Come with us on a journey to meet a young man named Harry Potter, who must stop a diabolical evil from... No, wait! It’s not a new story set in J.K. Rowling’s world, as the new project’s lawyers are at pains to point out. It’s actually an animated follow-up to 1986 oddity Troll, and Patricia Arquette is the first person to be announced as part of the voice cast.
Yes, despite the fact that it was critically mauled upon release, Troll – which saw the titular creature invade a San Francisco apartment on the hunt for a magical ring that can turn him back into human form – has become something of a cult curio, if not exactly a hit.
Now the original film’s director, John Carl Buechler is involved in the new film, known as Troll: The Rise Of Harry Potter, Jr., which finds the young hero – voiced here by newcomer Baxter Barlett, taking over the role from Noah Hathaway – revisiting the magical world he experienced the first time, and reaching out to a witch (Arquette) for help against a troll wizard and his plans to take over the planet.
Yes, the Harry Potter who appeared on film (he’s Harry Potter, Jr., which means his father, Harry Potter, Sr. also predates Rowling’s work) hit screens 11 years before Hogwarts opened for business. Still, the people working on the new ‘toon, which is aiming for a 2017 release date, are making absolutely sure that there can be no confusion, with some handy legal boilerplate: “Troll: The Rise Of Harry Potter, Jr. has not been prepared, approved or licensed by any entity that created or produced the J.K Rowling series of Harry Potter books or the Warner Bros. series of Harry Potter motion pictures. Troll: The Movie LLC is not affiliated with J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros nor has this motion picture been endorsed or authorized by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros. The characters Harry Potter and Harry Potter, Jr. depicted in Troll are not related to, or inspired by, the book and film characters of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.” So now you know.