Dreamworks goes for woke with Trolls tour
Trolls World Tour (G, 91 mins) Directed by Walt Dohrn and David P Smith Reviewed by James Croot ★★1⁄2
Just over 100 days after Onward’s short-lived cinematic run, we finally have a new big-budget animated feature gracing New Zealand movie screens.
That at one stage this was destined to debut in the September school holidays, speaks volumes about how impressively we’ve managed to flatten the Covid-19 curve.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to see why Universal made the decision to release this jukebox musical sequel straight to streaming services in other parts of the world – for all you can really say about Trolls World Tour is that it is a fun, but forgettable formulaic follow-up.
Since we last left the inhabitants of Pop Village, Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) has been crushing being a monarch. Relying on the twin philosophies that ‘‘Groove is in the Heart’’ and ‘‘Trolls Just Wanna Have Fun’’, she has ensured her subjects are happy via daily singing, dancing and hugging.
And delighted everyone is, except for Poppy’s best friend Branch (Justin Timberlake), who is struggling with his romantic feelings for his pal.
However, there are bigger problems on the horizon. A surprise party invitation from a Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom) who claims to be the ruler of the Rock Trolls, leads to a confession from Poppy’s dad, King Peppy, that their world is much bigger than he’d led them to believe.
Turns out there are six tribes of Trolls, who once all lived in harmony before they decided to go their separate musical ways.
Although concerned that some of these counterparts might not be able to even grasp the concept of ‘‘Hammer Time’’, Poppy is desperate to meet them.
It’s while journeying to Volcano Rock City though, that she and Branch come across the trashed city of Symphonyville, where one of its few remaining inhabitants informs them that Barb plundered their home to secure their ‘‘string’’ – the heart of their music. If Barb manages to get the string from each of the other four tribes, including Poppy’s, then she’ll have the power to control all music and they’ll all be ‘‘one nation of Trolls under Rock’’. It’s a nightmare scenario that even Poppy might not be able to hug her way out of.
While still boasting a hint of the original Trolls’ relentless wall of noise and riot of colour, plot very much this time replaces the plethora of feel-good and plaintive 1980s tunes. It’s as if the – count ’em – five writers decided to follow the Happy Feet template, going for a more issues-based storyline second time out.
This is very much an animated tale for the woke. There are lots of slightly heavy-handed messages here about tolerance, the importance of listening and diversity of voices but, at the same time, there’s also a plea to ‘‘not eat our history’’.
Given the events of the past few months, it’s quite incredible how prescient some of its themes are. Poppy’s cry that ‘‘I don’t want a world where people are living in isolation’’ felt particularly poignant.
All these worthy if slightly mixed messages though, are somewhat undermined by some insipid, uninspired stereotypes representing the other musical tribes and a central premise that essentially cobbles together bits from Avengers: Infinity War (a quest for six objects that will yield ultimate power), Frozen 2 (history is written by the victors), and Rise of Skywalker (one woman must save the universe from a mad monarch and their army).
On the plus side, there’s a clever mix of crisp visuals and neartactile animation styles, the clever casting of Ozzy Osbourne as an addled rock patriarch and it is way better (if less memorable) than 1990’s Troll 2.
However, what this World Tour lacks is Dreamworks’ usual sense of sustained wit, thrills and just plain old fun.