Trolls World Tour (2020)

I wasn't a fan of the first Trolls movie. I found it more than trite, but insultingly condescending. Could a sequel fix what was wrong for me? Well, pretty much it does what I didn't like the first time.

The idea behind the film is that we shouldn't be intolerant of the differences between us, particularly different cultures. "We're all trolls, differences shouldn't matter." says the overly optimistic Kendrick character (names Poppy, naturally). And that's great on a superficial level. But like the first movie, which had the superficial message of being yourself and finding happiness, Trolls World Tour also tackles the message in a way that is insultingly naive. There are stories, especially aimed at kids like this one, which are brilliantly creative in the way they create analogies for real world problems. They often present marvelous deconstructions of the world's challenges and help us, even when we're young, find ways to overcome those challenges. The Trolls films aren't one of these.

The film's most fun moments are the way it plays with cliches about different forms of music. Whether it is skewering rock, country, jazz, or another other genres the film has a lot of fun with this. Again I would say the film does this on the most superficial or superficial levels. The jokes are just so easy and predictable. But this takes away from its goal in the end. I never felt the movie made a good case for what makes the different genres appealing to their fans.

And this is a big part of how I feel the movie fails. If the moral of the story is that we should all embrace differences but can't get us to see the beauty in those differences, than is it really achieving it's goal. Like its predecessor. It pays lip service to the ideas it plays with but is lazy about it. There were moments I thought the film was going to get somewhere interesting. For example the story points out what wrong with the whole "deep down we're all the same" mantra and starts to talk about why differences do matter., not only matter but are essential and should be celebrated. For me it is how the film drops this and doesn't get through this idea that is my problem with it.

And generally the film is boring. The story is rather uninspired and most of the joy comes from hearing the jukebox playlist performed by the cast. It's like we only enjoy it because we recognize the ditties. So generally while I was being disappointed with the film's narrative failings I was also bored with the story. Not a good combo.

Trolls World Tour
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, James Cordon, Rachel Bloom, Ozzy Osborne, Anderson Paak, George Clinton, Mary J Blige, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, Jamie Dornan, Kenan Thompson
Director: Walt Dohrn
Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Elizabeth Tippet, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky