When they announced that they were making a Middle Earth anime film that was going to be released in theaters, I was all in.  Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was worth the wait.

Sure, they are branding everything set in the world of Middle Earth as Lord of the Rings now, because that’s how money works. Oh well. I can’t complain too much. At least we’re getting new stuff!

The film tells the story of Héra, daughter is Helm Hammerhand, and how she helped defend Rohan and her family in a final stand at what would become known as Helm’s Deep.

The film has a narration by Éowyn who is boxed by Miranda Otto who played her in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The film is intense.

This was marketed as The War of the Rohirrim, and they took the “war” portion seriously. The film is brutal and, sometimes, beautifully so.

I don’t want to say that I was surprised at the level violence in the movie, but I did have to adjust early on with what I was seeing.

The animation was gorgeous.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t a super huge fan of the animation for the first little bit of the movie. It was … Off.

But, as the movie moved along, I started to feel more comfortable. By the end, I was all in.

Brian Cox was fantastic as Helm Hammerhand.

When you want a strong Scottish accent these days, Brian Cox is the guy that you turn to these days. He was an excellent Helm Hammerhand, and I could’ve watched an entire series with him as the focus. That was brilliant.