Troll Punters: a Review of Wizards
Created by Guillermo del Toro
Based on characters by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus
DreamWorks Animation TV, Double Dare You Productions
Voices: Colin O’Donoghue as Douxie “Big D”, Lexi Medrano as Claire Nuñez, David Bradley as Merlin, Lena Headey as Morgana, James Faulkner as King Arthur, Steven Yeun as Steve Palchuk, Alfred Molina as Archie, John Rhys-Davies as Galahad, Rupert Penry-Jones as Lancelot, Emile Hirsch as James “Jim” Lake Jr., Kelsey Grammer as Blinkous “Blinky” Galadrigal, Mark Hamill as Dictatious Galadrigal, Stephanie Beatriz as Callista, Angel Lin as Nari, Clancy Brown as Gunmar, Darin De Paul as Bular, Diego Luna as Krel Tarron, Piotr Michael as Belloc/Skrael, Charlie Saxton as Tobias “Toby” Domzalski, Fred Tatasciore as Aarghaumont “AAARRRGGHH!!!”, Brian Blessed as Charlemagne the Devourer, Rodrigo Blaas as Gnome Chompsky, Kay Bess as Bellroc
Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters ran for 52 episodes over three seasons and is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest animated series ever made. 3 Below ran for 26 episodes over two season and is considered a much-better-than-average series. Wizards runs for 10 episodes over one season, and is better than average. It was also supposed to be the capstone season that tied all the plotlines from Trollhunters and 3 Below together and provided a final resolution. It doesn’t, and so we’ll have a fourth installment of the franchise, Rise of the Titans, which will be…a movie in 2021.
The trend isn’t promising.
Wizards tries to do more in ten episodes than Trollhunters did in 52, and and with a grand total of four hours runtime for the entire set, it means a lot of corners got cut. The characters, their growth and the evolution of their relationships was the strongest element in Trollhunters, and a commanding element in 3 Below. In Wizards, that is almost entirely missing, with nearly all of the plot consisting of battles, heroic speeches, and tearful farewells for deaths that to a annoying degree are averted, usually through deus ex machina.
Most of the characters from the two previous series are there, although most are somewhat diminished. Some travelled to Arthur’s England, some just happened to be alive then. Jim, who became a troll late in 3 Below, varies between Quasimodo and Frankenstein’s monster here, sometimes sentient, often not. Clare is a dominating presence as a full-blown wizard, yet somehow less interesting than she was as a 15 year old high-schooler. Toby is reduced to screen wallpaper, and Steve, always a ridiculous and somewhat annoying character, has become a parody of himself.
Similarly, the baddies have faded. In 3 Below, David Bradley’s Merlin was irascible and deeply amoral (it’s easy to imagine him overlooking the slaughter of the Starks with an anile smirk), but decays into a stern but maudlin father figure here. Morgana, the big evil in 3 Below, is now a confused and doting sister who just wants family love.
Now the good stuff. Even in diminished roles, the series has some of the best characters this since of Avatar. Not all are smaller: Douxie, a bit part (high school hipster waiter who also plays in a band) in the first two series, has a lead role here as a hipster wizard whose staff and weapon are a Stratocaster (really, they should pay royalties to Woody Guthrie’s estate). We get to meet “AAARRRGGHH!!!” before he became a pacifist. Many descriptions come to mind, none of which include the words “genial” or “kind.” The Galadrigal brothers were still on good terms and each had an interesting infusion of the characteristics of the other.
There are new ones who are superior; King Arthur, an evil idealist (and if that combination of words confuses you, then you haven’t read nearly enough history). The Arcane Order (shifting membership) is neutral chaotic, and the most important character is Nari, a sort of plant-based fae who betrays the order to work for the Trollhunters. Charlemagne is a dragon, erudite, affable, and overly fond of puns. Just don’t challenge him. Archie is a familiar who is both a cat and a dragon, with the Qanon symbol on his chest. (There are many Easter Eggs, starting with a cameo by Princess Fiona in the opening establishment shot of medieval England.)
Even with the most engaging plot elements missing, it remains an above-average series, with state-of-the-art CGI and eye-popping visuals. Many scenes are quite beautiful, and even in less prominent roles, the characters are among the best in animated series.
Now on Netflix.