Trolls (2016)
Sometimes you put a film on for the kids and you end up genuinely enjoying it yourself. That's exactly what happened with Trolls. I wasn't expecting much beyond keeping the little ones occupied for ninety minutes, and instead I found myself tapping my foot and laughing out loud more than once. That's not nothing.
What makes it work is that it doesn't try to be something it isn't. There's a certain kind of animated film that bends over backwards to wink at the adults in the room, cramming in cultural references and ironic asides until it loses any sense of warmth. Trolls doesn't do that. It commits, fully and cheerfully, to being a bright, bouncy, musical kids' film, and because of that commitment, it actually lands. The animation is gorgeous, proper eye candy. The colours pop off the screen in a way that feels genuinely inventive rather than just loud, and there's a tactile, crafty quality to the world that makes everything feel a bit like it was built by hand. The little ones were wide-eyed throughout, which is exactly the point.
The humour is sharper than you'd expect, too. There are real laughs here, not the tired, committee-written stuff where you can see the joke coming from three scenes away. It moves quickly enough that even when a gag doesn't quite land, another one is along in seconds. And then there are the songs. My kids must have played "I'm OK" about a million times after we watched it, and honestly, hand on heart, I didn't mind. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake have genuine chemistry as Poppy and Branch, and they carry the musical moments with real energy. You believe in them as a double act, which is more than you can say for a lot of animated pairings.
The ensemble around them is strong, too. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is delightfully awkward as King Gristle, and there's solid work from Zooey Deschanel and, of all people, Russell Brand, who seems to be having an absolute blast. Everyone's giving it a proper go, and that enthusiasm is infectious. It's the same quality I noticed in Surf's Up (2007), another animated film where a committed, clearly-enjoying-themselves cast makes a lightweight premise feel like much more than the sum of its parts.
The story itself is simple enough: optimism versus pessimism, happiness as something you build together rather than something that just lands on you. It's not a complicated message, but it's told with enough heart and pace to keep both kids and adults genuinely engaged. The plot is predictable, some of the jokes are a bit broad, and you're never in any real doubt about how things will turn out. But that's not really the point, is it? The point is that it knows exactly what it is and it delivers on that without apology.
It's not groundbreaking. It won't change your life or stick with you the way something like Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) does. But then it's not trying to. Trolls is a good kids' film, no more and no less. It's funny, it's catchy, it's warm-hearted, it never overstays its welcome, and it leaves you feeling a bit brighter than when you sat down. Sometimes, genuinely, that is enough.
Three stars.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2016 | Watched: 2026-06-08
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Sky Go · Now TV Cinema
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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