As an avid fan of animation, I am very serious about the quality of past and future films. With the influence of TikTok trends and current positive critical acclaim, I’ve decided to dive deep into the rabbit hole and watch the trilogy of Trolls with intense and humorous strictness.
TROLLS
Let’s start with the first Trolls movie, the bad and the ugly.
The main story revolves around trolls Branch and Poppy saving all of Trollkind from the Bergens, the main antagonist species that want nothing but to eat Trolls to consume their happiness. Through triumph, obstacles, and communication, the Trolls and Bergens unite to create happiness not by consuming others, but by the friendship withheld in all hearts.
It’s heartwarming, sure, but this does not mean it’s good.
The first Trolls movie is redundantly uncomfortable, filled with immature jokes and awkward romantic tropes. The score was filled with the 2016 definition of “relevant” pop music to partially fill in the void of the incomprehensible disgust within the storyline. None of the characters have enough development for proper attachment from the audience and any attempt of the movie to develop such attachment fails within fifteen seconds of the proper delivery.
Realistically, I suppose the rushing of the story can be dismissed by the movie’s target audience; young children don’t really dig deep into the story and instead just enjoy the moment. However, if you want to make a good animated movie, it should be a movie that children and parents alike can enjoy rather than one or the other.
Any attempt to adopt serious tropes in Trolls was immediately dismissed by an unfunny one-liner, thus removing any effective form of emotional attachment towards any of the characters.
The first Trolls is one of the first animated films that made me say: “I’m too old for this.”
A fine 2/10 for the occasional slightly funny joke (but even then, the joke isn’t enough for me to physically laugh but instead exhale from my nostrils).
TROLLS WORLD TOUR
So, out of my rage and disappointment for the first movie, it was only natural for me to watch the sequel. I rented the movie expecting disappointment, horrid jokes, and a bland concept with no further elaboration on its plot holes.
Well, I am pleasantly surprised to say: that this movie isn’t horrible.
The story embarks Poppy and Branch on another journey to save all of music after rockers King Thrash and Queen Barb try to imperialize neighboring factions of Troll civilization. The story ends similar to the first; every character that music and culture for every Troll may be different, but those differences create a strong relationship with one another.
I’m very surprised with the amount of improvement the animators created compared to the first movie. The colors are very pretty in a lot of the shots, and the main antagonists are developed. Queen Barb has morals, a reason for her methods, and an intimidating militia that helps her carry out her plans.
Every character– other than the comic relief, of course– was drastically fleshed out. Each of them had their boundaries, flaws, ambition, and conversations that were engaging and entertaining for the watcher.
A movie isn’t without its flaws, however. The movie follows the same trend in terms of its music: they put in obnoxious hit radio songs in an attempt to be relatable and funny. Many jokes are missed by a large margin, and a lot of the scenes are very uncomfortable to watch because of the “random equals funny” shtick they tend to stick to.
There are still a lot of scenes with awkward angling. The combination of these flaws reminds me that this movie is for and only for kids.
I’ll give this movie one thing: the characters aren’t forgettable, the graphics are much better, and the moral is fun, even with its cringy endeavors. A lukewarm 6.5/10 in my book.
TROLLS BAND TOGETHER
Just recently, “Trolls Band Together” was released. It’s the third edition of Trolls and has gotten many mixed reviews on the quality of the project. So, I let curiosity get the better of me and bought tickets to watch it and do a review, once and for all.
Trolls Band Together tackles long lost family relationships and creatively explains how your relationship with your family is extremely important to achieve the key of happiness. A brother was kidnapped by two wanna-be celebrities, the power of a family’s “perfect harmony” being the only method to free him from his prison.
I expected this to be cheesy. It is in some aspects; however, to my extreme surprise, the movie is really good.
The jokes in this movie are much more mature while keeping the childish factor to the humor, creating a balance between satisfying the adults and keeping the child audience. It’s a great balance that made it much more enjoyable. Some of the jokes also make fun of the other two Trolls movies.
The world-building in this movie is intensely more engaging and fun with interesting but consumable locations that all have its own charm.
The music score– while having some misses– is strong, too, relying on older music rather than new hits to try and remain trendy. It’s a new taste in the mouth compared to the other movies that kept me intrigued. Some of the songs were corny or cringy; however, they somehow found a way to turn that into a charm rather than a technical flaw.
The new characters are very strong also. It’s great to finally have a strong movie with a risky and ambitious idea. In my opinion, this is an 8/10 movie for adults and children to enjoy together.
That’s all from me. I recommend watching these movies for yourself to gather your own opinion because everyone sees things differently.
