A big group of us saw the new Trolls movie during opening weekend. We loved the first movie and liked the second movie. Most of us only liked this third movie and Kelly absolutely loved it but more on that later.
One thing I want to note for prosperity is we cannot see a movie with Emily unless all of her cousins go. Even then, she doesn’t really want to go. If she can sit in between each of her favorite cousins with a mountain of snacks, she’ll take it; in any other scenario, she leaves it.
I love movies and going to the theater. Always have. I wish Emily felt the same. Whenever a fun movie comes out, I think she will like it in the slightest, I light the beacon that is cousins group chat and ask if they are down to go. They always are.
More on the movie. The original Trolls was fantastic. The animation was wild, varied, and high-end. The animation, in combination with mashed-up pop hits, was fresh and highly rewatchable. The second movie was more rock-focused and doubled down on everything. The animation was crazier, the music louder, and the story was bigger. However, a lot of the jokes were reused, so it wasn’t as fresh or funny.
The third movie, Trolls Band Together, kinda missed on all fronts. The animation isn’t nearly as polished or detailed as previous entries. After the first two Trolls movies came out, there was a bunch of made-for-Netflix short stories. Story-wise, they were great, but the animation was a noticeable notch down. And, understandably so, blockbuster movies have bigger budgets than streaming. The bummer part is it seems this new blockbuster movie didn’t get the budget. Visually, everything from the sets to the effects looks cheap.
The story focuses on Branch and his four brothers. When Branch was a baby, a.k.a. Bitty B, he was in a boy band named BroZone with his brothers. The older brother John Dory gets too bossy, so they break up and never see each other again.
Many years later, Brother Floyd gets captured in a diamond prison by two pop-star villains, Velvet and Veneer, to leech his talent. The only way to break a diamond prison is with perfect harmony by all five brothers. John Dory finds a branch, and they set out on an adventure to find the other three brothers and unite the group.
It’s a simple story, and it works well enough. Every time they find a new brother, time and age have changed who they once were. We get to catch up with who they’ve become and see if they can be convinced to join the group. There is a little pushback, but eventually, they come. By the fifth brother and fourth loop, I felt fatigued with the same story beats.
We also learn Poppy also has a sister she never knew about named Viva. Viva looks pretty cool with big blonde hair and rad makeup, but doesn’t add much to the story. She is pretty much a copy of Poppy. However, before the movie, Kelly took Emily to Target where they were stocked full of new Viva merch. Emily got a full-on Viva outfit for the movie. She was very excited when Viva hit the screen, and she instantly became her favorite Troll.
The movie wraps up with a big finale. My favorite part was the villains. They have a style never seen in the Trolls universe before, and that adds a bit of freshness the rest of the movie lacks. The pop mash-up tracks are as catchy as ever, and seeing BroZone perform is always funny. The jokes are once again repeated, and have grown a bit tired at this point. If there is another Trolls movie, they need to get crazy and go off the wall again. That’s what made the original movie great.
Branch is played by Kelly’s other husband, Justin Timberlake. That alone makes it an opening weekend movie for the fam. But this movie focuses on Boy Bands and even has cameos by N*Sync. Outside of the movie, the boys from that group reunited to make a song just for the movie. Needless to say, Kelly loved everything about Trolls Band Together. Shoot, if Daft Punk reunites for Tron 3, I will know exactly how she feels.
I always ask Emily how she rates her movies and games, 1 – 10. And, almost always, she gives the same score. For her, Trolls was a typical 10. I like to rate movies 1 – 5, and Trolls Band Together is a definite 3.
Review: 3/5
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