Film Review: TROLLS BAND TOGETHER (2023): A Colorful and Funny Throwback to the 1990’s That is Light on Plot

Trolls Band Together Review

Trolls Band Together (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Walt Dohrn and Tim Heitz, written by Elizabeth Tippet, Thomas Dam and Kim Caramele and starring Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Kenan Thompson, Walt Dohrn, Anderson .Paak, Ron Funches, Kunal Nayyar, David Fynn, Kevin Michael Richardson, Eric Andre, Kid Cudi, Troye Sivan, Camila Cabello, Zosia Mamet, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Trolls Band Together, directed by Walt Dohrn and Tim Heitz, is a colorful DreamWorks Animation sequel that offers its viewers some showstopping musical numbers but very little in the way of a plot. Still, the targeted audience should really enjoy the clever jokes and tremendous heart that the movie proudly wears on its sleeve. This is the third feature film for these “Trolls” and the story, or what there is of one, revolves around a broken up band called “BroZone” which featured the hero of the Trolls franchise, Branch (voice of Justin Timberlake), when he was a baby. Poppy is Branch’s would-be girlfriend and the blue Branch and pink Poppy have many moments of hilarity thanks mostly to the witty line delivery of Anna Kendrick who plays Poppy.

As the movie begins, a band of boy trolls tries to wow the audience and comes up short which leads to an on-stage disaster. A fight between band members ensues and they break up. There’s only “one direction” for them to go–the “backstreets.” Soon, the story of Trolls Band Together kicks in when former band member Floyd is kidnapped by a pair of singers who want to exploit his talent to advance their own careers. I’m venturing the writers of the film named the kidnapped troll after Pink Floyd but that’s just a wild guess. Branch is enlisted at a wedding he is attending to rescue Floyd and, to hopefully, rekindle the family magic that was missing all the years since the band separated.

Meanwhile, Poppy finds a long lost sister in the character of Viva (Camila Cabello) and the two bond as the movie’s theme of family enters into the equation again. The film also offers us a look at the untalented performers Velvet (Amy Schumer) and Veneer (Andrew Rannells) who have kidnapped Floyd to enhance their careers. The music that Velvet and Veneer sing together is funny with sarcastic themes of hard work and fame taking center stage in their not so intelligent lyrics. Schumer is a hoot as Velvet with some mean-spirited dialogue that is perfect in order to make her character despicable. There’s also a band member known as Spruce (Daveed Diggs) who has changed his name to Bruce and this character has some funny moments sprinkled in as well.

There’s really only “one direction” for this movie to go and that’s towards a happy ending. These trolls are mostly not “new kids on the block” and have a lot of personality. The movie is “n’sync” with what audiences want and offers the humor and music that is requisite for a film like Trolls Band Together to succeed overall. The movie takes the “backstreets,” though, because it doesn’t focus on character development too much. This film uses jokes to advance the story and an occasional musical interlude. While there could have been “98 degrees” of entertainment value here, the movie suffers a bit from a lack of compelling story developments. It still has “the right stuff” to keep the parents who remember the boy bands the movie spoofs totally engaged in the action.

That being said, it’s an adorable movie. Poppy and Branch have a sweet connection together that makes their interaction ever so charming to watch. Poppy is the star of the show, for the most part, with her girly dialogue and the scenes between Poppy and Viva also have pizzazz that will entertain younger audience members. Timberlake, as Branch, has some moments to shine as well, though whenever Poppy is on-screen, she’s the center of attention.

Trolls Band Together comes during a year where there are many great, visually appealing animated movies. There’s not a chance that this film will be remembered after next year for anything other than being cute and for being a Trolls movie. That’s not to deny the terrific colorful imagery which is awe-inspiring at times. However, despite its lack of artistic brilliance from a plot standpoint, there’s a wholesome quality about this picture that makes it worth seeing for families looking to bond over the holidays by watching something fun.

Rating: 7/10

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