Trolls (2016), PG, ★★1/2

Once upon a time there lived a Troll...

I have heard of these toy trolls but I never played with one of them because these were decades old and never attained my interest. However, when I heard that this movie was made, I thought that this is a weird year for films now because this year we had Warcraft, a film that is not that terrible but had very bad qualities of storytelling, The Angry Birds Movie, a visual delight but the story was not as creative and then this movie. I will say that this movie is better than those two films because of its enthusiastic charisma, but it felt like a visual overload of metaphorical and slapstick jokes infused another overload of be-bop versions of a greatest hits album. It is basically a creation and not a story.

Trolls are the happiest creatures living in a tree who would sing, dance and hug all the time. On the other side, the Bergens are miserable and are only happy whenever they ate a Troll. One day, the King (voiced by John Cleese) voices his sincere displeasure to his son, Prince Gristle (voiced by Christophe Mintz-Plasse), that the Trolls, who were about to be eaten, have escaped and have found a new home. He banishes Chef (voiced by Christine Baranski) and says that he will never become happy again.

The Trolls live in a forest 20 years later and Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) lead them in a song. Her dad, Peppy (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) is the king. All of the trolls are happy except one whose name is Branch (voiced by Justin Timberlake), who is grey and never happy. He consistently protects himself from the Bergens and he refuses Poppy's invitation to her party. The Trolls have their party but bursts of glitter and light and the sound of loud music attracts Chef, who looks ragged for the last 2 decades and has been searching for Trolls, has found them and starts grabbing them. Poppy goes to Branch's bunker along with some others to Branch's displeasure and reluctantly sets off on a quest with her to go find the missing Trolls.

This movie is just fine as there is a lot of humor that is filled with slapstick, bathroom metaphor and pop songs aimed directly for children. I do like one aspect of the story that I cannot reveal because it is a spoiler as to why the main character is sad for most of the film and it is shocking. It somehow got my attention because it is a bit more mature than the complete material. I mean, Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick bring enough charming appeal to their characters as you cannot mind their peppy personalities within them.

But, again, it is overloaded with color and pop songs that the story is not fully concrete. It felt I was presented with an ad campaign to bring back toy trolls that would have pop songs in them as a kid would press some sort of button. There is no story for a movie but for an hour and a half ad. So, for me, if they would have intertwine a layered story with less slapstick humor and a good amount of pop songs and color, then there is a complete product. However, I had some fun with the characters at times and was accepting its message of being happy but I could not deny its predictable storyline, if I would want to call it that. It is a mixed bag for me but I think children would like this movie a lot.

(Hey, even thought that song "Don't Stop the Feeling!" has been played a bunch of times before this movie was released. It is catchy.)

**1/2