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TROLLS. Directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn with Anna Kendrick,Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christine Baranski, Russell Brand, Gwen Stefani, John Cleese, James Corden, Jeffrey Tambor.
Review: Michael Rechtshaffen
IF you could take the Shrek, Happy Feet and Smurfs movies, toss them in a blender and hit the pulse button a few times, the result would be a pretty reasonable approximation of Trolls, an admittedly vibrant-looking but awfully recognizable animated musical comedy concoction. Taking its bouncy cue from Justin Timberlake’s shamelessly catchy hit Can’t Stop the Feeling!, the DreamWorks Animation production works overtime trying to be cute and irrepressible without bothering to create characters and plotlines that are as engagingly dimensional as the textured, Day-Glo visuals.
With their candy-hued Don King hairdos, those singing-and-dancing trolls will likely appeal mainly to younger viewers. Older moviegoers might experience a cloyingly sticky sensation that isn’t caused by the soda-splattered floor beneath their feet.
Taking its cue from Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam’s Good Luck Troll dolls, which first came to pop-culture prominence during the mid-1960s, the film begins with the discovery that all is not rainbows and cupcakes for the joyous creatures, who’ve become mood-altering nourishment for the grumpy, ogre-like Bergens and their ruler, King Gristle (John Cleese).
Fleeing Bergen Town, the Trolls, spurred on by peppy Poppy (Anna Kendrick), relocate to the forest, where they continue their celebratory ways and hourly group hugs, much to the concern of the uber-cautious Branch (Timberlake), who worries that all that revelry will give away their hiding place. Sure enough, the Trolls are discovered by the scheming Chef (Christine Baranski), a disgraced Bergen who absconds with a bunch of Poppy’s friends in a bid to get back in the good graces of the King’s unhappy son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).
It’s Poppy and Branch to the rescue, with constant musical assists from covers (a la Happy Feet) of vintage Top 10 tunes like Lionel Richie’s Hello, Earth, Wind & Fire’s September and Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time.
The numbers, while choreographed with pop art-infused, hippie-dippy pizzazz by co-directors Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After) and Walt Dohrn, serve, for the most part, as cutesy interludes rather than really advancing the plot in any unique or meaningful way.
Having collaborated on Kung Fu Panda movies, writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger demonstrate a seasoned, assured shorthand when it comes to snappy banter and bits of wacky irreverence. But they prove less adept at developing relatable characters and involving, inventively staged situations. That deficit leaves Kendrick and Timberlake with limited places to take their alter-egos.
The talents of the supporting players are similarly under-challenged. The production breaks some intriguing visual ground with its addition of felt textures and sprays of glitter to the CG toolbox, but most of the songs are forgettable. Trolls is content to play out an all-too-familiar refrain. - Hollywood Reporter