The last year has been surprisingly strong for DreamWorks Animation. Last year, the studio broughtAaron Blabey’s books to life withThe Bad Guys, and reinvigorated a long-dormant franchise with the fantasticPuss in Boots: The Last Wish, while this year, we’ve already seen the rare original project from the studio withRuby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Especially withThe Bad GuysandThe Last Wish, we’ve recently seen DreamWorks attempting to push animation with more dynamic-looking films that don’t necessarily conform to a more generic look that computer animation can often fall into. While their latest film,Trolls Band Together, might be fairly standard in what we have come to expect from this franchise,at the very least, this third film in theTrollsfranchise does attempt to do some interesting things with its style.
Trolls Band Together
Poppy discovers that Branch was once part of the boy band ‘BroZone’ with his brothers, Floyd, John Dory, Spruce and Clay. When Floyd is kidnapped, Branch and Poppy embark on a journey to reunite his two other brothers and rescue Floyd.
What Is ‘Trolls Band Together’ About?
Trolls Band Togetherbegins by revealing that Branch (voiced byJustin Timberlake) used to be in the boy band BroZone with his four brothers before the other members abandoned Branch and went their separate ways. Years later, Branch’s oldest brother, John Dory (Eric André) comes to Branch for his help, as their brother/BroZone member Floyd (Troye Sivan) has been kidnapped by the pop band Velvet and Veneer (Amy Schumer&Andrew Rannells, respectively), who are draining Floyd of his talent to use as their own. Branch, Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and John Dory set off to find the other BroZone brothers and save Floyd before it’s too late for the troll.
Much like 2020’sTrolls World Tour,Trolls Band Togetheronce again finds Branch and Poppy on a musical road trip, going to different lands and finding different characters that will aid in their journey. But whileTrolls World Tourpresented a lineup of varying musical genres to play around with,Trolls Band Togetheris mostly making obvious choices—a shame considering the soundtrack has always been one of the primary joys of aTrollsmovie. For example, when Velvet and Veneer talk about wanting to become famous, the soundtrack immediately queues up “Fame.” A button pushed by Tiny Diamond (Kenan Thompson)—the sole supporting Trolls character making the journey with Branch and Poppy—that says “Hustle” obviously leads to a “Do the Hustle"needle drop. When the group finds an island under a setting sun, you know that has to lead to a singalong of Weezer’s “Island in the Sun.”
‘Trolls Band Together’ Loves Its Boy Bands
This is primarily becauseTrolls Band Togetheris mostly interested in boy bands—particularly boy bands from the 90s that will at least wake up the parents in the theater.Probably the most charming musical moment here comes in the form of a boy band medley that includes everything from Boys II Men to the Backstreet Boys, and considering these are being sung by Timberlake, this is pure catnip for pop-loving parents who grew up in the 90s. Even more curious is howTrolls Band Togethermakes Timberlake’s character the one being left behind by his band, as opposed to the other way around, as happened with NSYNC. And whileTrolls Band Togetheroccasionally has some self-awareness towards its pop sensibilities, it seemingly doesn’t grasp the irony of this choice.
WhileTrolls Band Togetherusually works when it focuses on its boy band referencing, it often leaves other ideas and characters to feel half-baked. The script byElizabeth Tippet(who also wroteTrolls World Tour) gives an entire subplot to the newly married Gristle Jr. (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Bridget (Zooey Deschanel), who seem to exist only to make sexual innuendos and to act like a deus ex machina to the larger goal of the trolls.Trolls Band Togetheralso introduces us to Viva (Camila Cabello), Queen Poppy’s equally-hyper long-lost sister, and while she’s a nice addition to this world, she doesn’t really have anything to do.
Even stranger is howTrolls Band Togetherbasically leaves this world’s collection of secondary characters at home. Considering how much of the first two movies was about the trolls as a community, and building this odd cast of creatures,Trolls Band Togethermostly ignores these characters to introduce an entirely new group.While this does at least save us from having anotherJames Cordenfilm in the world, so much of this film’s eccentric humor was centered around those weirdos. Thompson’s Tiny Diamond mostly exists to make up the slack, but it’s an unusual choice to leave this group in the rearview, considering how important they were in the other films.
‘Trolls Band Together’ Surprises With Unique Animation Choices
While the music might not be as dynamic or unique as previous installments, directorWalt Dohrn(who has directed all three Trolls films), and co-directorTim Heitz, make up for it with some fascinating animation choices throughout. Velvet and Veneer look like a combination of claymation andMax Fleischerdesigns, with big eyes that seem to evoke Betty Boop designs. When the gang gets to Vacay Island, the home of BroZone member Spruce (Daveed Diggs), the inhabitants of the island are a mixture ofDr. Seuss charactersandthe Muppets. ThroughoutTrolls Band Together, Branch and Poppy even get various 2D redesigns that are more akin to somethingon Adult Swimthan DreamWorks’ usual computer animation style.These jolts in the style are a welcome addition to what could’ve been entirely by the numbers.
Yet for the most part,Trolls Band Togetherdoes often feel like a retread ofTrolls World Tour’s structure, but with diminishing returns on humor and the quality of music. TheTrollsseries has always been more about being a brightly-colored, joyous celebration of wacky characters and solid music, and while other DreamWorks franchises likeKung Fu Panda,How to Train Your Dragon, and evenPuss in Bootshave gone in deeper, more impressive directions, that’s just notTrolls’ thing, and this series is starting to show its age because of it. Intriguing moments of animation experimentation and a new batch of characters just aren’t going to be enough to keep this series worthwhile. Right now,Trollsis going in one direction, and it needs to shake it up a bit more to make things in sync again.
Trolls Band Togethercomes to theaters in the U.S. on November 17.Click herefor showtimes near you.
