SERIES REVIEW: Dreamworks “Trollhunters”

SERIES REVIEW: Dreamworks “Trollhunters”

June 13th, 2018

W.R. Miller

What do Kimball Kinnison, Mighty Max, and James Lake, Jr. have in common?

They are Chosen Ones.

They are ordinary kids endowed with special powers to battle the forces of—what else?—evil. Kinnison becomes a Lensman. Max becomes the Cap-bearer. James Lake, Jr.—“Jim” to his friends—becomes the Trollhunter.

In Jim’s case, Merlin’s magical amulet clads him in powerful battle armor whenever he utters an incantation. His mission: defend mankind against marauding trolls called Gumm-Gumms, prevent their leader Gunmar from crossing the KillAhead Bridge from the Darklands to attack our world and summon Eternal Night. At the same time, Jim has to continue his studies at school and keep his heroic activities a secret.

He fails. Most of the time, that is. He does manage to put out a few small fires.

Fortunately Jim has friends to help him: his vertically-challenged sidekick, Toby Domzalski; the lovely Clair Nuñez (Kimball Kinneson’s wife is Clarissa); and two friendly trolls, the loquacious Blinkous “Blinky” Galadrigal and pacifistic Aarghaumont “AARRRGGHH!!!” who educate him in troll culture and how to fight Gumm-Gumms. Together they are Trollhunters—plural—hence the title of the show.

Trollhunters was created by powerhouse director Guillermo del Toro, known mostly for his horror films, who decided this drama should be more family-friendly.

“We always wanted a show that it could be watched by the whole family and when that became the case, you can have conflicts with the really rich cosmology story, myth, and at the same time you have really beautiful humor,” he said at a DreamWorks press event on November 6, 2017. “It’s a really good-hearted show. We knew we were going in the right direction.”

Yet, the show does take chances. There’s a knife-fight in the dining room, for example, an act of “imitable” behavior unthinkable on a broadcast network. Prominent characters are turned to stone and shattered. An exorcism occurs.

So Netflix allows a looser standard. But it also provides a larger production budget. Viewers are treated to richly-detailed backgrounds and reflections on glass and armor. The London Symphony Orchestra plays the opening theme! Even when magnified on a theatrical screen, the resolution remains crisp. No modern CG-animated series approaches this level of detail other than, perhaps, DreamWorks’ Dragons: Race to the Edge.

Guillermo and his creative team at DreamWorks have also generated a comprehensive backstory for Trollhunters. Episodes are packed with “Easter Eggs” that foreshadow events in later stories—which is why one binge-viewing may not be enough to appreciate the scope of the show.

For example, in an early episode Blinky tells Jim, “If trolls are ever to embrace you as Trollhunter, you must ignore your humanly instincts.” The statement bears fruit late in the third season, in which Jim undergoes a stunning transformation.

The third season also introduces wizards Merlin and Morgana, and alien siblings Krel and Aja. They’ll appear in the upcoming Tales of Arcadia series, 3 Below and Wizards.

Del Toro pointed out, “It’s not the Merlin you’re used to. It is truly a hardcore tough guy, whose good deeds are as brutal as the evil deeds of Gunmar. It’s really life and death thing. It’s all sort of a sociopathic hero, this Merlin. He’s not a wise old wizard. He’s really hardcore.”

In fact, Jim the Trollhunter has to battle Merlin. Whether he wins may come as a surprise.

Despite such lavish attention to detail in both design and in storytelling, it’s rare to find certain elements out of whack. But they are noticeable. In nearly every episode, Toby’s shirt always—always—remains untucked on his left side. In “Mistrial and Error,” Jim battles a double not unlike what he will become in the final episodes—but how he defeats the double is never shown. One moment he’s fighting; the next moment, he’s climbing out of a pit. In “So I’m Dating a Sorceress,” NotEnrique, a changeling, helps Jim and Toby restrain Claire while her body is possessed by Morgana. Yet he’s abruptly gone in the next episode, where he could have helped his fellow changeling, Strickler, restrain Claire while Jim and Toby travel to another dimension to free her. These “goofs” are distracting from an otherwise well-crafted series.

The voice actors do a splendid job, particularly the late Anton Yelchin as Jim Lake (with remaining vocals by Emile Hirsch. The entirety of Trollhunters is dedicated to him.

Del Toro said, “When we lost him it was a huge blow for everybody involved in the show, and because obviously the older you get, the less you think that anyone younger is going to be leaving you. I’m 53. Everybody to me looks like they’re 12, you know? And you’re used to thinking, he’s going to be here forever. And he’s one of those guys that is really alive and a true artist, a young wild bohemian, adorable, you know? But I can tell you that the way we have been able to enshrine what he did is both in this season (Two) and beyond that.”

Kelsey Grammer steals the show as Blinky, with his eloquent vocals winning him an Emmy in the show’s first season. Jonathan Hyde delivers a splendid performance as Jim’s high school history teacher, Walter Strickler, especially in the episode, “The Exorcism of Claire Nuñez.” Sadly, one principal actor drops the ball when the character is required to raise their voice across distances (“Arcadia’s Most Wanted”) or during scenes of chaos.

A welcome addition to the cast is Mark Hamill as Dictatious Galadrigal, Blinky’s bothersome brother. The character was supposed to expire at the end of the third season. But Hamill’s performance so impressed the filmmakers, that Dictatious will appear in 3 Below and Wizards.

Said Del Toro, “Kelsey is not an easy guy to upstage. He’s not somebody that you take lightly, and I think we needed a myth to take on Kelsey as a brother. And I must say, I admire Mark. I adore his work as an actor, and part of it is how great he is a voice actor. One of the things that is really unexpected in meeting him and working with him is the humor. He brings a lot of humor to the part. At the same time, he was not doing an impression. He was not trying to be Kelsey. We found the voice on the first session.”

Hamill replied, “I was so surprised to see him at the first session, I didn’t know he was going to be there. ‘Cause when my agent told me about it, all I had to hear was his name. I said, ‘You had me at Gui.’ There’s very few people in this business that I would rather meet than this man. And I’m a huge fan of his work, I thought even just to go observe him shooting, as an observer, I would relish that opportunity. And so, for this to happen was just a delight.”

As the series progresses, Jim’s secrets are exposed. Prominent trolls are slain. Enemies become allies. Relationships and trust are challenged to their limits, and beyond.

By the time of Season Three, the pace has quickened and the threat level is raised significantly. Gunmar has taken over Trollmarket. He has energized himself in the Heartstone. He takes possession of many trolls, including Jim’s friends Draal and AARRRGGHH!!! Morgana is unleashed, and she takes control of Claire. The Trollhunter’s activities have been divulged to their parents, as well as Steve Palchuk, the school bully and Eli Pepperjack, a nerd keeping track of all the paranormal activity in town. And the Eternal Night is forthcoming. Jim Lake finds he has to make a great sacrifice if he is to save everyone.

What do we learn from Trollhunters? At least three things:

1. Your secrets will be discovered.
2. Trust your friends to help you.
3. Diversity.

On to 3 Below, to stream this fall on Netflix, followed by Wizards in 2019.

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W.R. Miller

W.R. Miller - known informally as “Bob” – has written for Starlog, Comics Scene, Animation Magazine and Animation World Magazine. Bob has been involved in animation for two decades, as a writer, character animator, special effects animator, and storyboard artist - For more information about Bob, check his website: http://wrmilleronline.com/.

He has just completed Batman: The Animated Interviews, a five-volume work featuring the executives, producers, directors, writers, actors, designers, storyboard artists and composers involved with the making of Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs. BearManor Media is the publisher.