TROLLS - Bringing Life to the Famous Troll Dolls

After having a week full of work, including business travel and also tiring emotional situation, I needed a break and a fun movie. So this one that just premiered on Friday was definitely a good option. My wife whose 1 of her event was cancelled at the last minute asked whether we should go watch a movie. Naturally I jumped to this opportunity and agreed to her suggestion and decided to watch this one instead of the latest Marvel movie Doctor Strange which happened to be full house in most theaters. Anyway, we went to the 6.45 PM show at Lotte avenue just like our usual thing on a weekday and I was almost a bit late reaching there due to traffic jam after the heavy rain earlier. Well let's get on to the movie itself.

Brief Story Line

Many years ago, the large creatures who were always feeling unhappy called Bergens discovered that they could be happy when they eat Trolls who were always in happy condition, singing, dancing, hugging and stuff. Every year a Trollstive (I hope I got the spelling right) was held by the Bergens where every one of them could eat a Troll and become happy for a while. This festival was led by the Chef (Christine Baranski - Mamma Mia!, The Good Wife TV series etc) who put all the Trolls that she managed to catch in a cage in a tree which would be opened and revealed to the Bergens on that festive day.
However when Prince Gristle who was supposed to have his first ever Troll eating, was very disappointed when it was found out that all the Trolls managed to escape led by their king Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor - The Accountant, The Hangover trilogy etc). King Gristle later on banished the Chef out of the Bergens' kingdom, leaving prince Gristle very sad and down.

Twenty years later, Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick - Twilight saga, Pitch Perfect, etc) who was amongst those rescued by King Peppy earlier had grown up and was the happiest of all the Trolls. She was very close to a few friends included the very calm troll named Creek (Russell Brand - Arthur, Despicable Me 2, etc), the big Troll Biggie (James Corden), the glittery Troll Guy Diamond, the Troll twins and few others. They were always singing and hugging every 1/2 hour when their alarms for hugging were on.

Poppy intended to throw the biggest party ever, but Branch (Justin Timberlake - Friends with Benefits, Runner Runner etc), who was a very paranoid Troll and never wanted to sing, or hug or any of the fun stuff was very opposed to this idea. He kept on warning Poppy not to do that as it would attract the Bergen. However, Poppy still held the party and the Chef who was now staying alone after being banished indeed really did hear it. Based on the sounds from the party, she was able to go to the new Trolls' city and captured Poppy's friends.

The rest of them went into hiding till the Chef went away. Feeling responsible for making her friends captured, Poppy wanted to save her friends. She tried to ask Branch's help since he was an expert in Bergens and would be able to provide the support Poppy needed, but he did not want to as he already had a special bunker where he could hide and live for the next ten years.  So Poppy decided to go to Bergens city all by herself despite her father's objection.

Meanwhile in Bergens city, the Chef came back and convinced the new king Gristle who was an adult now to held another Trollstive so that every Bergen would be happy again. There was also a Bergen maid who had been working in the palace since Gristle was a child named Bridget (Zooey Deschanel - (500) Days of Summer, Your Highness, etc) and she seemed to have a feeling towards King Gristle but she did not dare as she was just a maid.

So can Poppy go and save her friends from being eaten by the Bergens on Trollstive? Would Branch help Poppy who was always friendly & invited Branch to all her parties? And what was the reason for him to be such a sad and depressed Troll? What would also happen to Bridget and her feeling towards the king? Find them all in this cute movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Gotta say that the movie was all exactly what I was hoping for. A cute, funny movie where the Trolls were adorable and the Bergens were your typical villainous creatures trying to eat the Trolls. The movie has got a lot of music and songs and I feel that the main attraction in addition to watch those Trolls were also to hear those songs. The songs were quite varied with a nostalgic song of Hello and True Colours from 1980s or the newer song, especially the real catchy song by Justin Timberlake, Can't Stop the Feeling! which was literally make you cannot stop the feeling of dancing, or move your body a bit or at least hum the song in your heart.

The movie has a lot of colors and I believe no violence, hence it is a very safe one for kids to see. For the teens or adults, can enjoy watching the nice bit of romance and also the musics that I said above. I also believe that watching it in 3D would provide better effects as I noticed in various scenes. When the movie was over, you can remain seated for a while as there would be mid post-credit scene that you can enjoy as well.

Apart from all those positives, I have to agree with my wife's comments that after seeing the movie, it did not give the feeling of wanting to watch it over and over again. It was fun to watch it during the approximately 1.5 hour film, but that's just about it. Except of course the main soundtrack song that was really catchy. Some of the plots were not really original anyway (kind of reminded a bit like Cinderella story).

So if you want to have some fun to forget about your troubles for a while, you can definitely give this one a try and sit back and enjoy it.

Have fun watching it!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars