THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM

Here's the decision. This is a beautifully animated, well-directed return to Middle-earth, set almost two centuries before the War of the Ring. It takes a bare, tragic scrap of Tolkien and builds something with a heroic heart: a story that warns against pride and revenge while celebrating courage in the face of evil and the protection of the weak.

It also earns its caution. The film is wall-to-wall with strong, sometimes scary battle violence — armies clashing, a lake monster's tentacles, orcs who boast of eating the dead. None of it is gratuitous, but it is intense, and the long winter siege drags the middle before the ending pays off.

So: if you love Middle-earth and have older kids who can weather medieval warfare, take the trip. For younger or more sensitive children, wait — this siege was not built for them.

The reign of Helm Hammerhand, Ninth King of Rohan, is troubled by war with the wildmen of Dunland. A wealthy warlord arrives at Helm's fortress and proposes marriage between his son, Wulf, and the king's daughter, Héra.

Helm refuses — and mocks the warlord, who answers with a challenge. One blow settles it, and the warlord lies dead. Wulf vows revenge. Four years later, he overruns Rohan's stronghold, and the king retreats to a mountain fortress called the Hornburg. There, with an army at the gates and winter closing in, Héra must lead the women and children who shelter behind its walls.

Three stars, and here's what they mean. The animation is genuinely beautiful and the direction is assured, with real excitement in its best sequences. Credit the filmmakers, too, for taking a downbeat, tragic source and finding a heroic ending in it — no small feat.

What keeps it from four stars is pacing. The long winter siege slows the story to a crawl in the middle, and a tale that could have gathered momentum instead sags before it recovers. When the film moves, it moves well; when it settles in for the siege, it tests your patience. The direct links to the beloved trilogy — orcs hunting for a ring of power for their master — will delight fans and reward the wait.

At its core this film honors much of what Scripture honors. It is a cautionary tale against hubris, pride, and revenge — a hot-headed king goads a warlord to his death, and the son who will not repent wages a war that destroys him. That's an old and true lesson: pride goes before destruction. Alongside the warning, the film celebrates genuine virtue — heroism in the face of evil, and the protection of the weak and the innocent against forces of darkness.

There is one choice viewers should weigh. Tolkien's original story centers on the king's three sons; the film takes an unnamed daughter and makes her the main hero instead, giving the story a feminist subtext. Whether that reframing enriches or bends the source, you can judge for yourself.

Underneath the swords and the siege runs the film's steadiest theme: standing guard over those who cannot defend themselves. Scripture calls that not weakness but righteousness — "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute" (Psalm 82:3). And its warning against a proud king ruined by his own temper echoes the same book: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

The filmmakers took a tragic footnote of Middle-earth and gave it beauty, courage, and a moral spine — a warning against pride and a tribute to those who guard the weak. It sags in the siege and leans on a feminist rewrite, but the heart holds. Our answer, the same one we opened with: worth the trip — ages 10 and up. Younger ones in the house? Try our latest family-friendly picks.