Trolls World Tour (2020)

“Take the Trip”

Directed by Walt Dohrn
Starring Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect 2), Justin Timberlake (In Time), Rachel Bloom (Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), James Corden (Ocean’s 8), Ron Funches (Trolls), Kelly Clarkson (Ugly Dolls), Anderson Paak, Sam Rockwell (JoJo Rabbit), George Clinton and Mary J. Blige (Rock of Ages)

Queen Barb (Bloom), the leader of the Hard Rock Trolls, sets out to take the magical strings which give the other Troll Tribes – Techno, Classical, Country, Funk and Pop – their music. Queen Poppy (Kendrick) learns that the strings were once united, but were separated when the tribes split over what kind of music to play. Despite warnings from her father and her friend Branch (Timberlake), Poppy idealistically sets out to help Barb unite the tribes, accompanied by Branch and good-hearted manchild Biggie (Corden).

Learning from the wreckage of the Classical village that Babr intends to destroy all other music, Poppy tries to form an alliance against her, but is rejected by the Country Trolls and her group are almost captured by bounty hunters. They learn that their friend Cooper (Funches) is the long-lost prince of the Funk Trolls, and also that the tribes split because the Pop Trolls tried to make all music into pop.

Betrayed by the yodelling bounty hunter Hickory (Rockwell), Poppy is captured, and learns that her village has already been destroyed by Barb. Branch motivates a number of bounty hunters to fight Barb, but all seem powerless before her supercharged rock until Poppy smashes her guitar, destroying all the strings, leaving the trolls of all tribes to seek for the music inside themselves.

What’s wrong with it?

Trolls World Tour has a complicated relationship, not just with music theory – any six-way division is going to be problematic; why is smooth jazz a subgenre if jazz isn’t even a genre? – but kind of with itself. I’m not saying it isn’t a bold creative choice to make the heroes of the first movie the historical villains of the sequel, but it does lead to your notional hero acting like a bit of a jerk for a fair part of the movie.

What’s right with it?

While it’s not always handled brilliantly, that complexity is unusual in an animated feature, and there is something impressive in the way the movie manages to make an aggressively jaunty pop medley into a ‘the reason I suck’ song.

The visual design is striking, and the animation lively and inventive. There’s an almost stop-motion quality to the action which is distinctive and appeals to my retro nerd soul.

The message of the film – differences do matter, but should bring people together instead of forcing them apart – isn’t all that ground breaking, but is one that is often poorly articulated. This delivery isn’t perfect, but it’s not dreadful.

How bad is it really?

Ultimately, there isn’t a lot to Trolls World Tour, but what there is is enjoyable and upbeat. Also, the funk trolls fly in a literal mothership and their king is George Clinton, so there’s that.

Best bit (if such there is)?

Chas the smooth jazz troll’s psychedelic assault on the trolls’ senses, complete with random sunsets and symbolic tigers, is something to behold.

What’s up with…?

The choice of major genres? Funk is a genre, but not jazz?

Ratings

Production values – From the discount House of Mouse, Dreamworks animation has emerged to become a powerhouse in its own right, and the Trolls World Tour has a distinctive, cheerfully neon look all its own. 4
Dialogue and performances – An excellent and ecclectic cast – Clinton and Mary J. Blige as the king and queen of funk, Ozzy Osbourne as the retired king of rock – make a meal of a script that is honestly not much more than a snack. 9
Plot and execution – Honestly, the film is a lot of splash and not a great deal of substance. It has a decent central theme, but a lot of it is sideshow. 9
Randomness – The bounty hunters sent after Poppy include the Yodelers, the Reggaeton trolls, and the K-Pop trolls. What is going on here, musically speaking? 11
Waste of potential – As the sequel to a film based ona line of toys with decidedly less inherent personality than the Transformers, the bar was pretty low for this movie, and if nothing else, it clears that bar handily. 4