Ah, yes. What the world’s been clamoring for — a Troll Doll movie. I’m still confused as to why this movie exists. There seems to be no sort of Troll Doll renaissance happening these days, no rabid Troll Doll fan base clamoring for an all-singing, all-dancing Troll Doll movie. Now, Troll Dolls have seen their popularity bubble up a few times, and I do recall the last fit of Troll fever hitting in the ’90s. But that was 20 years ago (I also remember Pogs but don’t see my Pog movie anywhere), and the idea of now, in 2016, making a Troll movie both perplexes and bums me out a little. This is an obvious play on nostalgia and the popularity of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (2014). What Trolls forgets is that The Lego Movie was driven by a specific vision (I say this even as someone who didn’t care for it), something that’s missing from this obvious afterthought of a movie, this merchandise tie-in thrown up on the big screen.
Since there’s no Troll Doll mythos, Trolls builds its own. In this case, the idea is that the peaceful, colorful Trolls — brimming with optimism and bubbly enthusiasm — are being terrorized by Bergens (large creatures who like to eat Trolls in order to feel fleeting moments of happiness). To stop this from happening, a group of Trolls decide to summon the courage to defeat the Bergens and thus save themselves. It’s all basic adventuresome, hero’s quest type of stuff, and no amount of technicolor garishness or cutesy animation can change that. Sure, the film is harmless nonsense, but it is still nonsense, mainly of the middlebrow variety. The things about it that aren’t wholly forgettable — like the character who defecates cupcakes, or a mawkish, silly scene with some forlorn trolls — are that way because they’re missteps.
I suppose Trolls does do some things right. The bright color palette is impressive, as is some of the more technical aspects of the animation (such as textures), but it’s a wash with the film’s garishly cartoonish style. The movie is toothachingly “fun,” a kind of hokey treatise on the importance of happiness. It’s also just as gently obnoxious as that sounds, with its kitschy soundtrack and chintzy humor. Worse (for me, at least) is there’s nothing truly wrong with Trolls. As a cute animated film for kids, it’s perfectly fine. But this is literally all it has to offer. It’s sweet-natured and has a good heart — but, boy, is it violently cute. In its favor, Trolls is also instantly forgettable, so any problems I have with it, any feelings of both mild boredom and saccharine-induced unpleasantness, will soon be lost to the winds of time. Rated PG for some mild rude humor.
Now playing at Carmike 10, Cinemark Asheville, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande and UA Beaucatcher.
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