Well, after being pleasantly surprised by the first Trolls movie back in 2016, I’m definitely going into this one with higher
expectations. I mean, you promise me metal Trolls, you better deliver metal
Trolls. There’s also where this production sits within the larger clusterfuck
that is how the cinema industry has been adjusting (and, in some cases, failing
to adjust) to lockdown conditions, given it became a bit of a line-in-the-sand
situation between NBCUniversal and the American (and Chinese) owned chain of
AMC Theatres. Basically, even before getting into the film proper, this is
already something of a game changer for the industry. Not sure I can say the
same about the content, but rest assured, this is still all kinds of worth
checking out.
The core premise about different styles of music clashing
with each other gives some solid thematic ideas to the visuals, from the dusty
cowboy town of Lonesome Flats that the Country Trolls call home, to the
Afrofuturistic touches of the Funk Trolls and their spaceships, right down to
the recurring lollipop palette of the initial Troll Village. It even gets
psychedelic in places, whether it’s due to Smooth Jazz hypnosis or
cotton-candy-cloud near-death experiences, and it’s all shown through some
genuinely impressive felt-esque animation that gives everything a highly
tactile feel; this thing looks amaze-balls.
While the music itself doesn’t reach the same level of
ingenuity as the original as far as its needle drops, it makes up for that just
through the sheer volume and breadth of styles shown here. Even though the main
plot only isolates half a dozen different genres of music (Pop, Techno, Rock,
Classical, Country and Funk), the music itself reaches even further into
hip-hop, jazz, K-pop, even yodelling. And in the hands of our returning cast
like Anna Kendrick, who’s made a career out of these kinds of genre mash-ups,
and even Justin Timberlake managing to mix pop and country without completely
embarrassing himself (*cough*Man Of The Woods*cough*), not to mention Rachel fucking
Bloom as Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls, this thing also sounds amaze-balls.
But where the music really gains its resonance is in how it
relates to the plot, which is essentially a kid-friendly look at the importance
of diversity and acceptance of differences that, in contrast with the
kid-gloves of the original, treats the topic with a commendable amount of
maturity. For one, in the song It’s All Love, the statements made regarding pop
music and how it homogenises other genres are pretty damn cutting, all without cutting into the film's larger intent. For another,
Queen Barb’s main goal of uniting all the Trolls under one music is the most
defener shit I’ve seen in a film, and the film itself knows it. And for a
third, while it emphasises the need for unity and harmony, it flat-out refuses
for that to come as a result of everyone becoming exactly the same as each
other. Be proud of our differences, not insistent that we don’t have any; it’s
hell of a lot smarter than some of the more well-meaning but unfortunately
missing-the-point appeals to cultural unity out there. “I don’t see race”,
anyone?
While there’s definitely an argument to be made that this
film’s version of pop music (and, in turn, music as a whole) might be more
optimistic than the actual face of pop music these days, that is an argument that
ultimately buys into the same elitist ‘our music is so much better than
whatever that is’ nonsense. As this stands, it’s a lot smoother than its
predecessor in terms of pacing, and while the characters and story are a little
thin, it’s all in service to the music being front and centre and the drive for
the film’s main message. As far as music movies go, this is honestly one of the
most engaging I’ve seen in a while, and the fact that its musical pedigree is a
vehicle for its statements on why different styles of music and people
are worth celebrating makes it ring that much truer to my ears.
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