Review of Trolls (2016) by Jake M — 06 Apr 2017

Trolls (2016) - turned out to be a lot better then I was expecting. It may not be as cleverly done as "The Lego Movie" but it has a number of features that make it an entertaining experience for all.

The characters are likable for the most part and the actors do a good job of bringing the Trolls to life. Anna Kendrick is great as Poppy and her constant upbeat energy always manages to bring a smile to my face.

Justin Timberlake is decent as Branch. I did feel like his character wasn't fully fleshed out but he did have a couple funny moments and he does work for the purpose of the story. The rest of the Trolls unfortunately don't seem to really catch on in terms of names and personalities.

They do have good voice talent behind them but they don't really do much with serving as extra characters. They work in some shape and form but I just felt like they could have played much bigger parts because it would have made them more memorable.

The Bergins work nicely as a threat to the Trolls. I like how the establish the holiday Trollstice and I also like the love between Gristle and Bridget. The overall narrative is mostly good and it does work when it comes to telling a story about the Trolls and the world they live in.

I almost consider this movie to be a test to see how long you can stand a movie that features non stop happiness and musical jukebox songs. I do like the lesson about happiness and I also really like the True colors sequence and how powerful they make that moment feel.

This movie does play off as if it's hip and cool which will make the movie dated but the overall feeling is so fun and upbeat that it actually works in terms of being likable. The one thing that is definitely worth looking at is the animation.

It is amazing how they made everything from the characters to the colorful backgrounds and creatures feel so vibrant and charming. The song sequences almost feel like i'm watching a music video on Youtube and they are so immersive and wonderful to look at.

The music features a lot of songs that have already been sung by other artists they are energetic and a lot of fun to listen to even though they don't seem to work as smoothly as "Happy Feet".

The music is one of the biggest elements of the movie and I do like how the songs work greatly in moving the story forward. This is not the best movie Dreamworks has ever done, but it's likable characters, upbeat music and beautiful animation seemed to have won me over.

It is possibly true that the movie only existed to sell toys, but I thought the movie was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it despite it's couple flaws. The overall goal of this movie was to make me happy and I can surely say that they have succeeded (B).