There is redemption in the message of this film, but I doubt very much that’s why your kids will be here or what they’ll take from this experience. Trolls World Tour is a mess. It’s the kind of film you expect when you have five writers and two directors when all it needed for success was a decent score.
The score ain’t great. The film’s next greatest asset is nifty message of tolerance, respect, and togetherness. The problem there is nobody came to the film for the message and such is likely lost on the target audience anyway. But, hey, neon! And what else are you gonna watch in 2020, huh? Your kids are too young for “Tiger King.”
The Queen of trollworld is Poppy (voice of Anna Kendrick), a naïve optimist lost inside her good intentions. This film had to reinvent the Trolls universe, pretending there is not one just land of Trolls, but six (6!), all isolated and separate with no knowledge of one another, yet surprisingly easy to reach nonetheless. Poppy is the Pop Troll Queen. She’s into smiling. Meanwhile, in another part of the troll-verse, Barb, the aptly-named prickle Queen of Rock has taken upon herself to unite the six troll kingdoms with malevolence and bitchin’ guitar solos; Barb calls her forced takeover the Trolls World Tour.
Hmmm, lemme see if I can name the troll kingdoms … there’s Pop, Rock, Soul, 
um … Polka, Disco, and Modem Noises? Close enough. Poppy takes it upon herself to warn the Modem people ahead of time regarding Barb’s attempted takeover … or at least let them know a fax is coming in on their landline.
Trolls World Tour isn’t really about kingdoms or hostile takeovers or even characters or personalities. This film is about music. That’s what happens when you load a cast with Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, and a host of folks who could double as both musical guest and host of “SNL.”
So how is the music? Professional, vibrant, alive … and instantly forgettable. Almost every song is a cover and while music dominates the action in the film, no individual tune is allowed to dominate the screen for more than 30 seconds. Most of the individual songs are either cut short or forced to be medleys. Imagine a jukebox going through a giant blender, and then six tribes of trolls Humpty-Dumpty-ing the records and playing them. This is what you’d get. I sincerely appreciate the troll world for 1) recognizing there’s more than just pop in this crazy universe of ours and 2) trying to get us to appreciate it. Here’s the thing—not every style of music is meant to be appreciated in deejay dance party form. The effect is it waters down all the music; I didn’t care about any tune more than any other because no single song is allowed to stand out. So for a film that’s all about the music, I’d give a greater nod musically to a film that had, say, one outstanding song, and no other genuine attempt at a soundtrack, like –say- Arthur or Tootsie. And if you’ve gone to Arthur or Tootsie for the music, you’ve made a huge error.
That being said, Trolls World Tour has a very sweet and very universal message of accepting, adopting, and cherishing diversity. Will it be lost on your small child who just wants to see singing trolls? Almost certainly. Sigh.
♪I woke up in the middle of this throng
Don’t remember the orig, so I’ll play along
If this keeps up, I’ll need a hit off that bong
Cuz Trolls, they wanna sing so-ongs
Oh Trolls just wanna sing songs
The odds of a third film are strong
Don’t care if they have to rewrite it all wrong
These glowing turds will be there, hit or gong
Cuz Trolls, they wanna sing so-ongs
Oh Trolls just wanna sing songs♫
Rated PG, 90 Minutes
Director: Walt Dohrn, David P. Smith
Writer: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger and Maya Forbes & Wallace Wolodarsky and Elizabeth Tippet
Genre: Subversive togetherness
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who like shiny glowing things
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you didn’t like animation before, this is torture
♪ Parody Inspired by “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”
