Kids shows are hit and miss. As a nerd and a father of three, I know well enough that the stuff you watch when you are three and four and five years old can stick with you for a lifetime. It was my exposure as a four year in the early nineties that led to my life long love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A thousand coulrophobics spend a lifetime avoiding the circus on account of a thirty second glimpse of the movie It or a dozen others at an early age. With the increasing preponderance of science on the matter of small children and screen time and one touch access to streaming services like Netflix and YouTube, children’s programming has become the kind of thing that keeps me up at night.
As such, most of the time, when my kids sit down to watch cartoons, it’s something we do together, and something we’ll all enjoy. Pokemon with it’s plucky kids and endless action is a perennial favorite and last years Voltron hit all the right buttons. As such, when I finally saw the trailer for Netflix’s Trollhunters, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I should have been. Based on a book by the ever imaginative Guillermo Del Toro and produced by the same in conjunction with Dreamworks Animation, it shows all the signs of Del Toro’s classic genre love letters.
Featuring a veteran voice cast lead by the late Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Fright Night, Odd Thomas) and Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Fraser, everything ever on TV ever), the story follows teenage Jim as he navigates high school in his small California town of Arcadia. Turns out trolls, goblins, gnomes and other fairy tale creatures exist, and some of them live right beneath Arcadia in the colorful bustling settlement of Trollmarket. Chosen by a mysterious amulet to become the latest in a long line of “Trollhunters” Jim dons the magical armor to serve as the protector of both worlds. With the help of his best friend Toby, his four armed, six eyed Troll mentor Blinky and the gentle giant Arg, he must earn the trust of Trollmarket, all while juggling the macro drama of the classic America high school.
What follows is a classic coming of age story reminiscent of Marvels Spider-man, but with Del Toro’s classic flair for off beat fantasy. With the some of the highest production values I’ve ever seen in a CG animated tv show, and intelligent writing, the show retains a childlike sense of wonder while consistently refusing to shy away from the peril which stalks our heroes and their loved ones. The maturity of the storytelling while never broaching “adult” subjects might be a deal breaker for parents of more sensitive children. On the other hand, its exactly the quality of consequence based, zero hand waving story telling which makes for some of the best storytelling on TV and makes Trollhunters the kind of show I gladly watch with the kids before bed time.
