Dreamworks/20th Century Fox, 2016
Voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Christine Baranski, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Directed by Mike Mitchell
Music and Lyrics by various
No one expected much of Trolls when it debuted in fall 2016. Dreamworks Animation hadn't done terribly well outside of its core franchises for years, and the trailer gave a look at a rather cutesy "kiddie" movie. It ended up doing fairly well at the box office, enough to warrant a TV show, a slew of merchandise, and a sequel (which be going further into next week). What about the original? Is it all sunshine and cupcakes, or does a little rain fall on this candy-colored confection? To answer that question, let's turn to the scrapbooks of Princess Poppy (Kendrick) to tell us more about the trolls and how they came to live in their current home...
The Story: Once upon a time, the happy, upbeat Trolls were consumed by the miserable Bergens, who believed that the only way for them to be happy was to eat a Troll. They even had a special day to eat Trolls and be happy, Trollstice. Eventually, the Troll king Peppy (Jeffery Tambour) escaped with his tiny daughter Poppy (Kendrick) and most of the Trolls through a tunnel on Trollstice before Prince Gristle Jr. (Mintz-Plasse) could eat one.
Twenty years later, Poppy holds the biggest party ever to celebrate the day of their escape. Everyone's excited, except gray, grumpy Branch (Timberlake). He's convinced the Bergens may return someday, and Poppy's big party will only attract unwanted attention. He's right. Her fireworks bring the angry Bergen chef (Baranski) who was in charge of preparing the trolls for consumption right to them. After she kidnaps several of Poppy's friends, including her crush Creek (Russell Brand), Poppy is determined to go after them. Branch follows her to Bergentown, where put-upon Bergen maid Bridgit (Zoey Deschanel) agrees to help them in exchange for them getting her crush Gristle Jr. to notice her.
The Animation: It may be my favorite thing about this. Dreamworks did an incredible job making everything look prehensile and soft, like the felt Poppy uses for her scrapbooks. It's like you could almost reach out and give the Trolls a hug. Rainbow colors pop off the screen on imaginative critters "made" of string, buttons, and fur. Even the Bergens have their own muddy grays and softer pastels showing just how dreary and dismal they are.
The Song and Dance: This brings to mind the colorful kid-oriented programming of my childhood like The Care Bears or The Smurfs that often had small magical beings helping others to be happy. Kendrick and Timberlake are having a ball as the ever-optimistic pink princess and the colorless troll who's sarcasm belies a lot of unhappiness in his life. Brand and Baranski do almost as well as the vengeful Bergen chef and Creek the Troll, whose low-key philosophy hides a coward's heart. Mintz-Plasse and Deschanel are adorable as the awkward but oddly cute Bergen lovers.
Favorite Number: A medley of the upbeat rock songs "Move Your Feet" and "D.A.N.C.E" and the old Brady Bunch song "It's a Sunshine Day" gives Poppy's party energy to spare and shows just how "loud, wild, and crazy" it got. Poppy lets absolutely nothing - be it hill-shaped monsters, giant snakes, or berries that blow her up like a balloon - get in her way, even as she sings "Get Back Up Again." When Branch tells Poppy during their night's sleep that he wants silence, I suspect the last thing he expected was for Poppy and the animals of the forest to perform the old Simon-Garfunkel number "The Sounds of Silence." Branch finally sings "True Colors" to cheer up Poppy and restore her own colors right before Bridget is supposed to take them to the Bergen. The movie ends with Bergen and Trolls alike coming together for Timberlake's huge hit "Can't Fight the Feeling!" as Bergentown becomes a land of color and sunshine.
Trivia: "Can't Fight the Feeling!" won a Grammy and was nominated for an Oscar.
What I Don't Like: Note the reference to the Care Bears and Smurfs up there. This movie follows many of the same clichés as those super-sweet shows...and as such, can come off as way too cutesy, sugary, and loud. The constant barrage of musical numbers may annoy people who aren't as into musicals as I am, too. Branch has a point about a lot of things, including how ridiculous some of the more obvious plot points can be. (Like what in the heck was with the little cloud thing? He messed with Branch for a few minutes, lead them into the tunnel, and didn't return until the finale.) And then there's the whole "based after a troll doll and made to sell toys" thing.
The Big Finale: If you loved similar sweet and optimistic kid adventures in the 80's and 90's, had a troll doll yourself, or have kids who love musicals or cute characters, you won't want to "fight this feeling", just party on over.
Home Media: As one of the newer movies I've reviewed, this is easy to find in all major formats, often for under 10 dollars.
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