TROLLS WORLD TOUR
US, 2020, 90 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom, James Corden, Ron Funches, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, George Clinton, Mary J. Blige.
Directed by Walter Dorhn, David P.Smith.
The first Trolls film was a great success – with its young audiences as well as with some critics. A sequel seemed inevitable.
The first film showed us that Trolls need not necessarily be hostile creatures but rather nice, some of them even cuddly!
Some of this is the same for this sequel but there is a revelation that some Trolls are what we might call Trollish. While Poppy and Branch are back again, she even more dominating, becoming Queen of the world of Pop, he is quietly devoted, at times exasperated, trying to be supportive. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake once more voicing the characters.
The World Tour of the title is not quite a World Tour that we might have expected. Rather, there is a revelation that there are more Trolls in the world than the small community was aware of. And, there is a past history, of a wonderful musical instrument which had six strings, each representative of a different style of music from classic to rock. In the past, each of the separate communities of Trolls had one string, their forte and style of music.
Then, the Queen of Rock appears, rather vicious in her way, with all kinds of ugly trollish assistants. She clashes with Poppy, introducing rock music, alarming the trolls. Poppy, being forthright as she is in seeing herself as Queen, does not listen to advice from her father or from Branch and some of the other characters who are supportive.
Off she goes to find the strings in the other communities and get to know them. Easier said than done. Poppy gets herself into many tangles, sometimes being pleased with meeting other characters and finding their strings, but all the time pursued by the Queen of Rock.
So the moral of the story is that while each of us has our string, our particular talent, we need to reach out to others, not as hostile, but as complementary, so that there is a world community and the harmony of the strings.
Worthy motivation. However, mixed reactions this time from audiences and critics.
