Trolls (2016) Review

Any animated family film that I didn't praise, I either labeled as mediocre (The Secret Life of Pets), annoying (Storks), or absolute garbage (Ice Age: Collision Course). Prepare to have your mind blown when I find Dreamworks' film based on a toy line to be... okay. It's not a gosh-awful movie, but it's not a great one, either. There are things wrong with it, but there are also things that made me think it wasn't a total waste of time.

In this world, we have the Trolls, tiny creatures who love to spread happiness. Then we have the Burgens, who are giant, ugly creatures who do not know how to be happy. The latter find a way to be happy by eating Trolls. When many people in her village get kidnapped by the Burgens, it is up to the princess Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and the village outcast Branch (Justin Timberlake) to save them. In the meantime, they learn a lot about happiness and depression, which makes this as generic and predictable as it can be.

If there is one positive that I can immediately bring up, it's the animation and visuals. First, I find the character models to be appealing to look at, more so than the toys themselves. Can you imagine an hour and half of looking at those things that stare deeply into your soul? I especially love how creative the animators got into playing around with their iconic hairdo by doing various things like how Poppy used it to form stairs and descend into the ground safely.

The world around them is also great to look at. A detail worth noting is that the Trolls' world looks like it was made with arts and crafts projects. I'd love to see something like that if there was ever a LittleBigPlanet or Tearaway movie. It's so bright and colorful without ever straining the eyes. This is greatly contrasted with the world of the Burgens as a lot of dull and some sickly colors are used to show how miserable they are.

The two main characters, Poppy and Branch, are about as obvious foils as they can be. Poppy is this movie's version of Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: she loves to party, spread joy, and sing. Then we have Branch, who is the exact opposite. He's a snarky, negative, and cautious Troll who does not like parties. I think they have decent chemistry with each other. They work off of one another okay, probably because of the great performances from Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake.

The film also has a Cinderella-style subplot where the Trolls help this maid named Bridget (Zooey Deschanel) have the courage to approach her crush, Prince Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). It is very predictable, maybe because I'm way too genre savvy. As for the romance itself, it's pretty genuine, so I'll give it that.

I wasn't as drawn into the other characters, however. Like The Secret Life of Pets, it suffers from bland side characters who join in on the journey just to be part of the merchandising. There isn't a lot going for them in terms of characterization. There is also the Cloud Guy who does nothing but annoy Branch (and the audience) with his extensive handshakes. He didn't need to be there.

Trolls is also a jukebox musical, where it takes pre-existing songs like Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" and "September" by Earth, Wind, & Fire and provide a modern take. They're not irritating, by any means; I find them average and prefer their original versions. I did, however, like their take on Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" because of the scene it plays in that actually made it endearing to watch. I will also admit that I find the film's only original song, "Can't Stop the Feeling," to be pretty darn catchy. The scene where it plays actually sent chills down my spine.

With those praises out of the way, I do want to address some of the other gripes I have. I do feel that this is just going remain as a product of the 2010's. All of the pop music and slang like "solid burn" and any of that Cloud Guys' handshakes makes this movie too desperate to be hip with the younger audience and badly dated as a result. It's bad enough when one of the Trolls speaks and sings entirely on Auto-Tune. I rest my case. I wouldn't say it's as bad as, say, Shark Tale, but it's stepping into some familiar territory.

Lastly, the theme of happiness and depression has been done way better. Let's take Inside Out, for example. That one successfully handled those topics by showing a compromise between the personifications of joy and sadness in the most subtle ways possible. They're like the yin and yang; they need each other for the appropriate moments. Trolls just hammers in the lesson whenever it can that it frustrates me to see that Gristle and Bridget are so oblivious of the fact that they are finding an alternative source of happiness. If I wanted to see a movie about happiness and depression, I would have watched Inside Out instead.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be harsh towards Trolls. I just find the story and lesson to be generic and predictable. I also find the humor to be pretty flat, as it is geared more towards children. With that said, I find it visually pleasing, the songs aren't half-bad, and there were moments where I admit were pretty heartwarming, so I didn't feel like my time was wasted. In the end, I say...

THINK FOR YOURSELF

Will I find myself watching it again? Not really; once was enough. Should you go out of your way to see it? I wouldn't hold my breath on it, but if anyone is looking for a fun and cutesy adventure, I suppose it's worth seeing.

Honestly, all I'm looking forward to from Dreamworks now is How to Train Your Dragon 3 and The Croods 2. Wait, The Croods 2 got cancelled? Darn it!