Given the rocky marketing campaign that "Trolls" employed, featuring weird and annoying twerk-centered trailers, you'd be forgiven in thinking that the film is nothing more than cotton-candy-child-pandering nonsense. You'd be forgiven, but wrong.
"Trolls" centers on Princess Poppy, played wonderfully by Anna Kendrick, who enlists the help of an unhappy troll, Branch (Justin Timberlake) to help her rescue her friends from the "Burgen", a race of ugly, huge creatures that only feel happy when eating Trolls.
The film is a jukebox musical, meaning it doesn't feature original songs, but covers of modern and classic hits. It uses the songs to its strength, never overburdening the story with too many while still delivering some toe-tapping renditions of "September," "Get Back Up Again" and even "Sound of Silence."
Yes. "Sound of Silence."
While the film's basic plot may be predictable, what it does within that plot is where the creativity shines through. In its early moments, "Trolls" showcases some screaming "yolo" characters and auto-tuned diamond ones, but they leave those jokes behind soon after, allowing them to stay as jokes and not as annoyances.
"Trolls" biggest strength is in it's gorgeous, handmade-looking visual style. Everything looks like a pillow, with a weird cloth touch to it all. It's a great example of a studio using animation to do whatever they want, as opposed to creating lifelike visuals. Fire is made of hair-like material and a sequence with Poppy on her adventure alone is a true visual highlight.
While the older crowd may go in pessimistic, it's worth the trip to see the toe tapping joyousness that ends up making the film a delight. It's a visual marvel, with some wonderfully catchy songs and a veritable waterfall of happy vibes. Mixing in some great classic songs (“September”) with modern ones ("Can't Stop the Feeling") makes for a film that transcends 'modern' sensibilities to become a truly happy surprise. I dare you to not leave the theatre tapping your feet to the beat. 4.5/5
Photo Courtesy of DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox.