Home » Trolls Blu-ray Review

What’s It About? Trolls, the latest film from DreamWorks Animation, takes us on a journey through the world of these all-hugging, all-singing, and all-dancing cute little shiny happy creatures as they try to avoid being captured by the extremely gloomy ogre-like Bergens, who can only experience happiness by gobbling up Trolls.

The story is quite straightforward and follows an odd couple, the always cheery and optimistic Poppy and the downbeat and ever-anxious Branch, as they somewhat reluctantly set out together to save their fellow brightly coloured beings from ending up in the Bergens’ stomachs.

Verdict: With Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick voicing Poppy, Justin Timberlake playing Branch, and New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel as the Bergen scullery maid Bridget, the filmmakers would have been mad not to make the most of their cast’s singing talents. So, you can expect plenty of musical scenes and song-and-dance numbers, which fit nicely within the tale being told. The toys the movie’s based on were actually popular at various points from the 1960s through to the 90s, so fittingly the soundtrack is mostly filled with tunes from those eras, including some classic disco tracks and power ballads, as well as some new pop songs. If, as I do, you like many of the songs which the cast covers, then you’ll certainly enjoy the movie.

But it’s the animation where the film really shines. There’s an incredible tactile, textured quality to the whole film, and particularly the Trolls themselves. Directors Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn and their animators have really outdone themselves capturing the felty, fuzziness of the Trolls and their world, which is essentially a crazy blast of colours and glitter. And there’s an especially lovely sequence where Poppy wanders through the forest and comes across all sorts of weird beasts and plant life.

Sure, it’s clear where Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger’s screenplay is going from the start. And, yes, the movie does put its message front and centre on several occasions. Still, though we’ve seen characters like these before and the story borrows from the likes of The Hobbit, Cinderella, and Cyrano de Bergerac, or if you prefer Roxanne, the movie is perfectly enjoyable and sweet fun that moves along at a good pace.

Blu-ray Extras: Cool range of featurettes as well as singing and dancing extras including interactive Party Mode; Travel Through Troll Village; The Potion for Stop-Motion; Creating Troll Magic; Troll 2 Troll; Inside the Bunker; awesome Deleted Scenes including a superb villain’s song for the Bergen Chef played by Christine Baranski!

Final Words: Trolls creates a beautifully textured fuzzy world packed with colour and sparkle. The movie’s clear storyline and simple message, wrapped up in bright packaging, makes it ideal for younger kids, while the quality of the animation, the music, and some of its adult-tinged humour means it will be enjoyed by adults too.

DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 13 February 2017.

Jan Gilbert

Jan Gilbert is the founder of Flicks And The City.

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