'Trolls Band Together' Review: Meta and Hilarious Trolls Threequel Gets the Right Rhythm
PG: Some mild rude and suggestive humor
Runtime: 1 Hour and 32 Minutes
Production Companies: Dreamworks Animation
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Walt Dorhn
Writer: Elizabeth Tippet
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Camila Cabello, Eric André, Troye Sivan, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, RuPaul, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, Zosia Mamet
Release Date: November 17, 2023
Only in Theaters
If you had told me several years back that Trolls would be the next DreamWorks Animation franchise to receive its “threequel” jacket a little after How to Train Your Dragon got theirs, I would’ve said you're crazy. It's even crazier that the third Trolls entry got us an NSYNC reunion with a new track after nearly twenty years. But our timeline includes the first Trolls sequel, World Tour, as the first brick thrown at Stonewall, a.k.a. the first studio film to digitally distribute when we entered a global lockdown. Nothing with this franchise could surprise me anymore. However, this third meta-plotted chapter, Trolls Band Together, shocked me beyond my wildest expectations. I genuinely dig it.
Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) have become a couple and help their Bergen friends King Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Bridget (Zooey Deschanel) tie the knot. As the wedding ceremony commences, one of Branch's long-lost brothers, John Dory (Eric André), pops up. He reveals Branch's biggest secret: he has not one but four brothers––Floyd (Troye Sivan), Spruce (Hamilton), and Clay (Don't Look Up) and they were all part of a boy band sensation, BroZone. They were at the top of the world, but a family dispute forced them to disband, leaving Branch alone. John Dory tells Branch that his favorite brother, Floyd, was kidnapped by talentless rubber-hosed-styled brother-sister pop duo Velvet (Amy Schumer) and Veneer (Andrew Rannells), who is using his essence as a perfume for their talent and to better their careers––a riff on Milli Vanilli. Now it's up to Branch, Poppy, John Dory, and a bunch of their friends to get the band back together and save Floyd before it's too late.
Walt Dohrn, who has been in the director position since the first Trolls film, has improved his abilities, evidenced by each entry's broadened scale and scope. The musical numbers were always vibrant but became more elaborate, with mashup covers matching the same frenetic frivolousness of the zany, gorgeous animation. Each movie is visually trippier than the last––as if the DWA team were locked in a Michaels, high on shrooms. Band Together is the height of the franchise's abilities, finally self-assured of its arts and crafts aesthetic.
Dohrn and his team improved the cotton-based universe's graphical appeal and toys with other notable art styles and fabrics to expand its worldbuilding. Each setting Branch and his crew trek across features familiar art styles––puppetry and rubber hose (for a Vegas setting that uses ‘80s new wave pop)––scaled bigger than Troll or Bergen-kind alike. They’re composed of different fabrics and textures that further the "what if a coddled child had all the arts and crafts materials in the world" landscape. Details within its lavish production design, such as blue beads functioning as water or glitter representing a gross-out gag, flesh out this world beyond its predecessors.
The medleys in this film, fine-tuned to feature a consistent array of songs, sonically fit the story and match each location's environment. The muppet-esque tropical set piece includes reggae fusion and alternative rock songs, giving it a distinctive feel. The Max Fleischer-styled baddies sing ‘80s new wave tracks with the same shine as a Eurpop band group. And, of course, all the BroZone numbers are mashups from popular boy band history, from New Edition to Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, and the melodies are done so fluently without being overwhelming.
If any film sequel revolves around the long-lost sibling trope, you know that franchise has worn out its welcome. Yet for Trolls, it's better to do that than tackling subjects regarding imperialism and cultural appropriation, like what World Tour attempted to do. Band Together disregards its predecessor and acts like a direct sequel to the 2016 original. The meta boy-band plot to match lead Justin Timberlake's career is ripe for ridicule. Still, it retains a charming wholesomeness that finds comfort in its simplicity. The movie overcomes hurdles with its barrage of side-splitting gags. Elizabeth Tippet's screenplay is composed of snappy, consistently funny dialogue and familial banter that constantly caught me off guard. The innuendos nearly reached a Cat in the Hat (2003) level of unhinged comedy. The last thing I expected a Trolls flick to do was incorporate a BDSM joke, which made me lightheaded with laughter.
The film sincerely tackles Branch’s child abandonment issues. Much like the original film (which I recently rewatched after seeing SpikerMonster's fan art), Band Together works effectively with Branch's burn into happiness and healing through Poppy's optimism and love. It's a Trolls movie, so it’s not necessarily deep. Still, it captures the magic of family and sibling love, whether it’s someone you've become distant with or are just meeting––like Poppy, who eventually meets her long-lost older sister Viva (Camila Cabello). Once again, it’s an objectively rote plot point salvaged by the abundant jokes surrounding it, thanks to the writing and Dohrn's wacky direction.
Also, James Corden isn’t in this. I don't know who needed to hear that, but this movie has no James Corden. Granted, you have Amy Schumer, who voices the foe Velvet. Nonetheless, somebody in the casting department was cooking when they decided to cast her as a nightmare diva villain with no natural talent who profits off the torture of innocent people (trolls) for her self-interest/stardom. It's more meta than the JT-centric plot.
Once the film says go, it runs on constant adrenaline like a cinematic sugar rush. You succumb to ennui once it comes down from that high. The story tries to include an afterthought, poorly threaded masculinity message that plays on the nose for no reason.
Oh, you think I’d have more to say? I can tell I’m watching the most expensive excuse for having an *NSYNC reunion since the Super Bowl, but I had a good time and I know the kiddies will too.
It's a Trolls movie. Why have qualms about something aimed at toddlers? This threequel finally lands on its identity, playing to its strengths in its colorful, crafty universe, hilarious writing, and consistent song supervision. Despite the inevitable NSYNC commercial to appeal to millennial parents, at the end of the day, Band Together is the best Trolls movie yet.
