Trolls
Year: 2016
Rating: PG
Length: 92 minutes / 1.53 hours
When it came out, Trolls (2016) was one of those movies that didn’t align with my particular Millennial nostalgia—troll dolls always felt a little weird to me. As such, I didn’t watch this for the first time until I had kids of my own. Amusingly enough, this is a movie meant for Millennials who have kids. The bright, colorful aesthetic is meant to keep kids entertained. However, the soundtrack for this movie is exclusively filled with music most Millennials will recognize and will probably have some nostalgia for.
It’s encouraging that there’s something more to the plot of Trolls than just a bunch of naked, long-hair dolls. Creating this identity of creatures that have songs, hugs, and happiness as the core of their identity is a bit silly, but it works to offset their gigantic enemies who have none of those qualities. And since songs play so heavily into the troll culture here, it just makes sense to have lots of singers voice these characters. The mash-ups of these popular songs are fun and actually apply to the plot at hand (which is more than most animated children’s movies have).
I can appreciate that there’s not a lot of toilet humor here, even if DreamWorks movies have notoriously had this quality. Of course, given any kind of scrutiny, certain aspects of Trolls fall apart. I get that character arcs that level out characters like Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and cause characters like Branch (Justin Timberlake) to find hope in life again to allow for character growth. Still, if you’re just along for the ride—as most kids are—then Trolls is an entertaining film. And as a Millennial, the soundtrack sold it for me.
A nostalgia trip for Millennial parents, I give Trolls 4.0 stars out of 5.
