Colours, music and no substance

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Fleeing Bergen Town, the Trolls, spurred on by peppy Poppy (Anna Kendrick), relocate to the forest, where they continue their celebratory ways and hourly group hugs, much to the concern of the über-cautious Branch (Timberlake), who worries that all that revelry will give away their hiding place.

Sure enough, the Trolls are discovered by the scheming Chef (Christine Baranski), a disgraced Bergen who absconds with a bunch of Poppy’s friends in a bid to get back in the good graces of the King’s unhappy son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

It’s Poppy and Branch to the rescue, with constant musical assists from covers of vintage hits such as Lionel Richie’s Hello, Earth, Wind & Fire’s September and Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors.

The numbers, while choreographed with Pop-art-infused, hippie-dippy pizzazz, serve, for the most part, as cutesy interludes rather than really advancing the plot in any unique or meaningful way.

Writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger demonstrate a seasoned, assured shorthand when it comes to snap-py banter and bits of wacky irreverence. But they prove less adept at developing relatable characters and involving, inventively staged situations.

That deficit leaves Kendrick and Timberlake, two actors with the sort of youthful voices that lend themselves nicely to animation, with limited places to go.

The talents of the supporting voices – including the alwaysreliable Zooey Deschanel as a lovestruck Cinderella-type and Jeffrey Tambor as the Troll king – are similarly under-challenged.

While the production breaks some intriguing visual ground with its addition of felt textures and sprays of glitter to the CG toolbox, most of its original songs are forgettable. Echoing those tunes, Trolls is content to play out an all-too-familiar refrain. – The Hollywood Reporter