Checked out the (overpriced) release of Trolls World Tour. This one was the first flick to not get delayed due to Covid-19 but, instead, rescheduled for streaming (other movies have shown up early on streaming). Rented this on on iTunes but it’s everywhere… though probably only need to watch if you have kids bouncing off the walls.
So Trolls World Tour is a sequel to the previous Trolls movie from a couple years ago, based on the hairy toys. There’s a plot… the trolls from the first flick find out they are Pop Trolls and there are five other Troll kingdoms, each based on a primary music style (Classical, Hard Rock, Country, Funk, and Techno… with subdivisions and off-shoots like K-Pop, Smooth Jazz, reggae, and hip-hop). The Hard Rock trolls have decided to subjugate and absorb all the other music, especially pop music since they hate it so much. Our hero Pop Trolls must travel the world to stop the evil rockers.
Hey, I guess hard rock has the aesthetic to be the bad guys but it bugged me the movie was kicking the genre while it’s down. But I probably just gave more thought to this movie’s dubious music theory and history than the maker’s of the flick did. But whatever… it’s a dumb plot to hang a lot of (a LOT) of licensed music covers on.
And those covers kind of carry the movie in the first half. The flick is a candy-colored dream of random, fuzzy-headed popcorn that often chooses to make no sense or logic. While it’s just trying to throw songs at us, it’s kind of watchable. But the more it gets into the plot and its character depth, the less interesting it is… because the movie hadn’t really set up any depth and what they provide is trite. It just fails to entertain, pure and simple.
So, yeah, no real surprise here. I think I liked this a little bit more than the first movie but neither is good or worth watching. It might keep kiddies energized and powered up with visual sugar. Adults need not apply.
Score: 66