Review of Trolls (2016) by Rob G — 25 Nov 2016

Look, it's not like I expect every animated movie to aspire to the lofty creative heights of your typical Pixar release; when a film's source of inspiration is a kitschy plastic doll from my childhood whose long tresses one rubs for luck, I'm willing to cut it some slack.

Yet even with my lowered expectations, TROLLS fails miserably to impress. Lacking any hint of originality, the sinking feeling that this thing was manufactured by Fox Studios' marketing department is inescapable.

How else to explain the casting of whiny-voiced Justin Timberlake as a grouchy troll seemingly immune to his feel-good brethren's propensity to sing at the drop of a hat? [I will give him credit for delivering the movie's funniest line of dialogue ("Singing killed my grandma, OK?"), even if it wasn't actually meant to be humorous.

..that's how much I'm struggling to say something nice here.] It's the kind of lazy kids' movie that substitutes character development with funny accents and devotes more attention to its soundtrack than its storytelling.

Clearly I'm not part of this movie's target audience, so you'll want to take my opinion with a grain of salt. If you crave something familiar and nauseatingly cute, you may very well be charmed by it.

Otherwise, consider yourself out of luck.