DIRECTOR: Walt Dohrn and David P. Smith (duo debut)
STARRING voice talent of: anna kendrick, justin timberlake, james corden and rachel bloom

REVIEWER: purdie picot

A defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parents' imminent divorce, faces off with a thousand year-old witch, who is living beneath the skin of and posing as the woman next door.When the Queen of the Hard Rock Trolls tries to take over all the Troll kingdoms, Queen Poppy and her friends try different ways to save all the Trolls.

Are you ready for rock? Because Trolls: World Tour brings the noise! Following on from the success of 2016’s Trolls, these colourful characters are now on a World Tour. Venturing beyond their own little backyard, Poppy and Branch, of the Pop Tribe, discover there are six different troll tribes across six different lands. Each of which has their own style and own genre of music, and Queen Barb of the Rock Tribe is setting out to conquer all the lands with rock music. 

Poppy and Branch set out to also visit all the other troll tribes, soon discovering that Queen Barb isn’t a nice troll. The World Tour then becomes a race to stop the Rock trolls from collecting all the magical strings from each troll tribe and unite the world under one genre - rock. The trolls and audience alike learn about the different tribes and their musical genres under a banner of bright coloured fun and familiar catchy tunes.

Animation has really progressed in leaps and bounds in the last decade. Creative teams are pushing the boundaries further and creating entire worlds which wow audiences like never before. Worlds that don’t try to recreate what we already know, but to break the expectations and produce the new. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want to crawl into the Trolls universe and feel the felt they’ve built the world from, but I also know I’ll end up being covered in glitter. The textures are incredible, and something which is visually beautiful as a silver metallic ribbon waterfall must have been an absolute feat to animate but well worth the effort as it was incredibly stunning on the big screen. All kinds of textures come together to create this world, familiar materials and objects used in unique ways to give Trolls: World Tour a textural element, something not a lot of films could brag about.

Old favourite characters from the first film travel the world to meet with the other trolls and embrace new genres. I personally would say my core genre is Rock, and so was a little disappointed that Rock was so readily painted as the bad guys. However as the film goes on, there are lessons to be learned by even Queen Poppy herself, that to have true harmony you need different voices. The key themes of the film were strong, very important and relevant. Trolls is a world designed for younger audiences, bright colours, excessive amounts of glitter, fun sing-alongs and kooky characters; not exactly the kind of film I would associate with racism, cultural assimilation and to casually quote Winston Churchill. 

“History is written by the victors” - a somewhat mild spoiler for the film, however, a huge concept to take-away, and to begin those tougher discussions with your kids. Different perspectives of how world events play out, and just because someone claims they are the ‘good guys’ doesn’t mean everyone else sees them in that same light. I’m not sure if the four year old next to me fully grasped that concept, she might have been more invested in the troll vomiting glitter. However, Trolls: World Tour could be the first stepping stone for your family to discuss history, politics and race. Explaining the Black Lives Movement and why statues are being torn down might be an overwhelming topic, but Trolls: World Tour has provided a framework for that with the conflict Poppy faces with the differing troll tribes, their versions of history and trying to unite the world. 

Acceptance is another key issue the film tackles. Queen Barb wants to unite the troll world under one genre, rock, and sets out to achieve that on a world tour to steal each musical string from the tribes to play the ultimate power chord. Our heroes fight against this, each troll tribe has a unique genre and stealing their power in the form of the string is wrong. Trying to change everyone to be the same isn’t okay. However, in another mild spoiler, Poppy and friends try to do the same thing when they feel the country music trolls are too sad. Lessons are learned from both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ guys. Everyone comes out as better trolls, more accepting trolls - which is how the world is made a better place. 

It might seem that the film is a little heavy or dark, but it is zanny, bright and fun. There are catchy tunes and incredible visual effects all throughout to keep everyone entertained. Trolls: World Tour is sure to be a hit these school holidays.

★★★★