Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

image for Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

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Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 10 (fantasy action violence, themes of death and loss)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
  • a review of Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 29 July 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to frightening action violence and themes of death and loss.
Children aged 8–10 Parental guidance recommended due to action violence and themes of death and loss.
Children over the age of 10 Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: n/a
Length: 104 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans is the finale to popular CGI animated fantasy-adventure series, Trollhunters, 3Below, and Wizards. When we last met Jim Lake (voiced by Emile Hirsch), the magic amulet that gave him his Trollhunting powers had been destroyed by the Arcane Order. Feeling vulnerable and unsure of himself, Jim must reunite with the old team to battle two primordial beings - Bellroc (voiced by Kay Bess and Piotr Michael) and Skrael (voiced by Piotr Michael) - hell bent on kidnapping their fellow primordial being, Nari (voiced by Angel Lin), to bring about the end of life on earth and ‘reset’ the planet using three giant elemental titans (Nature, Ice, and Fire). To save the world, Jim must find his courage and work out how to defeat the titans with the help of his love-interest, Claire Nunez (voiced by Lexi Medrano), his best friend, Toby Domzalski (voiced by Charlie Saxton), Master Wizard Douxie (voiced by Colin O’Donoghue), Troll friends Blinky (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) and AAARRRGGH!!! (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), and his alien friends Krel (voiced by Diego Luna), Aja (voiced by Tatiana Maslany), and Varvatos Vex (voiced by Nick Offerman).

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Death; Natural disasters; Children as victims (this is within a context in which the children have means to fight back).

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • There are numerous battle scenes between monsters and people (and monsters and other monsters) that range from hand-to-hand combat, to fighting with weapons, to fighting with magical powers - many of these sequences are designed to be intense and include threats of death and physical harm to younger characters.
  • The nine protagonists (many of whom are teenagers and young adults) battle with monsters and their wins are celebrated - this depicts violence from ‘good’ characters as justified and acceptable.
  • Characters are thrown against walls; hit in the head with objects; attacked with magical ice, flame, and plant powers; thrown off high places; beaten up; strangled; electrocuted; and stabbed - much of the plot revolves around ‘good’ physically fighting ‘evil’ to save the day.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Monsters are rife within this film and range in their level of scariness - many of the characters depicted are likely to scare children under five due to their menacing physical appearance and voices.
  • Archie transforms into different animals throughout the film - this may distress younger children.
  • Magic powers and control of elements (ice, fire, and plants) are used throughout the film and may frighten younger children.
  • After the two primordial beings realise that Douxie has switched bodies with Nari, they use their magic to force them to switch back - this causes extreme pain for both Nari and Douxie (who scream in pain) and Douxie’s spirit is shown struggling to stay within Nari’s body - this will likely frighten children in this age group.
  • When the three primordial beings join as one, their eyes glow and a beam of light streams out of their mouths - this is visually frightening.
  • The three primordial beings create three giant monsters (made of ice, lava, and rock) to ‘reset’ the earth by destroying it - they are frightening and destructive and will likely distress children in this age group.
  • Nari and Bellroc stab each other in the chest with their monsters and die - this is fairly graphic and will likely distress children in this age group.
  • Steve becomes pregnant after kissing his alien girlfriend - he later gives birth in a car (not shown) and glowing blue liquid is shown squirting out of the car - this is comedic but may distress younger viewers.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Two of the three primordial beings are frightening in appearance and have monstrous voices - these characters attempt to destroy the earth and are physically violent toward other characters - they will likely frighten children in this age group due to their appearance and malicious intentions.
  • Strickler attempts to destroy the ice monster by blowing it up (and himself) - this is an emotional and distressing sequence, made more distressing given the monster does not die.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Several main characters die or are left behind in areas they cannot escape - these sequences are often emotional and may distress children in this age group.
  • In an attempt to save the lives of his friends who have died, Jim turns back time and must re-establish all his friendships - this may distress some children due to the existential nature of losing his friends in this way.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Steve makes reference to radiation making him infertile.
  • Steve and Aja kiss, leading Steve to fall pregnant due to the nature of reproduction on Aja’s home planet - this is comedic.
  • Claire and Jim kiss on the lips tenderly.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Damn
  • Heck
  • Fuzzbuckets
  • Buttsnack.

In a nutshell

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans is the final instalment in the animated Tales of Arcadia franchise, created by Guillermo Del Toro. This film is fast paced, action-packed, and the most violent of the franchise, depicting frequent injury and death throughout, however, it is likely to entertain older children, over the age of 8, particularly those who have seen the previous films and television episodes. Due to animated violence, frequent frightening sequences, and depictions of death, this film is not suitable for children under the age of 8 and parental guidance is recommended to 10.

The main message from this movie is that courage and strength come from within, not from the armour we wear.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Working together as a team.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Dangerous driving is shown throughout the film without negative consequences.