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  • Writer's pictureRoman Arbisi

Review: Trolls World Tour


After the major success of Dreamworks’ Trolls in 2016, a sequel was all but inevitable. A sequel being more of the same seemed like the right course of action, but Trolls World Tour delivers exactly what the title promises. A travel around the kingdoms of various music genres on a quest to stop Queen Barb of Rock from collecting all 6 strings of music to rule the land. In a very, Infinity War-esque way, these strings are massive macguffins, and thankfully they all serve as great dramatic weight to the narrative. What was surprising about the first Trolls film is that it combined it’s covers of music we all love while creating its own original music to create a nice blend of music to jam out to. While obviously geared more towards a very young demographic, the team aboard these projects clearly understands the power of music and the lessons that can be taken from them. What’s most notable here is the unsubtle nature of it’s themes, but they’re really quite effective because it gives these colorful Trolls their own form of emotional catharsis. Which is strange to say for such a film, but it’s honestly quite impressive that this team decided to go this direction for this type of IP. Especially when a lot of these types of films reach for the low-hanging fruit in terms of comedy and messages, Trolls does the most it can in back-to-back outings. Even if you have to roll your eyes at the absurdity of some of it. 

Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, and James Corden return in their wacky roles, and deliver that high tempo, sugar infused, glitter decorated energy any child would be seeking from a film of this sort. Their voice work is once more quite excellent, and their original songs are ripe for repeat plays (sorry parents), even if they’re not as catchy, or frankly, annoying as they were last time. The lyrics are rich and full of great material for a younger audience, and with the inclusion of various genres, children could end up discovering a new genre of music they wouldn’t have otherwise. Country, Classical,Techno, Funk, Rock, Pop all get their time to shine, but in the peripherals comes K-Pop, Reggae, Hip-Hop, and even Yodeling to create a universal blend of music that creates many hilarious moments and foot-tapping joy.  Trolls World Tour isn’t a groundbreaking achievement in any sense of the word, but it has stunning animation, creative world design, funny characters, and great music. Even if a lot of it is a hodge-podge of music history’s greatest hits that you could find on any Kidz Bop album. During these trying times it’s not particularly worth a 20 dollar rental, but if the family is gearing up for a movie night and the kids are eager to get on their feet to move and groove, then this is a great choice. It’ll give you that 90 minute distraction you may be searching for, all while learning the power of unison, individuality, creativity, and what can be possible when you share your story through the sound of music.

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