The animated sequel is often as excruciating as holiday gatherings, throwing together the same old visual feasts with the same old characters. Rarely does a “Toy Story” or “How to Train Your Dragon” come along to spice up banality. But “Trolls World Tour,” a hyperconnected sequel to the animated hit “Trolls,” confirms the rule and upends it. In a world where the clouds are puffy, the script is fluffy and the funk is funky, it’s easy to stomach all the glitter a second time around. If you do decide to rent this via VOD, now that DreamWorks Animation has broken the theatrical window, you will likely be in harmony with kaleidoscopic visuals, not to mention a bunch of greatest hits the whole family can enjoy.
Rather than play to the beat of a familiar drum, directors Walt Dohrn and David P. Smith have chosen to get ambitious. With a visual and musical makeover, Trollville’s pop music utopia is at stake once again. Having just saved her troll village from those evil Bergens, Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is tasked with bringing back the choir of heroes to save the day, this time from pop’s worst enemy: rock. And rolling from one planet to the next, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom) of the rockers has world domination in her sights, stealing five planet’s (pop, funk, classical, techno, country) magic strings, that way all other types of music vanish in the shadow of Black Sabbath. What is this, the kiddie version of “Avengers: Infinity War?” No, it’s DreamWorks newest, sweetest source of family-friendly entertainment.
The only thing that’s inevitable in “Trolls World Tour” is an exuberant spirit, as well an overstuffed plot. It doesn’t help that there are five different screenwriters, although there is a case to be made that these conflicting personalities mirror the contrasting musical tribes. The film’s convoluted vibe probably isn’t what they were going for, though. But one thing is constant: Poppy’s cheerfulness. She’s the troll incarnation of Elsa from “Frozen,” a heroine who uses her voice for good and good music. “We need to unite trolls to save Pop,” she tells her best friend, Branch (Justin Timberlake). So they venture to faraway lands.
Once in a kingdom in the clouds, they meet the classical trolls. Decimated by Barb’s fleet of planes made of heavy metal, Cherubs no longer flutter to Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony.” They are–as in real life– the first genre/planet to be trampled. But Poppy has a Disney Princess’ optimism, those clenched fists and determined eyes aren’t going to let “Wannabe” and “Who Let the Dogs Out” go quietly into that good night. Her run-ins with country trolls, playing ballads as sad as a tumbleweed drifting through an empty desert, and funk trolls, preaching “denying our differences is denying who we are,” puts her life, as well as the picture’s message, into perspective. This is a celebration of cultural differences that doesn’t discriminate against age.
“World Tour” will evoke inspiration from kids and adults alike, so long as adults don’t take a donkey pooping out a birthday cake too seriously. And so long as you can weather some of the more overplayed songs: Poppy is rightfully thrown in jail for singing “Gangnam Style” to a group of baffled onlookers. But when it does reach for notes of originality in its surreal, what-did-I-just-watch moments (a shot of a tiger flying over a sunset would make Salvador Dali blush), it’s easy to watch in a state of wonderment.
Those images, as sugary as a bowl of fruit loops, are in tune with today’s animation trends. As audiences lean more and more toward the outrageous (“Rick and Morty,” “BoJack Horseman”), it will be interesting to see if the randomness of Dohrn and Smith’s acid textures become the new norm. For now, there’s enough lively bits to make the lack of character development passable; enough talented musicians–Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Anderson Paak, Ozzy Osbourne— to make the more annoying songs forgivable. In a finale that brings all the trolls together, Poppy and Barb turn a stadium into a battle of the band’s climax, playing hits “Barracuda,” “Crazy Train” and “Just Sing.” Welcome to the candy-colored jungle. [C]