Review of Trolls (2016) by Markus P — 15 Oct 2016

Not long come out of a preview screening in which I was the only person in the screening. I was overjoyed at the prospect of watching a film where the only person who could possibly break the code of conduct was myself. However it soon dawned on me why no one was in the theatre and that was because either no one cares about a film based on those little plastic Troll figurines you'd jam on the end a pencil during your school days or in fact word of mouth had got out that the film wasn't very good. I suspect it was a combination of the two. That being said, as a fan of DreamWorks I was intrigued to find out what they were going to do and hopefully raise some giggles in the process. This is as far removed from Shrek as possible and one solely aimed at children and there is very little for adults. However if I was a child I'd probably feel quite patronised by Trolls, if you thought the message from Zootroplis was rammed down your throat, then Trolls feels like you're getting a full gastroscopy. The film was saccharine that I might need to get a leg amputated. The voice actors mostly dial it in and James Cordon and Russell Brand were only signed up because they are British and therefore cheap.

The story is a simple one about knowing how to be happy interspersed with some singing. Oh man, the singing. The incessant singing! If you feel this is only being made to sell toys, they also want to cash in on the soundtrack too and I've never seen a film where the music was so forced and trite.

There was something I also noted, the dialogue and jokes were so dated. There was references to phrases that were only a footnote in the vernacular of the youth as I'm pretty certain no one says YOLO anymore or spells fat with a "ph".

If you are looking for an animated feature to take your kids too, take them to see Kubo and Two Strings instead. You'll get a film that is both done with more heart and originality than this.