"Trolls" Review

Title: Trolls

Directed by: Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn

Written by: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger

Year: 2016


In 2014, The Lego Movie proved that a film based on a popular toy-line could actually succeed on delivering quality entertainment. Even so, I still had my reservations about Trolls. What story could possibly be conjured up to fit these colorful creatures? Well, I found out. Is this movie a hair-brained disaster, or can it stand toe-to-toe with this year's other animations?

The trolls have lived in peace for the past 20 years, after having escaped from the Bergens who would eat them. However, the Bergens have managed to find and kidnap the trolls, leaving only a few. Now, it is up to Poppy and Branch to rescue their friends from being eaten.

Ana Kendrick heads the voice cast as Poppy, the most optimistic and cheerful of the trolls. Kendrick does a great job at emoting the infinite happiness that permeates Poppy's soul. Poppy on the other hand, though charming, can be terribly irksome, especially during the first half of the picture. Her intentions are well-placed but the execution of the character went overboard in terms of her overall happiness. Justin Timberlake plays Branch, the sour outcast of the village. His pessimistic views and never-ending sarcasm serve as a form of self-alienation. Timberlake performs the character terrifically, and his banter with Kendrick is effectively realized. The two characters are foils of one another, and this does pay off later on in the film.

Zooey Deschanel portrays Bridget, a female Bergen who is in love with the prince. Deschanel is exceptionally emotive, bringing a warmth to this externally repulsive character. Christopher Mintz-Plasse voices the prince of the Bergens, and his voice only works in small doses. This is why he worked so well as Fishlegs from the How to Train Your Dragon movies. But here, his voice becomes ear-grating very quickly.

To put it bluntly, the majority of the characters in this film are emphatically obnoxious. I already touched on Poppy in this regard, but the rest of the trolls are much worse, with the exception of Branch. Poppy has a group of friends that are all kidnapped by the Bergens, and every single one of them is irritating in their own special way. There is a gray, glittery troll who speaks in an auto-tune voice, which gets old almost instantly. Russell Brand's troll, Creek, is a hippie who could give the Shangri Llama from Ice Age: Collision Course a run for his money in terms of annoyance, and James Corden's Biggie is too stupid to function. But I think the most vexatious of the trolls is Cooper, a giraffe-like creature whose dialogue seems to have been written by a five-year old.

As I hinted at earlier, Mintz-Plasse's Prince Gristle Jr. is quite intolerable. It can be attributed to both his voice-work and the lines he is given. Also irritable is the cloud character that shows up outside of Bergentown. He only has one prominent scene and yet he stands out as one of the most insufferable aspects of the movie. The extended joke revolving around a high five was infuriating.

The main crux of the story is the adventure that Poppy and Branch go through to save the other trolls. The plot is kept relatively simple, which works in the film's favor. This allows for the viewer to easily jump into the story, especially children, who are the target demographic. The storyline is treated like a buddy road-trip adventure for the first act. However the entire first half of the film is polluted with too much gleeful imagery. That might sound like a cynical comment, but the amount of cute and fuzzy visuals is too overwhelming. I understand that this is supposed to function as a juxtaposition to Bergentown, which seems to be eternally drenched in a monochromatic color scheme. But I feel it was overdone in this department.

Once we arrive to Bergentown, the plot completely changes course, becoming a romantic comedy between Bridget and Prince Gristle, with a bit of Ratatouille thrown in for good measure. Though slightly more compelling than the previous plot thread, this does make the picture feel quite disjointed. The major deviation throws the viewer off-guard and the film must now generate new momentum to drive this sub-plot forward. This is further emphasized once the focus shifts back to the trolls escaping the Bergens.

As for the animation, it is very well done. The whole movie looks great, despite the overabundance of cute and happy imagery. What really blew me away was the attention devoted to textures, especially the skins of the creatures. The fuzz that covers the trolls is incredibly subtle, which is what makes it so effective and successful. The same can be said about the Bergens and slight layer of fuzzy crust that encapsulates them. The movements of the characters blend well with the animation employed, benefitting the trolls' rapid actions. I love the different ways the trolls' hair was utilized, both as a tool within the diegesis and as a limited form of shot composition. In addition, the scrapbooking excerpts are charming in their own right, even if they do contribute to the happiness-overload that plagues the beginning of the movie.

The soundtrack, on the other hand, is rather abysmal. I found the majority of the songs to be either galling or just downright poor. I did, however, find myself thoroughly enjoying "True Colors." The song comes on at the perfect moment and I would argue that it is the centerpiece of the feature. The new version of "September" is not too shabby and I think the main chorus to "Get Back Up Again" is truly inspiring, especially for audiences of the younger persuasion. But the rest of the songs make my ears bleed. Call me what you will, but I absolutely despise "Can't Stop the Feeling, " which has the award for "Most Overplayed Song of the Year" locked down. Keep in mind that this is coming from a person who does not like most modern music, so take these comments with a grain of salt.

But beneath all of the irritable characters and cutesy imagery is something that I did not expect. Trolls has heart. Looking past the annoyances and problems, this film does contain a resounding and riveting moral. Is it overplayed at points? Sure. Does it come across as cheesy? Without question. But the mentality behind it remains, and what we are left with is a moral that can relate to audiences of all ages. The portrayal of emotion is actually very sweet, and it begins with the song "True Colors." From there on, the film becomes much more digestible because of the message it attempts to convey, and I would say it succeeds in depicting this virtue.

Trolls is a film that I was not looking forward to, but was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. It managed to match my expectations in almost every respect, which is unfortunate in this case. To highlight the positives, the two main characters are likable; the animation is fluid; some of the songs do stick out; there are a few laughs riddled throughout; and the moral is powerful and compelling. But I found the giddy imagery to be inordinate; most of the songs are horrendous; the side characters are all tormentingly unpleasant to a varying degree; and the plot endlessly meanders until it realizes that it wants to communicate a message to the audience. It is a shame that you have to suffer through a whole lot of bad to reach a conclusion that actually has meaning. My comments might seem overly harsh or negative, but honestly, that is because this movie was not made for me. The target audience is children, and what I will say is that this is harmless fun that will keep them entertained (minus a few nude jokes and toilet humor). Adults will probably have a more difficult time sitting through this one. Though not completely awful, I still contest that there are better films to see.

Grade: C-