By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I didn’t expect to like the movie TROLLS (2016). I knew very little about it. I didn’t even know who released it. If my niece didn’t ask me to go see it, I probably would’ve never watched the film. That said, I’m glad she wanted to go.
The animated movie begins twenty years ago in a village filled with ogre-like creatures called the Bergens. The Bergens are convinced the only way to be happy is to eat a troll. Once a year, during the holiday, Trollstice they all go to the troll tree and eat one.
When King Gristle Sr. (John Cleese) brings his son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to eat one, they realize the tree has no real trolls in it. The trolls escape and are led through underground tunnels by King Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor).
They all blame the chef (Christine Baranski) and banish her.
Twenty years later, nearly every troll lives a happy life. The happiest of them all is Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) who throws parties and loves singing and scrap-booking. The only one who isn’t happy is Branch (Justin Timberlake). He has an underground shelter and believes the Bergens are going to return one day. He is so focused on preparing that he doesn’t have fun.
Poppy invites everyone to the biggest and loudest party, but Branch warns her that could draw attention. All of the other trolls including a Yoga-loving, happy one named Creek (Russell Brand) convince her to go ahead with it.
The banished chef finds them and captures a handful of trolls including Creek. Poppy goes after them despite being discouraged by her father and Branch who believe it to be a death mission. When she goes out alone, Branch reluctantly follows.
Now, the film is broken into two stories that intersect and are told together.
The first is a Cinderella tale of the Bergen maid Bridget (Zooey Deschanel) and King Gristle Jr. Bridget’s love for Gristle, helps Poppy and Branch’s cause. They along with the captured troll offer her help and make-up so that she can impress the king and he won’t know who she is. This works and they have fun on a roller-skating date and Bridget develops a friendship with the trolls.
The second story is a love-triangle. Branch secretly loves Poppy, Poppy has a crush on Creek and Creek loves himself – a part I’m sure Russell Brand had a lot of difficulty conveying (sarcasm).
The stories are simple, the conclusion predictable, and the songs are catchy. The cast does a great job. I love Timberlake when he’s acting and at times when he’s singing. Kendrick is one of my favorite contemporary actresses. She played opposite Sam Rockwell in MR. RIGHT which is a grossly underrated film. And then there’s Brand. I miss his talk/news show BRAND X. They need to bring that back. If YOUTUBE wants me to get a RED account, this would be a great way to do it.
My niece absolutely loved the film. There were a few moments when I cringed. When one of the trolls yelled “YOLO,” I wanted him dead, but still it’s a fun flick.
Overall, I’d highly suggest seeing this movie with your kids. There are messages throughout that are not hammers to the head with preaching. The top one that stood out is body-shaming and feeling good about yourself. All of the trolls are different colors and sizes. The Bergens are big and odd looking but there’s a level of unity and togetherness that is celebrated. Oddly, some of the Bergen ogres looked remarkably like my family. I wonder if DreamWorks saw pictures of the white trash among them and said, “Yep, we can make ogres out of them” or maybe that side of my family were ogres all along.
Anyways, after finding out DreamWorks made this, I can say it’s better than SHREK (2001), but not as good as MEGAMIND (2010) – then again, few things are as good as MEGAMIND. I think I’m going to go watch MEGAMIND now – bye, bye.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
