated in the vicinity of the Bakshi Lord of the Rings.

[Mithadan]

While it has not aged well, I liked the Bakshi version when I saw it decades ago.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

With some of the flawed animation, I thought it rated in the vicinity of the Bakshi Lord of the Rings.

Hmm...interesting. So it doesn't have any of the campy charm of the Rankin-Bass cartoons, then?

Originally Posted by Mithadan

While it has not aged well, I liked the Bakshi version when I saw it decades ago.

I think, repeated milkings of the Giant Cow and seizure inducing flashes of the Shire aside, the Bakshi version wasn't a bad rendition prior to Rivendell.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Hmm...interesting. So it doesn't have any of the campy charm of the Rankin-Bass cartoons, then?

I've only seen the Rankin-Bass ROTK and none of the Bakshi films, so my comparison is rather limited, and I too would be curious to hear what people who actually know the cartoons well have to say. But aside from similarity in the medium, I found the two quite different. RB owns its childishness, which makes it endearing, and honestly - the songs are the most memorable. While WOTR (wow, totally different words but the acronym still fits template) doesn't come off as cute, it tries to make itself more serious and grown-up... well, at least teenager grown-up. Definitely is not going for "endearing".

[Mithadan]

The Rankin-Bass cartoons were pretty bad. I liked the music from The Hobbit, but hated the art. The portrayal of Thranduil was particularly nausea-inducing.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Now, I haven't seen it, nor do I plan to, but the impression I have gleaned from clips and from reviews is that this project is let down, as much as anything, by that plague of contemporary popular entertainment: the Mary Sue. Is that a fair assessment of the Hera-character?

Also, why on earth Hera? There are lots of usable OE female names that alliterate with Helm, Hama and Haleth, so why use a Greek one?

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

With some of the flawed animation, I thought it rated in the vicinity of the Bakshi Lord of the Rings.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Hmm...interesting. So it doesn't have any of the campy charm of the Rankin-Bass cartoons, then?.

I never was a fan of Rankin-Bass Hobbit or their Bakshi-finisher Return of the King. That song 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers' comes to mind...

As much as I shook my head in disbelief when I left the theatre when the Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie came out, it had its moments. I got the VHS of it and my younger kids enjoyed it and got into reading Lord of the Rings.

War of the Rohirrim has its moments too. I was even debating going to watch it at the theatre again before it's gone.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

The portrayal of Thranduil was particularly nausea-inducing.

They did rather make the wood elves look like ants, didn't they.

Originally Posted by Snowdog

I never was a fan of Rankin-Bass Hobbit or their Bakshi-finisher Return of the King. That song 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers' comes to mind...

Ahhh...but what about Where there's a whip

If you don't like that song you have no soul.

[Kuruharan]

Apologies for the double post, but I found this interesting.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Apologies for the double post, but I found this interesting.

I haven't watched the whole video yet, but I agree with the video title. It makes The Hobbit look good . That's not really a compliment. Season 2 Rings of Power is a better story than this.

There's really no reason for this to be 2 and half hours long. I think this was the first anime movie I've watched...ever. So it's kind of hard to place on my letterbox list of 2024 movies.

The one thing I will say is enjoying Helm Hammerhand's character. His personality of "who needs allies, I will just punch my way to victory" was amusing. But for 2 and half hour movie, it's true all the characters stay on a flat line. And like The Hobbit trilogy, they padded the movie with call backs to the LOTR trilogy that serve no purpose, so it just makes the movie longer and boring.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Apologies for the double post, but I found this interesting.

Finally finished watching this. And I am told by learned people that for this particular commentator, this is a short review! There are a few points where I would argue, but largely I agree with his analysis. It almost makes me wonder if one could make a much better movie of it by chopping out a hour worth of unnecessary screentime, all other things aside.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

The good news: it's not as bad as Rings of Power
The bad news: it's not even as good as the Hobbit trilogy.

What we have here basically is a minimally competent cliche. There is nothing in it remotely original or non-hackneyed, nor is there anything particulary Tolkienian about it, save the (early-on) characterisation of Helm.