Trolls Band Together - Review: More Like Bland Together

 

Every so often in the film industry, happy accidents seem to occur. One such accident came in 2020 when, after the middling success of the first “Trolls” film in 2016, DreamWorks made a second, the surprisingly good “Trolls World Tour.” And now with the third film just released, it feels as though the people behind that second film saw its surprise success and praise and said to themselves, “well, let’s make sure we never do that again.”

“Trolls Band Together” finds Poppy and Branch, again voiced by Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect,” “A Simple Favor”) and Justin Timberlake (“Palmer,” “The Social Network”), respectively, on a quest to rescue one of Branch’s brothers Floyd, voiced by Troye Sivan (“Boy Erased,” “Three Months”), who’s been kidnapped by a sibling pop-duo Velvet and Veneer, voiced by Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck,” “I Feel Pretty”) and Andrew Rannells (“The Boys in the Band (2020),” “The Prom”), respectively, who wish to drain him of his talent for themselves. So Poppy and Branch, along with Branch’s brother John Dory, voiced by Eric André (“Man Seeking Woman,” “Disenchantment”), go on a quest to round up the rest of Branch’s brothers, Spruce and Clay, voiced by Daveed Diggs (“Snowpiercer (2020),” “Hamilton”) and Kid Cudi (“Bill & Ted Face the Music,” “X”), respectively, to reunite as their brotherly childhood boy band BroZone to save Floyd.

It's an almost inanely routine plot, providing nothing but easily resolved sibling conflict and an excuse to see more of the various lands this Trolls-centric world has to offer. There’s nothing else going on under the surface, and even then, the surface level stuff is just plenty of what we’ve already seen before, either in this series or in other family-friendly-animated-franchises. Even the boy band gimmick is wasted, given that it amounts to little more than a few jokes referencing famous groups (“We’re no longer in sync. We’ve gone from boys to men.”). What executive thought what 9-year-old kids want from their third Trolls movie was an *NSYNC reunion?

Timberlake and Kendrick are perfectly fine, but they can practically sleepwalk through a movie like this by this point. André does a good job injecting some antagonistic “older brother in charge” vibes to the film, and the supporting characters are still amusing (Somehow Kenan Thompson’s (“Good Burger,” “Kenan and Kel”) Tiny Diamond is still the highlight of the film). But it’s the prime example of the kind of movie you put on and just forget about as you leave the theatre. It might share screenwriter Elizabeth Tippett (“Wilfred,” “Life in Pieces”) and director Walt Dohrn (“Shrek Forever After,” “Trolls”) with “World Tour” but it lacks any of that films worldbuilding or thought, accidental or otherwise.

Visually, just like the previous two films, it’s an absolute treat. The “Trolls” world where everything is made of felt and craft supplies looks as vibrant as ever. The new locations featured, like a tropical island inhabited entirely by “legally distinct Muppet” people is a treat, and the land of Mount Rageous where Velvet and Veneer live is covered in shiny vinyl plastic and reflective surfaces. Even Velvet and Veneer themselves, along with the rest of the inhabitants of Rageous, are clearly meant to be long limbed early 2000s toys like Betty Spaghetti.

It seems like nowadays, DreamWorks only ever puts out two kinds of movies: the surprisingly good kind that take everyone for a loop and the lazy, cash grab that harken back to the studio’s heyday with movies like “Shark Tale.” Less than twelve months after “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and this is what they have to offer? “Trolls Band Together” is a routine, mediocre entry in a series with a less than stellar track record to begin with. Yes, it is utterly gorgeous and visually inventive, and there’s certainly worse stuff out there, but it’s hardly anything you or your nine-year-old will remember after the drive home from the theatre. 2/5