Hilda and the Mountain King

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Hilda and the Mountain King
Poster by Luke Pearson
Directed by	Andy Coyle
Written by	Luke Pearson
Based on	Hilda and the Mountain King by Luke Pearson
Produced by	Rachel Simon Steve Jacobson Chantal Ling
Starring	Bella Ramsey Ameerah Falzon-Ojo Oliver Nelson Daisy Haggard Rasmus Hardiker John Hopkins Lucy Montgomery Dino Kelly Rachel August Agnes Peacock
Edited by	John McKinnon
Music by	Ryan Carlson
Production companies	Silvergate Media[1] Mercury Filmworks[2] Giant Ant[2]
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	December 30, 2021 (2021-12-30)
Running time	85 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom Canada United States
Language	English

Hilda and the Mountain King (marketed as Hilda: The Mountain King) is a 2021 2D-animated adventure fantasy film directed by Andy Coyle and based on the sixth edition of the Hilda graphic novel series by Luke Pearson of the same name, and is a continuation from the second season finale of the Hilda animated series.^[3] The film features the voices of Bella Ramsey, Oliver Nelson, Ameerah Falzon-Ojo, and Daisy Haggard.

Production of Hilda and the Mountain King started in late 2019, and the film was produced by Silvergate Media, Mercury Filmworks, and Giant Ant. A trailer for the movie released on December 2, 2021, and was released as a Netflix film on December 30, 2021.^[4]

This film is dedicated to Kevin Kocvar and Terry O'Reilley, members of the animation department who died before the film's release.

Plot[]

Picking up from "The Stone Forest", Hilda, now a troll, runs away from Trylla and is petrified by the sunlight when she leaves the Stone Forest. Meanwhile, in Trolberg, Johanna discovers Baba in Hilda's place, and Tontu deduces Hilda had become the victim of a changeling spell. Realizing what this means, Johanna, Baba, Tontu, Alfur, and Twig go searching for Hilda but are unable to locate the entrance into the Stone Forest.

Elsewhere, Erik Ahlberg holds a press conference in which he announces a curfew because of the increasing troll activity outside Trolberg. The students of Edmund Ahlberg Elementary School are shown a safety video about trolls, but Frida and David protest the inaccurate information portrayed in the video. Other students join their protest, but David is forced to bail out when he learns his mother has joined the Safety Patrol as a volunteer bellringer.

As evening approaches and with still no sign of Hilda, Johanna runs into a group of Safety Patrol officers, giving her no choice but to reluctantly return home. After sunset, Hilda unpetrifies, and finds herself unable to return to Trolberg because of the belltowers. As she retreats, Hilda stumbles upon a huge cave with dozens of bells hanging from the ceiling of the entrance. Inside, she finds a gigantic blind troll, who calls himself Trundle. He tells Hilda he will help her become human again if she completes some tasks for him. He also assures her that Trylla means no harm, and Hilda reluctantly returns to Trylla. They retreat into the Stone Forest to escape the rising sun.

Frida and David discover Hilda's predicament when Baba escapes from Tontu's care and so Frida, against the advice of Kaisa, attempts a body swap spell, but it goes haywire. Night falls again, and Hilda secretly brings a cup of troll mead to Trundle, the first task, who then instructs her to remove the bells that trap him in the cave. Trylla shows Hilda the ruins of the castle of the Mountain King, a giant troll that once tried to rally the trolls into attacking Trolberg, but was defeated. Hilda doubles down on helping Trundle when she learns the changeling spell cannot be undone. She uses pillows, stolen from a troll's treasure collection, to silence and remove the bells. Elsewhere, Johanna and Alfur find the entrance to the Stone Forest, but the trolls close it before they can enter. The two are then attacked by a group of aggressive trolls and narrowly escape.

The following morning, Johanna seeks Erik's help as a last resort. Frustrated by being unable to help Hilda, Frida suggests she and David sneak out of the city so she can try magically talking to a troll like she did with the Kraken. Trundle sends Hilda on her final errand; to bring him a big, red orb, hidden in the ruins of the castle among the treasure of the Mountain King. When Hilda touches it, she receives a strange vision in which a giant creature resembling her mom bursts out of the ground and destroys a city inhabited by small, hostile Trolls. Hilda is discovered by a large, bearded troll and escapes with the orb.

Outside, in the woods, Erik, Johanna, Baba, Alfur, and Tontu arrive at the entrance to the Stone Forest. Just as Baba opens the entrance, Hilda rushes out, chased by the giant troll. A fight ensues, ending with Erik knocked unconscious and Hilda making the troll accidentally crush Johanna's car and fall into a ravine. Hilda and her mom are reunited and they bring the orb to Trundle’s cave. Trylla, having followed them, appears and is reunited with Baba, undoing the changeling spell. Suddenly, Trundle (revealed as the Mountain King) bursts from his prison with his sight now restored and incites the trolls to storm Trolberg. In Trolberg, David distracts his mom in the belltower so that Frida can make a mental connection with one of the trolls, and sees a similar vision to the one Hilda saw. Trundle begins destroying the bell towers but is halted by the arrival of the bearded troll, revealed to be his brother. Refusing to fight against his brother, Trundle has his followers restrain the bearded troll allowing him to break the city wall and wait for the Safty Patrols' plan on attacking them.

The Safety Patrol arrives to fight off the attack, with Erik taking back control. Hilda, reminded of the vision from Trundle's eye, figures out there is a troll many times larger than Trundle and his brother underneath Trolberg, who will rise up to defend her fellow trolls if the Safety Patrol attacks them. Hilda attempts to halt the attack, but Erik uses the Safety Patrol's large torch cannon to destroy Trundle, which awakens the larger troll. In a last-ditch attempt to stop him, Hilda takes Trundle's eye and throws it into Ahlberg's face, causing him to see a similar vision to what Hilda saw. Now understanding what is at stake, Ahlberg orders the Safety Patrol to stand down. The troll under Trolberg stops trying to get up, and the trolls all walk peacefully into the center of the city where she rests and using Frida's magic, Hilda and Frida learn her identity: Amma, the mother of all trolls, has been lying dormant for centuries so as to not hurt the humans who unknowingly built Trolberg above her. The trolls could still reconnect with their buried mother, but then the settlers drove them away, thus causing Trundle and his followers to declare war against humans by provoking her into rising up to protect her children and destroy the city, which led to his imprisonment by his brother and the pacifist trolls, centuries later. Now that the trolls are close enough to Amma, they can finally hear her voice again, causing them to sprout plants all over their bodies.

This event becomes a yearly tradition called The Night of the Trolls when the trolls are allowed into the city to hear Amma and bloom, as well as coexisting with Trolberg's residents. Meanwhile, Ahlberg is awarded a medal for his action and decides to retire and give his position to Gerda as their leader. Finally, on some nights, Baba visits Hilda in Trolberg, and every once in a while Hilda visits Baba and her mom so she can spend a night outside in the wilderness.

Cast[]

Production[]

Megan Ferguson, the assistant director, announced on Twitter on July 23, 2021 that production for the film had wrapped.^[5] On November 23, 2021, it was confirmed that the film would release on December 30, 2021.^[6]

Animation[]

Most of the film's animation was done by Mercury Filmworks and Silvergate Media, with production switching between offices in Ottawa, London, and New York using Toon Boom Animation software. The animation for the opening credits was done by Giant Ant.

Music[]

Ryan Carlson composed the music for the film as indicated by its 49th Annie Awards nomination.^[7]

Writing[]

Pearson wrote the script of the film. The film's director Andy Coyle praised Pearson's script and said that the film was "such a fun thing to do."^[8]

Release[]

The film was released on December 30, 2021 as a Netflix original.

Marketing[]

On December 10, 2019, it was announced that Sony Pictures Television would be acquiring 100% of Silvergate Media for an undisclosed amount. In this acquisition, a Hilda movie special was announced to be in production, and was initially supposed to be 70 minutes in length.^[9] On October 12, 2020, licensingsource.net reported that the special would be coming out in 2021.^[10] On September 23, 2021, the YouTuber, The 2nd Dimension, interviewed Andy Coyle, who revealed that the special would instead be an estimated 85 minutes in length.^[a][11] On November 19, 2021, Silvergate revealed its official title, Hilda and the Mountain King.^[3] On November 23, 2021, official promotional images were revealed with a December 30 release date being confirmed.^[12][13] On November 24, 2021, a new screen grab from the movie was revealed in an article by Popsugar.^[14]

On December 2, 2021, the trailer was officially revealed on the Netflix page for the film.^[15] On December 22, 2021, it was revealed that Giant Ant would be producing the opening credits of the film, along with new screen grabs and production assets.^[16][17]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

Reviews of the film were positive. Nicole Clark of Polygon said the film raises the stakes from the animated series "appropriately," tackling mysteries of Trolberg, praises the film for not pulling any punches, but has a "more consistently dark" tone, and sets the stage for the show's third season.^[18] Aatqa Arham of Variety argued that while the storyline is "seemingly simple," it is filled with "emotional and philosophical wisdom," questioning the good and evil dichotomy, and said the film makes a statement that "the world...needs to change."^[19] Joshua Fox of Screenrant described the film as featuring "stunning visuals and music" and has a story which "elevates the source material to a tremendous degree."^[20] Joey DeAngelis of Los Angeles described the film as teasing a "satisfying culmination" of the show's first two seasons.^[21]

Accolades[]

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2022	Annie Awards	Best Direction - TV/Media	Andy Coyle	Nominated	[22]
		Best Music – TV/ Media	Ryan Carlson	Nominated

Notes[]

References[]

Attribution

• This article incorporates material derived from the "Hilda and the Mountain King (movie)" article on the hildatheseries wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (January 2021).

External links[]

• Hilda and the Mountain King at IMDb
• Hilda and the Mountain King at Rotten Tomatoes