In preparation for watching the third entry in the series, Trolls Band Together, I decided to just do the whole darn trilogy. Somewhere back on my site is my reaction to the original Trolls, which I was able to see before losing my eyesight and transitioning to blind film critic. So I understand the character designs. The second film, I skipped. i didn’t like the second. Now, I’m trying to talk about audio description, so let’s just cover all three of them, shall we?
The first one introduces us to the world of Trolls.I had a few of these as a kid. They were a fad, but along with slap bracelets, beanie babies, tamagotchi, and other 90’s fads, I had one or two. The first outing structures around Poppy (Anna Kendrick), who teams up with Branch (Justin Timberlake) to save her Troll community from being eaten. It’s a morbid plot. Initially, I had more reservations with the film putting such an emphasis on the exterior value of something, being defined by your looks, but watching this a second time, I cared less. The music is fun, but the audio description does not care. It talks all the way through every musical number. That is problematic, since you can’t always understand what’s happening. So, it’s a lot of description, but perhaps more than we need. Based on what I remember from the visual elements, this is a hard sell anyway. Every troll has their own unique look, but most of them have nothing to do. There are really two stars here. And they are the stars for the next two sequels too.
In Trolls: World Tour, we lose the problematic plot of being eaten and swap it for a world of Trolls, where each community is represented by a different genre of music. I like this film way more. This should have been the first film. It’s fun, light, and the music genre thing really does shake up the musical choices in an interesting way. Voice talents like Rachel Bloom, Kelly Clarkson, and Sam Rockwell are among the new cast. The audio description for the sequel does not talk through the musical numbers, so the whole experience is more coherent. Instead of worrying so much about each Troll, their musical styles also define their looks, which helps the description even more.
The third film is just a practical joke on Justin Timberlake. It talks about boy bands, a lot. Family becomes the message, as we find out Branch used to be the youngest of a boy band family but his brothers broke off to do solo projects. Ha. Kinda like what he did. So, Branch lives in a treehouse he originally devised for his brothers, who now need help, and they must reassemble to create the perfect tone. Popy’s along for the ride, and she learns a bit about family too. The new voices here include Amy Schumer, and a cool appearance by *NSYNC. This one has comparable audio description to the second, but I like the narrator choice better, and the mixing.
Overall, World Tour is the best, but I don’t hate this franchise as much as I used to. It’s stupid fun, and I get that.
Final Grades:
Trolls- B-
Trolls World Tour: B
Trolls Band Together: B-
