'Trolls World Tour' Is No Showstopper

Trolls World Tour was supposed to have a wide release in theaters.  But because of the coronavirus pandemic – which essentially put 2020 cinema on pause – it was instead released digitally on its scheduled release date.  It’s kinda historic.  Nothing exactly like this has ever happened before with a movie.  Other theatrical movies whose impending release dates got affected by the coronavirus (e.g. Black Widow, Mulan, No Time to Die, A Quiet Place Part II, The New Mutants, etc.) simply moved their releases to a later date.  Trolls World Tour, on the other hand, pushed through with the original release date, but changed it from theatrical to VOD.  The somewhat remarkable nature of its release is what appealed me to watch it more than the actual movie itself.

Anyway, Trolls World Tour is the sequel to Trolls, an animated movie based on the Troll doll toys that were popular back in the late 20^th century.  It reveals that the Trolls we saw in the first movie are really called the Pop Trolls, and that there are five other music-loving Troll kingdoms out there.  Each Troll kingdom is named after the musical genre they’re exclusively devoted to – pop, techno, rock, country, classical, and funk – and each one holds a magical guitar string.  One day, the Rock Trolls, led by Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), launch a campaign to conquer all other kingdoms and collect all six strings in order to destroy other kinds of music, leaving only rock.   It falls to Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick), Branch (Justin Timberlake), and their friends – new and old – to save the diversity of music.

The first Trolls movie was nothing special.  Still, I had some enjoyment for it – enough, actually, to make me even check out its subsequent holiday TV special, Trolls Holiday, as well as this sequel.  I don’t know if this was intentional on the side of the filmmakers (if it is, it’s actually genius), but regardless, the formerly downbeat Branch’s character arc served as a parallel to my watching experience of the first Trolls movie, and the relatability I got from that somehow became the key for me to enjoy whatever merits that movie had.

On the other hand, Trolls World Tour had nothing that functions like Branch’s arc in the first movie.  Thus, while it’s still tolerable, it doesn’t have much true entertainment value that will appeal beyond children-level sensibilities.  It has moments here and there that amuse, of course.  I particularly chuckled at the flashy medley performed by Poppy, Branch, and Biggie when they arrived at the land of the Country Trolls as well as at the dance off between the K-Pop and Reggaeton bounty hunter trolls.  However, a few fun moments don’t make a good movie, especially if they aren’t held together by a worthwhile story – something it doesn’t really have.

In the end, Trolls World Tour is intended for kids anyway.  One may fairly enjoy it if he or she keeps that in my mind and accept it as it is.  It’s not rewarding for more sophisticated tastes.  But as far as disposable distractions go, you can do worse.