Movie – LOTRO Players

Lord Of The Rings Anime Prequel The War of the Rohirrim Announced

Unlimited Graphic Design has taken movies to the next level. The Lord of the Rings is getting another movie, this time with animated treatment with a new film titled The War of the Rohirrim.

New Line Cinema, the studio behind Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth-shattering Lord of the Rings films, is returning to J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material for the first time since The Hobbit movies, and teaming up with Warner Bros. Animation on the new project.

The War of the Rohirrim will be an animated prequel film set before the events of the main trilogy and is said to focus on one of the most legendary figures in Middle-earth history, the ninth King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. The film will expand on the story of the fortress that bears King Hammerhand’s name, Helm’s Deep.

Although Rohirrim will tell a standalone story, the new anime series is being created as a companion piece to New Line’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, with the story and artistic elements are woven throughout that will reconnect fans to the excitement and cinematic wonder of Middle-earth.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be directed by Kenji Kamiyama, He’s best known for directing the cult classic anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews will write the screenplay, while Oscar-winner Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the original Lord of the Rings movies, will return to consult on the project.

Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema have this being fast-tracked for the big screen. Animation work and voice casting are already underway, The animation work is being handled by Sola Entertainment, who are most famous for their work on Rick And Morty.

First Trailer For Tolkien Movie

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most beloved and respected authors of all time. Through his creation of the fantasy world known as Middle-earth, Tolkien gave readers a series of epic adventures in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and more. As we all know, several of Tolkien’s books have become major motion pictures, but now the man himself will have his story told on the big screen.

Tolkien is a new biopic from Fox Searchlight staring Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class, Warm Bodies) as the titular author. The first teaser trailer has arrived, and it looks like it will be , mixing the biographical elements of his life with flashes to the fantasy worlds that the author seemingly imagined himself in.

Lily Collins also stars in Tolkien as Edith Bratt, who would eventually become the author’s wife and muse. Edith was famously the inspiration for Tolkien’s characters Lúthien Tinúviel and Arwen Evenstar, both characters of Middle-earth.

Tolkien hits theatres on May 10.

In addition to this film, another one is in the works that focuses on the relationship between Tolkien and Narnia writer C.S. Lewis, and how Tolkien helped convert Lewis to Christianity.

Movie Review: Rise of the Fellowship

Three years after the initial release, I finally sat down to watch “Rise of the Fellowship“, thanks to it’s availability on Netflix streaming. Originally titled “The Fellows Hip: Rise of the Gamers” back before distribution problems delayed widespread release, the film is a buddy comedy that parodies many aspects of the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy and showcases game footage from the Lord of the Rings Online MMO.

Let’s get this out of the way up-front: this film isn’t a blockbuster, nor is it meant to be. The over-the-top character stereotypes are all there: the annoying skinny friend, the funny chubby kid, the female soon-to-be girlfriend friend, the too-attractive-to-really-be-a-true-outcast-and-looks-more-like-Frodo-then-Elijah-Wood lead, the comic book store owner, the jerk brother, the jerk high school jock, the mother who blames video games for all of her son’s problems. You get the idea. Pretty much every character in this movie is a shallow one-trick pony. The story is also a bit weak, with the main goal feeling more like a reason to move the main characters from one punchline to the next than a central point of focus.

Still, the film surprised me in several ways. If you take for what it’s intended to be (a silly jaunt through adolescent geekdom), there are actually quite a few little gems to uncover. If you are a fan of LOTR or LOTRO, I predict that you will have several chuckles along the way, both from intentional and unintentional comedy.

Just a few things that I enjoyed (quite a bit, in some cases):

The One Ring as a gold USB drive
English scenes subtitled in elvish
The fellowship being pursued by a mysterious black motorcycle rider, complete with nazgul sounds
Twinkies as lembas
Rivendell/Lothlorien as a high-tech hippie commune
Boromir falling to paintball wielding Uruks
Shadowfax as a white GMC SUV
A slow motion flying Twinkie (I don’t know why I laughed so hard at this part, but it struck me as funny)
The final video game battle being fought by Randall (the main character), playing a hunter (my main class) using mele-only skills, a sure way to get killed if you’re a hunter

In all, they did a nice job of weaving bits of the LOTR films into the story they were trying to tell instead of doing a direct parody of the LOTR story. I also like that this is an extremely clean movie, and minus a few references to drugs that were planted in Randall’s school locker, is completely child-friendly depending on the age of the child and your strictness level as a parent. Certainly, kids who have watched the Peter Jackson movies would appreciate the comedy and references sprinkled throughout. I wouldn’t hesitate to sit down and watch it with my whole family.

If you’re going into this movie expecting a theater-quality experience, you may be disappointed. However, if you go in looking for 90 minutes of silliness and some fun LOTR references, those little jewels might just outweigh the cheese factor.

You might also remember Andang’s review of this film from earlier in the year.

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