Movie Review: Trolls (2016)

Was not looking for this movie at all, I like Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake but I mean… it’s Trolls lol. But I kind of liked it lol.

Summary: After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy, the happiest Troll ever born, and the curmudgeonly Branch set off on a journey to rescue her friends.

Pros:

Cast and Characters. There are a LOT of characters in this movie, that it’s pretty much really hard to keep track of who is who if they’re not a leading character, or those who directly affect the story. I actually saw that Quvenzhané Wallis was a voice of a character named “Harper”, I have no idea who that was in this movie and I love Quvenzhané Wallis so lol.

• Anna Kendrick as Princess Poppy. So she is the princess, pink and extremely happy and optimistic. Her friends get taken by a Bergen and she makes it her plan to be like her father and save them “No Troll Left Behind”. She’s cute, brave and likable, I think it helps that Anna Kendrick plays her because she could easily be that character who is just too much and is immediately annoying. But I found myself quite enjoying her, not to mention Anna Kendrick’s delivery helps. I can’t help but to wonder if this movie was planned to be a “musical” from the beginning or if it was because they had Anna and Justin on the film lol.

• Justin Timberlake as Branch. I think he was my favorite, I generally like the pessimistic/sarcastic characters because they usually go against the grain of the other characters. Instead of being all bright and bubbly like everyone else, he hates smiling, singing and everything else everyone does to be a troll. He pretty much keeps to himself and only comes in when he thinks they’re drawing too much attention to themselves. He’s very prepared for the Bergens if they happen to find them. I love the scene where Poppy tried to sing to him and he throws her guitar in the fire with a deadpan expression. Cute lol.

• Zooey Deschanel as Bridget. A scullery maid in the King Bergen’s castle, she is kindhearted and befriends the trolls. She was cute, she was mostly a plot device because without her then I guess they wouldn’t have been able to figure out the ending… but I enjoyed her. Zooey Deschanel provides the voice and I almost didn’t recognize it until she started singing. Pretty nice of her to slightly change it enough for this part.

• Other characters. There are a lot of characters but the King of the Bergens (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) was likable. I liked some of the designs on some of the other trolls. James Corden, Gwen Stefani, Russell Brand also provided voices and while I pinpointed the guys, I knew who Gwen was playing but I don’t remember hearing her talk really. But yeah, cute.

The animation. I don’t think Dreamworks is up there with Disney and Pixar, at least not consistently but their animation is usually good. I think the animation here is bright, colorful and cute for the most part. It’s very visually appealing, but there are times where it’s a bit too much but it’s good for the most part.

The underlying message. The underlying message is “find the happiness inside yourself” basically. Don’t try to find it something/someone else but find it inside yourself, now someone might be able to help you find it but it has to come from within. I think that’s straightforward and cute.

Original Songs/Score. Christophe Beck (A Cinderella Story, Bring it On, The Hangover) does the original music/score for this film, Justin Timberlake serves as the musical producer mainly for his song “Can’t Stop The Feeling” and the music is cute. At least the original songs are.

The “Feel Good/Fun Factor”. Due to the message the movie has this natural happiness factor to it, I can’t imagine anyone leaving the film not at least smiling. Even if you didn’t think it was good I think it’s enjoyable enough to at least leave you smiling.

Poppy’s Adventure Scene. I don’t know what else to call this scene but it was probably my favorite of the film. Poppy just leaves her home to go and save the trolls who were captured and she has this whole adventure song thing and it was so cute, probably the first time in the film I actually laughed. It was really cute, plus coupled with Anna Kendrick singing the song… quite enjoyable.

Cons:

Jukebox Music. I don’t dislike “jukebox musicals” but I don’t like them when the covers are obnoxious. I think the covers of the songs they used were annoying.

The Story Combination. I’m not sure why it seemed like a good idea to mix storylines. There was a bit of a Cinderella element in there, plus the whole “save my friends” thing, and the whole “find happiness inside myself” and all of that. There was a lot going on. I don’t think all of it worked, at least not seamlessly.

The Villain. Christine Baranski plays the Chef bergen who is in charge of doing a particular deed and boy was she annoying.

Little things. I thought it was weird that one of the trolls looked like a giraffe (who pooped cupcakes), and another one was completely made of glitter who was naked the entire time and kind of… spit? glitter. Soo… I thought that was weird lol.

Overall, Trolls is a cute movie and I think it’s harmless fun, Poppy and Branch are entertaining characters, the original song and music is cute, the animation is fun and the underlying message of the film is cute. Otherwise, the jukebox music is annoying, the villain was lame and there are a few little things that annoyed me. But overall cute.

Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen Trolls? If so, what did you think about it? Do you want to see it?

Let me know in the comments!

For more reviews like this, like and follow this blog!