The Lord of the Rings Anime Reviews: “Overlong” and “Not as Epic” as Peter Jackson’s Trilogy

Story by Cameron Bonomolo

Image from ComicBook.com

scrn logline

The long-awaited return to Middle-earth in 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' anime prequel gets mixed reviews, falling short of the epic quality of Peter Jackson's acclaimed live-action trilogy.

beat sheet

The anime film, set 183 years before the events of the LOTR trilogy, has a 62% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 59% on Metacritic, indicating a 'mixed or average' reception from critics.
While the visuals are praised for their Miyazaki-esque style, the film is criticized as 'overlong' at 134 minutes and an 'uninspired expansion' of LOTR lore that fails to capture the epic grandeur of the original trilogy.

call sheet

Peter Jackson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Miranda Otto, Gaia Wise, Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, Janine Duvitski, Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou, Fran Walsh, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood, Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros., Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, The Hollywood Reporter, Total Film, Variety, TheWrap, IndieWire, Slant Magazine, Inverse, The Independent, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Read the source