Trolls World Tour

Trolls World Tour – When Queen Poppy receives a letter from Rock Troll, Barb, stating her intention to take over the world with rock music, she misunderstands and sets out to make a new best friend. Soon realising she’s wrong, Poppy and her friends travel to the different kingdoms, trying to save everyone but they’re not all as full of enthusiasm and trust like Poppy is and Barb won’t give up easily…  

Trolls World Tour (2020) – Director: Walt Dohrn, David P. Smith

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62345967

Rating: U

Running Length: 90 minutes

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom

Genre: Comedy

REVIEW: ‘TROLLS WORLD TOUR’

Pink! Rainbows! Pop music! Fluffy things! Do these words fill you with dread or delight? If it’s the latter, ‘Trolls World Tour’ is definitely for you! Following on from 2016’s ‘Trolls’, the now Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is enjoying life with the rest of the Pop Trolls, singing aptly reworded familiar pop songs about how joyful their lives are. Receiving notice from Barb that the Rock Trolls are on their way makes her even more joyful, hoping to make a new best friend. Her absolute conviction that everyone is as happy and friendly as her comes crashing down when she sees the destruction meted out to the kingdoms already visited by Barb.

Struggling to openly admit his romantic feelings for Poppy, Branch (Justin Timberlake) grows increasingly frustrated with her for trusting every stranger that comes their way and never listening to his sensible words of caution. ‘Trolls World Tour’ is exactly that, an excuse to visit every major musical genre and the trolls living there; Barb (Rachel Bloom) and her cohorts are unusual in their aggression towards other trolls. Yet Poppy’s eyes are opened to such concepts as music making you sad with the Country Music Trolls.

‘Trolls World Tour’ isn’t for everyone, kids are bound to enjoy the almost constant saccharine sweetness but for the adults, your tolerance for all things pink and fluffy will be what determines your enjoyment of this ridiculously cute movie.

CONTENT: IS ‘TROLLS WORLD TOUR’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN

During the opening sequence the Techno Music Trolls dance to a Daft Punk song. There is a mild strobing effect that lasts a few seconds. The Rock Music Trolls arrive and attack by playing loud rock riffs on guitars. The guitar plays shoots out red electric bolts which smash the techno trolls stage in half.

Queen Poppy’s father panics at the concept of the Rock Trolls coming. In order to calm him a character directly touches their eyeballs in a soothing way. This works but such odd behaviour may be imitable.

One of the Pop trolls says “Oh balls!” before clarifying “Who’s going to eat my cheese balls?”

Queen Barb breaks the baton of the Classical Music Trolls and there is a shot of the classical trolls being taken away in ships while clutching bars like prison cells.

Barb says that “Hating things takes a lot of energy”

In the Country Music Trolls territory, an older troll hiccups an image of a heart. He clutches his chest and collapses into an open coffin with four legs sticking through four leg holes, apparently dead. No-one reacts. It is several minutes before he comes out, apparently fine.

In a prison cell, a large Pop Music Troll (Biggie) says that no-one saw him do the splits. He turns around and his trousers are split, with slight buttocks visible.

A small ‘baby’ country music troll has gnashing teeth and chases the main characters. At one point she bursts from the ground and her teeth rotate like a drill, biting a character on the bottom.

One four legged troll character is startled and poops out a birthday cake, then candles, then flames for the candles. He offers it up to the one who startled him.

The Smooth Jazz Troll plays hypnotic music which leads to a minute or so of hallucinogenic ‘jazz’ imagery.

Someone has theirs ears plugged with candy gum drops. When they are pulled out, the character eats them.

A spaceship abducts a character who panics. This lasts a few seconds. He is seen again a few scenes later and is fine.

Two characters argue in a major moment. This is a sad scene with downbeat music. The characters go their seperate ways and lasts several minutes.

The Pop Music Trolls’ village is destroyed although this is only discovered after the fact by Biggie. There are a few seconds lingering on the destruction.

The Rock Music Trolls hold a massive gig and blast magical musical energy. This converts several established characters into ‘rock zombies’. The character’s outfits change into those with leather / studs / tattoos. They have vacant glowing red eyes. This scene may potentially scare very young viewers and lasts several minutes.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘TROLLS WORLD TOUR’ FOR KIDS?

Spoonfuls of sugar couldn’t compete with ‘Trolls World Tour’ for sweetness. Will Barb get her way in destroying it all to make room for rock? Due to the potentially unsuitable content being extremely mild, we believe this movie is appropriate for kids of all ages.

• Violence: 1/5 (some mild slapstick)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (one sad scene that lasts several minutes)
• Fear Factor: 1/5 (the ‘rock zombies’ part might scare small children)
• Sexual Content: 0/5
• Bad Language: 1/5 (very mild and occasional)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (talk of making others like you and not realising it is against their will)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of coming together, wanting everyone to be like you, appreciating that people’s differences make them who they are, the importance of listening to other people’s opinions, being cautious of strangers, the power of song, and that not everything has to be sweet and happy all the time

Words by Laura Record and Mike Record