Hilda and the Mountain King Review: Season 2 ends with a film about the life of the trolls

It’s hard to imagine a more terrible scenario than rescuing your child from certain danger and then waking up the next morning to find a stranger’s child sleeping in their bed. That’s exactly what happens at the end of season two of Netflix’s must-see animation show Hilda. The fans have been waiting for this cliffhanger to be released for a year now.

At the beginning of Hilda and the mountain king, the film that crowns the series’ second season, Hilda has become a troll while Baba, the changeling troll baby left behind in her place, has become a human toddler. Baba’s mother used troll magic to swap the two in order to enable her daughter to have a comfortable human life. Hilda wakes up in the trolls’ cave dwelling with a body made of stone. Baba wakes up in Hilda’s bed, a big shock to Hilda’s mother, who spends the rest of the episode desperately looking for her daughter. The film is an excellent feature film Hilda Episode, but the 84-minute runtime also allows the streak of the low-key series to be appropriately stepped up and address some of the lingering mysteries at the heart of Trolberg.

It’s hard not to miss the familiar electroplating around Trolberg that an entire season of the show would offer. But the troll-human conflict has always been the focus of the show, so it’s good to see Mountain king finally address the secrets around him. The film draws on the familiar rhythm of a Hilda Episode – Hilda got into trouble and must use her courage and cunning to find a solution. The film focuses on one question that always underpins the series: why trolls live in the town of Trolberg, despite humanity’s apparent hostility towards them.

Hilda has always been interested in trolls, starting with the serial pilot, where she sketched one in her forest home. After moving to Trolberg, she is increasingly committed to the welfare of the trolls and defends herself against the task force that “protects” the city. Tensions between trolls and humans have slowly increased Hildatwo seasons, regardless of whether the conflicts are buzzing in the background or the focus of an episode.

As a human, Hilda urged people to ask questions about things that townspeople took for granted – especially why Trolberg used bells to “protect” their residents when they obviously caused so much pain to trolls. In her new troll form, Hilda gets a firsthand insight into the grievances that trolls have and the differences – in physical form and beliefs – within their community. Some of these variances are silly, as a lot of them collect certain items like “soft sheets” or “teapots and cups”. Some of them are terrifying, like the trolls who want to collectively destroy Trolberg as opposed to those who just want to live undisturbed. She also learns that life as a troll is really fun. They are incredibly strong, with bodies that are more durable than human bodies. One of their hobbies is throwing each other, which allows them to fly through the air. As an explorer, these are all qualities that Hilda reveals.

It also turns out that trolls and humans have something in common: Both the troll mother and Hilda’s mother want to reunite with their daughters, even though the troll mother made the exchange in the first place. Much of the film depends on this narrative parallelism, the trope of “searching for similarities” common in children’s media, which often creates the conditions for a simple, positive resolution. But where children’s media often use this idea to create a false sense of equality between two factions – even if one of them is the aggressor and the oppressor – Mountain king does not pull punches. It rejects this false dichotomy by making it clear that humans have caused trolls very real harm. It shows trolls as a broader community that deserves compassion, even if some of them have responded to people with violence. These people incited the trolls to violent reprisals and used them to react with further harm.

Hilda is still a kids’ show, and Hilda still saves the day. Her friends Frida and David spend a large part of the film fight a campaign that seeks to portray trolls as threatening and violent in order to justify deadly violence against them. The weight and gravity of the story make it a solid wrap for Season 2, especially with regards to the basics laid earlier: A girl is moving to a new town. First it changes her, then she and her friends change it in turn. In this well orchestrated narrative clarity with its sharp plot, the film loses a little of the spontaneity and unpredictability of the show. Still, it’s short and sweet.

It’s hard not to miss the more goofy antics of the regular episodes of Hildathat not only offer variety, but also significantly lighten the mood. Mountain king has its jokes and moments of lightness, but its overall tone is more consistently dark and briefly transitions into child-friendly horror. (Though the entire film is arguably a horror story for kids – breaking up with a caretaker can be a terrifying prospect for a child, as Disney has long recognized.)

More than anything, Hilda and the mountain king sets the stage for Hildathird season, given the potential of his world. The film opens the door to dozens of new questions and adventures. How will the townspeople – who are not exactly known for their open-mindedness – react to the changes in this film? What adventures will Hilda and her friends have next? It all leaves me hungry for more ensemble adventures, more sparrow scout badges, more wild creatures, and ultimately, more space in this world I’ve come to love.

Hilda and the mountain king is now streaming on Netflix.