Review: Trolls World Tour

PLOT: When Poppy and Branch discover that there are different types of Trolls living in the world, they go on a mission to unite them with their love of music. Unfortunately for them, the rocker Trolls don't want to share their music. Instead, they want to take over and make all living Trolls slaves to Heavy Metal! ROCK n TROLL!

REVIEW: When the big screen adventures of TROLLS first arrived in 2016, it was a massive surprise for this viewer. The colorful palate of rainbows, joy and humor filled with music and cheerful characters like Poppy and Branch approached this unique material with glee and warmth. Frankly, this goofy animated musical was about as much fun as you could possible have in a movie based on this particular children’s toy. Now here we are with a sequel, one that brings all the adorable Trolls back for another round of catchy tunes, strange happenings, and some of the most oddball images you may ever see in a mainstream animated feature. However, is that something to celebrate? Read on and see what these crazy Trolls are up to this time around in TROLLS WORLD TOUR.

There is trouble in the land of Trolls. In the new film, Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and her companions soon come to the realization that there’s more than pop music out in the world. In fact, there are six types of Troll villages, and each one has a different style of music that they play represented by one magical guitar string for each tribe. In the early legends of Trolldom, these precious little creatures all separated when they couldn’t agree on the music they should play with each group keeping their appropriate musical string. Yet Poppy and her best pal Branch (Justin Timberlake) have a problem. It seems they aren’t the only ones who have discovered the secret when Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom) – the leader of the Rock Trolls – brings her musical army to take all six strings and destroy all other music. Can Poppy save the day?

The original TROLLS flick was a charming tale filled to the brim with some hummable tunes. Well, TROLLS WORLD TOUR doesn’t waste any time bringing on the hits. This includes everything from a lively rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" – just swap out the girls with trolls – to ther songs including “One More Time”, “Just Sing”, “Barracuda”, “Crazy Train” and tons more. Much like the first, these little creatures love nothing more than to break out into a bit of singing and dancing (and hugging). And one of the most intriguing things about the sequel is the idea it presents to kids that all music is ultimately important, and you should appreciate all forms and cultures that are represented. It’s a nice idea, and while it’s a bit over the top as Barb tries to turn everyone into rockers, it actually kind of works.

Co-directed by Walt Dorhrn and Mike Mitchell – with Dorhrn returning as co-director from the first – there is a heavy dose of weird in this second feature. Some of the odd happenings include a cowboy named Hickory (Sam Rockwell) with a bizarre revelation of his sibling named Dickory (Flula Borg), or the magical way that boy Trolls give birth to baby trolls courtesy of Guy Diamond (Kunal Nayyar) and offspring Tiny Diamond (Kenan Thompson), there’s a whole lot of freaky stuff going on. However, the musical numbers are many, and the way this strange world of toy Trolls comes to life works far better than one would expect. It’s such a wild world that you barely have time to sit back and seriously comprehend just how loony it all is. I mean, this flick takes the Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train” quite literally – and yes, that includes a cameo from Ozzy himself as Queen Barb’s bat loving, rock and roller dad.

It’s beyond impressive the list of musical artists and actors that this sequel piles on. Rachel Bloom takes a break from being a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to be a Crazy Rocker. Kelly Clarkson arrives with her huge hair as Delta Dawn, a country queen who has no time for frivolities. You also have the previously mentioned Sam Rockwell, as well as George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Dornan, and a few other notable cast members. While this animated tale really wants the young viewers to open their minds about different kinds of tunes, it does so with gleeful abandon. It moves along quickly as it finds ways to incorporate all kinds of musical stylings, while still presenting a few enjoyable new sounds. However, the soundtrack was perhaps a bit more entertaining the first time around.

TROLLS WORLD TOUR may lack some of the charm of the first film, yet it’s so aggressively cheerful and bright that it’s likely to be the perfect escape for all of the young ones currently trapped in isolation. While the songs are certainly catchy, they aren’t quite a good as they were the first time. However, you have to give the filmmakers a little credit for just going all out and making one of the most outlandish animated adventures they possibly could. Add to that the charming casting of Kendrick and Timberlake, and you have an entertaining continuation. Sure it may drive parents bonkers on repeat viewings, but it’s very likely even they will be humming along to the wide variety of musical selections. If you have anybody in your family desperate to see this animated sequel, at least you’ll be able to bask in the sheer insanity of it without getting bored – maybe instead it will just drive you mad, but at least you’ll have the perfect soundtrack to do so.