With an all-time-franchise-low Rotten Tomatoes critics' score, the consensus is clear: the Lord of the Rings anime fails in its inability to resist its more notable predecessors' thrall.

Shadow and Flame." Those words, spoken by Saruman the White, are the first mention of the demonic Balrog named Durin's Bane in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And when the ...