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‘Trolls: World Tour’ Blu-Ray Review – Sequel Opens Up World To Fun New Lands

By Dillon Gonzales
July 20, 2020
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In the tradition of Hollywood turning just about any intellectual property into a film, Trolls was released in 2016 to immense box office success. The surprising thing about the film based on the fuzzy headed dolls was that it was actually quite good. The story had a great set of supporting characters, catchy songs and an inspiring message about finding happiness within ones self. The film could have easily been a quick cash grab that pandered to children and grated on adults, but it had a lot of heart that elevated it above many films of a similar nature. Now, four years later, we have the inevitable sequel that is here to see if it can conjure that magic once more. Trolls: World Tour has generated a lot of headlines due to its role as the first major film to bypass a wide theatrical release because of the pandemic, but we must remember that there is a whole movie that thousands of people worked on behind those headlines.

Following the events of Trolls, Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is settling into her role as the Queen of the Pop Trolls. Her people have never been happier, as they freely celebrate the joy of life every day through singing and dancing. Little do they know that a malevolent force is right around the corner that might change their existence forever. Over in the land of the Techno Trolls, Barb (Rachel Bloom), Queen of the Hard Rock Trolls, has begun her reign of terror to eliminate all other forms of music besides rock by stealing the magical strings that hold the spirit of their music. Poppy and the community are shocked to learn that there are lands with other trolls dedicated to music that is not pop. Ever the optimist, Poppy goes against the advice of her father and sets out on a journey to unite all the trolls with Branch (Justin Timberlake), who is struggling to confess his love to Poppy, and Biggie (James Corden), an accidental stowaway that could not resist sweet treats. At the same time, Cooper (Ron Funches), a troll who looks and feels a bit different than his friends, sets off on a journey of his own to see if he can find trolls that are more like him. These journeys take them to far away lands filled with wonders they never could have imagined.

One of the main joys in Trolls was the incredibly funny supporting group of characters that supported our leads throughout their adventure. To be clear, Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake are delightful in their roles, but their need to move the plot forward does not leave them as much room to deliver some of the lines that have you laughing the hardest. Characters such as Cooper, Cloud Guy, Guy Diamond and Mr. Dinkles really stole the movie from our protagonists. In Trolls: World Tour, most of these characters make appearances, or even have expanded storylines, but make less of an impact due to our leads being separated more from them on their own journey. The film attempts to make up for this by injecting new characters from these other lands, but the intent seems to be geared towards providing characters that can sing rather than bring the humor. Artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Anderson Paak, Mary J. Blige and George Clinton are all great singers, but they are not exactly given the best comedic moments. The best addition is Rachel Bloom as Queen Barb, who is enacting a PG-version of Mad Max: Fury Road complete with sick, decked-out vehicles. Rachel proved in the incredibly underrated gem of TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that she could sing and make you laugh in equal measure, and she unleashes that skill with attitude here. Barb may be the villain of the story, but she is incredibly compelling with many funny moments.

The first Trolls movie established that music is an essential part to this series. Justin Timberlake scored a major hit with the incredibly catchy Can’t Stop The Feeling,” and the emotional rendition of “True Colors” in the finale moved even the most hard-hearted of people. This new film seems to be trying to replicate that success, but none of the songs really stick with you after the credits are done rolling. They are not bad by any means, but it just a feels a bit lacking in comparison. When you scale back the laughs a bit to inject more music, you are going to want something that feels worth the trade off. While it may sound like this movie is a misfire, that is simply not true. The world building done in this film is really interesting, and the voice actors are all bringing a lot of energy to their performances. The movie is overflowing with joy, and you cannot help but be swept up in it. One of the best aspects about the film is the positive message of acceptance and denouncing xenophobia, which is powerful without hitting you over the head. The creative team may have not been able to hit the highest heights of the first film, but Trolls: World Tour still proves to be an enjoyable ride for kids and adults alike.

Video Quality

Trolls: World Tour comes to Blu-Ray with a stunning and vibrant 1080p transfer. The colors present in this transfer are practically leaping off the screen with the wide range of hues permeating every inch of the frame. The textures, from the character designs to the environments, are extremely impressive and give the film a real sense of depth. One of the areas where the sequel improved on the original film is the fluidity of the character designs. All of the individual strands of hair are unique and flowing in a subtly more natural way. The level of detail these animators put into each environment shines through here. Black levels are incredibly strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. This is about as close to perfect as a Blu-Ray disc can look.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray utilizes a Dolby Atmos track that gives this music-centric film a real vitality. There is an emphasis on the front channels for a good portion of the sounds, but activity kicks in to the surrounds and rears during performance sequences and action-oriented bits. The film goes big with their music, and this track pumps the sound straight through your body is a really satisfying, enveloping way. Dialogue is crisp and clear without ever getting lost amongst the music or sound effects. The low end effects from the subwoofer give certain moments that much-needed extra weight to completely sell it for the audience. Atmospheric sound effects are rendered appropriately within the mix so that directionality is never as issue. Trolls: World Tour will have your house rocking and shaking in the best way.

Special Features

Dance Party Mode: Following a brief intro from Cloud Guy where he explains what is about to happen, you can watch the film with prompts to sing along, dance and other surprise activities such as hugging. An assortment of other random bits occur on screen like balloons being released and gumdrops falling on screen. As is the case with most of the special features, this is geared at a younger audience.
Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School: A nearly four-minute short in which Tiny Diamond frets over looking fly as he returns to school. The more he tries to look cool, the more problems pop up! This is a quick, funny addition to the movie.
Trolls Dance Academy: Seven minutes of dance lessons are provided here with on-screen directions from all of the different lands in the movie including Pop, Waltz, Country, Funk, K-Pop,and Reggaeton. Not tied in with any characters from the movie, but helpful nonetheless.
Trolls World Tourist Map: An interactive journey through all of the lands guided by Cloud Guy. Each of the lands get a brief video overview accompanied by clips of the movie. A few fun tidbits are expanded upon that are not featured in the film.
Deleted Scenes: Nearly twenty-minutes of unfinished deleted sequences are provided here with introductions to each by Director Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay, and Co-Director David P. Smith. Nearly all of the scenes were trimmed for pacing reasons, but there are some truly hilarious scenes involving Cloud Guy and Pennywhistle that I wish would have been included in the final product.
Trolls Perfect Harmony: A four and a half minute featurette on the music from the movie and the many talented artists that contributed to the more diverse sounds of the film. This is fluffy, but fun.
Trolls World Tour Backstage: A three-part nine-minute look at the various aspects of the film from developing the story to character development and music. There are some fun insights from cast members such as Anna Kendrick, Rachel Bloom and Ron Funches.
Audio Commentary: Co-Director David Smith, Director Walt Dohrn, and Producer Gina Shay provide a lively and informative commentary track filled with interesting behind the scenes details. The trio seems to be having a blast, and they keep the track from having much in the way of dead air. Listen to learn which of the participants had their legs featured in the smooth jazz sequence.

Final Thoughts

Trolls: World Tour stumbles slightly when compared to the surprisingly moving original movie, but succeeds in establishing interesting new lands and delivering an important message that we could all use in our lives right now. The voice cast brings a real energy and enjoyment to the film that makes it hard to resist. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has provided the film with a stupendous A/V presentation and some special features that are incredibly enjoyable. Fans of the original film should proceed to this one with confidence. Recommended

Trolls: World Tour is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.