Timberlake), discover a wider world of trolls.
The trolls we know believe in the power of
pop, but it turns out there are others out there
devoted to techno, classical, country, funk and
rock. There are even other pockets they find
along the way, too, including those for hip-
hop, Reggaeton and even dedicated yodelers.
(Unfortunately, there are no cameos for Prog
Rock or Crunk.)
It’s the Rock Trolls that start the trouble in “World
Tour.” Their leader, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom),
sets out to dominate the other groups. Armed
with heavy-metal power chords and Metallica-
esque bombast, Queen Barb plots a rock reign
to drown out the other styles.
The plot gives “World Tour” an opportunity
to cycle through countless hits, and it does
so so speedily that the film often feels less
like a story than an impatient, candy-colored
battle of the bands. When it slows down, and
allows more than a snippet of a song, “Trolls
World Tour” is more enjoyable. There’s a good
hip-hop interlude and a fine Kelly Clarkson
country ballad.
Both “Trolls” movies exuberantly exalt the glories
of diversity, and maybe some young ones will
get a decent primer on a musical landscape far
more vast than Kidz Bop. But “World Tour” can
also sound like a bad Grammy medley that puts
every genre into a blender until all the taste is
rung out.
“Trolls World Tour,” a DreamWorks Animation
release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture
Association of America for some mild rude
humor. Running time: 110 minutes. Two stars
out of four.