Review: 'Trolls Band Together' is a bunch of bad jokes and song cues, in search of a reason to exist
Three movies into the “Trolls” animated franchise, and someone finally figured out that voice star Justin Timberlake — the guy to took the first movie’s song, “Can’t Stop This Feeling,” to the pop charts and an Oscar nomination — used to be in a boy band.
That’s the premise — and, indeed, the only workable idea — of “Trolls Band Together,” a jumble of overworked plot points, labored gags and song cues in the place where a movie should be.
The story, what there is of it, starts “back in the day,” when the five brothers of the all-troll singing group BroZone is preparing to perform a big show. The most nervous of the five is Bitty B — the diaper-wearing younger self of Branch, Timberlake’s character. The performance, and the attempt to create “the perfect family harmony,” ends in disaster. It also ends with the brothers breaking up the band, all blaming the oldest, John Dory (voiced by Eric André).
Cut to the Trolls’ present day, when Queen Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) is staging the wedding of our ogre-like Bergen friends, Bridget (voiced by Zooey Deschanel) and King Gristle (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But the wedding gets interrupted with the surprise arrival of John Dory — a surprise because Poppy didn’t know Branch had brothers, let alone ones who were in her favorite boy band.
John Dory tells Branch that their favorite brother, the sensitive Floyd (voiced by singer Troye Sivan) is being held captive in a diamond perfume bottle, held by the fast-rising singing duo Velvet and Veneer (voiced by Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells). The V twins are sapping Floyd of his talent to make themselves into famous music stars. John Dory tells Branch the only thing that can free Floyd is the “perfect family harmony,” which is so powerful it can cut diamonds.
So it’s now a road trip with Branch, Poppy, John Dory and the sparkly Tiny Diamond (Kenan Thompson) boarding a caterpillar bus to find the other remaining brothers: Spruce (voiced by Daveed Diggs), the heartthrob; and Clay (voiced by Kid Cudi), the fun one. There’s another important character found along the way, voiced by Camila Cabello, and if you pay attention to Poppy’s unsubtle foreshadowing, you can probably figure out who she is.
What director Walt Dohrn, co-director Tim Heitz and screenwriter Elizabeth Tippet (who co-wrote the last movie, “Trolls World Tour”) put together here is a hodgepodge of interesting animation styles, an entire “Kids Bop” album’s worth of covers, and a lot of bad boy-band puns. (Example, from when Floyd declares the band’s demise: “We’ve gone from boys to men, and now there’s only one direction to go: The backstreets.”)
And, as the marketing reminds us, “Trolls Band Together” delivers the first new song by Timberlake’s former band, *NSYNC, in 20 years. Is that worth enduring 90 minutes of candy-colored nonsense? Nah, just find it on Spotify.
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‘Trolls Band Together’
★★
Opens Friday, November 17, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for some mild rude and suggestive humor. Running time: 92 minutes.