Netflix: Review of TROLLHUNTERS: RISE OF THE TITANS: Troubling Terminal Twist

July 22, 2021

From 2016-2020, there had been three related DreamWorks animated action-fantasy series released on Netflix under the name “Tales of Arcadia.” These were all based on the 2015 novel “Trollhunters” written by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Krauss.

The first one, “Trollhunters” (2016-18) was a 3-season-long (52 episodes in all) series about the adventures of the newly-chosen Trollhunter Jim Lake (Anton Yelchin / Emile Hirsch). together with his chubby best friend Toby Domzalski (Charlie Sexton), girlfriend Claire Nunez (Lexi Medrano) from Arcadia Oaks, California and their troll friends Blinky (Kelsey Grammer) and Aarghaumot (Fred Tatasciore) from Trollmarket as they fought off deadly threats both on the surface human world and the underground troll domains by the vicious Gumm-Gumm leader Gunmar (Clancy Brown) and his malevolent mistress Morgana (Lena Headey). 

The second one, “3 Below” (2018-19) was a 2-season-long (26 episodes in all) about two royal siblings from the planet of Akiridion-5, Aja (Tatyana Maslany) and Krel (Diego Luna) Tarron, who escaped to Earth together with their loyal bodyguard Varvatox Vex (Nick Offerman) on the Mothership (Glenn Close). This was after a renegade general Val Morando (Alon Aboutboul) staged a violent coup against their parents, the King and Queen, whose bodies they were trying to restore to life. They land in Arcadia Oaks, so the aliens assumed human forms and struggled to learn human culture in order to blend in. 

The third one, “Wizards” was a 1-season-long series (10 episodes in all) about Hisirdoux “Douxie” Casperan (Colin O'Donoghue), a young impatient and insecure apprentice of the master wizard Merlin Ambrosius (David Bradley). Together with his faithful cat Archie (Alfred Molina), he brought the Guardians of Arcadia together back to the castle of King Arthur (James Faulkner) at Camelot and relive the circumstances that led to the creation of the Trollhunter’s Amulet, Morgana’s turn to the dark side and the legendary battle of Killahead with the Arcane Order composed of Belroc, Skrael and Nari. 

This new film “Rise of the Titans” continued right from the ending of “Wizards” when the Arcane Order, frustrated over how humans were disrespecting the planet, were threatening to destroy the whole world by awakening their three powerful Titans in order for the earth to be reborn. However, Nari had a change of heart and decided to join forces with the Trollhunters, the Aliens and the Wizards to stand against the other two members of the Order, Belroc and Skrael (Piotr Michael). Jim and his friends need to protect Nari (Angel Lin) at all costs, and at the same time find a way for him to regain his powers as the Trollhunter. 

Like the entire series before it, this final movie still had all the frenetic action, heartfelt drama, along with awesome alien tech and wizard magic that made it an instant favorite from the very start. The rib-tickling comedy this time was mostly care of the dumb blond jock character Steve Palachuk. Knowing that it was Oscar Best Actor nominee for “Minari” Steven Yeun who had been voicing him all this time made him even funnier than ever. The artwork definitely leveled up with the degree of meticulous details done for the depiction of the three Titans of Fire, Ice and Nature. 

For those curious whether one can watch the movie even without watching the series, I’m afraid the answer is NO. This one does not work as a stand-alone film, as watching at least “Trollhunters” and “Wizards” are essential to be familiar and empathize with all the key characters from all the realms and get the flow of the ongoing story as well as the background mythology. Fans who had watched the whole franchise all the way through will find this film a worthy and noble finale, even as the vicious battles did not spare some well-loved characters from their morbid fates. 

And then there is the prickly ending. I certainly never expected the whole saga to end that way. For a while, I just stared slack-jawed at the screen, not sure what I thought about it. I did not know whether I liked it or not. At first glance, it seemed quite neat as it intended to restore some sort of order and to prevent certain deaths. However, the more dwelt on it, the more it felt wrong as it somehow sort of nullified everything we had been following faithfully for the past five years. It was just that major of a shocking twist that totally came from left field. I was stunned and troubled by it.  8/10.