Trolls

Positive—Another spin on Cinderella!! I enjoyed the film “Trolls” even though the target audience is children and their parents. The storyline is more child-centered, but the music is targeted to adults as the songs are older hits such as “Hello,” “True Colors” and “The Sound of Silence”. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake do a good job of the singing for the characters Princess Poppy and Branch. It’s a creative film with good special effects and choreography in the animation. The main theme of Trolls is how happiness is within you and that you can control whether you are happy or not.

The Bergens think they will only be happy if they can eat a Troll and are unhappy most of the time because they can’t. This can be applied to life when others tell you that in order to be happy you need to have certain things, which to me meant that the film was essentially speaking against materialism.

Another theme is being yourself and not having to put on an act in order to get others to like you as evidenced by the cleaning maid and her crush on the king. There is a lot of cuteness especially Princess Poppy when she was a baby. The negatives are the bathroom humour such as when a character passes gas and cupcakes come out instead, and one character’s naked backside is shown. Also, there are a couple of highly exaggerated omg’s which are intended to make the audience laugh. Other than those there is no swearing. The positives are the presence of a strong female lead character and that the Trolls are kind to their enemies and try to help them.

Of course, as Christians, we realize that a society without a knowledge of the existence and need for God is not good, but this is fantasy. I had my reservations before going, but I’m glad I did and any offensive parts were very mild. It’s a good family film with a creative story-line and I’d recommend it.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½

Neutral—The movie is bright, overly colorful, and filled with pop song numbers. It can be a little dizzying at times. The most offensive thing in the movie is the number of times the Lord’s name is taken in vain. There is also the crude humor of characters farting glitter and pooping cupcakes. One of the trolls is into yoga and meditation. Bergen town is portrayed as a very rotten and icky place.

Sensitive children may find this movie a bit frightening, with the bergens trying to eat the trolls. In a flashback Branch’s grandmother is shown being captured by a bergen. When Poppy is in the wilderness, we see creatures get eaten by other creatures. Living hills consume the spiders that try to eat Poppy, and later Chef and Creek also are eaten by a living hill. If you do not like the premise of creatures being eaten by other creatures on screen in movies, then this movie isn’t for you.See all »
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: ½

Negative—I find using “O my G…” in a children’s film extremely offensive. It seems like the general culture is pushing the use more and more on children. I can never support a film aimed at children which subtly but surely exposes them to swearing. Overall, the film was ok, but very light on substance.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2

Negative—I was actually checking online to see if anyone else felt bad watching this movie. I went into it thinking of the cute childhood creatures that had been so popular when I was a kid. I didn’t know this was in any way involved with the creators of “Shrek,” or I wouldn’t have watched it, as I found the Shrek movies highly offensive (mainly because they were overtly sexually themed, and were adult-oriented movies, masquerading as kids’ movies). The Troll movie shows a taste of the same “humor,” trying to negatively influence kids. There’s a tiny child-like troll that repeats OMG several times throughout the film.

There’s other questionable themes and events throughout the film, but that one is certainly the most blatant and distracting. The only two other specifically non-Christian themes were a character that follows Hindu beliefs, and says “nameste” to a bug it rides in with (nameste means “I bow to the god inside you,” a reflection of the Hindu pantheistic beliefs that everything is god.) The movie isn’t really emphasizing this as the protagonists’ belief system, however, and the character representing this belief actually acts against his fellow trolls in the end.

The other non-Christian factor is a glorification of rave culture that is set as an undertone to the whole movie. The trolls are all about hugging, singing, and dancing. The start of the movie kicks off with a rave setting where they’re listening to electronic style music and in a very rave-like atmosphere.

The movie is well put together, the graphics are fantastic and it’s a very bright, colorful, and musical movie that has some cute and fun moments “No troll left behind!”. The look of the trolls and burgens are well thought out and placed in a well constructed world. The crippling feature of the movie, for me personally, was the repeatedly imposing use of profanity. It settled as a dark cloud over the whole movie and prevented me from recommending it to anyone. I despise how prevalent OMG has become in modern culture, and especially with children. There is a very intentional and malevolent intent in this, and even many Christians get towed into it by using “oh my gosh” instead. It is a use of the name of the Lord for the sake of one’s own vanity, to fit in.

Satan doesn’t need them to believe in him for them to be used as his tools. And starting with the children is the most obviously effective method of enacting social trends and permanent socially engineered alterations in the morality of a people, nation, or world of the future.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4½

Negative—My 4 year old granddaughter was so enthused, especially with the music in this movie and wanted me to see it. I was more than disappointed to hear in the very beginning, a troll using “oh my G*d” exclamation. Why would the writers use that, knowing it is offensive to many?! Hard to explain to her when, in turn, she used the same exclamation after seeing the movie.

Why eliminate viewers when you could avoid it? If a movie is child-oriented, please help bring back some good clean fun for families to enjoy. Thanks for your consideration.

…an ecstatically happy movie, a giddy EDM kiddie musical that sends you out on a high…

…a rainbow-sprinkled nightmare… I didn’t think there could be a movie more irritatingly perky and awful at the same time as the “Smurfs” movies. I stand corrected. …

…“Trolls” proves an immensely entertaining, highly savvy piece that always has a sardonic wink… If you like kids’ movies served with a side of po-mo knowingness, as in “The Lego Movie” and the Jason Segel/Amy Adams Muppets film, you’ll have a great time… [4/5]

…“Trolls” has a message for its audience: Be happy. Or else!… Springing unbidden to mind as “Trolls” unspools are thoughts of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride. Imagine being trapped in that ride for 93 unending minutes. That’s what it’s like sitting through “Trolls.” … [1½/4]

…The 3D animation isn’t going to set any new industry standards, and there’s literally nothing here that would keep Pixar’s story experts sweating with jealousy in the small hours. But for a comedy about a tribe of manic homunculi with nylon faux-hawks, it’s really got to be counted a pleasant surprise. [3/5]

…The sweetness can be a bit much at times—case in point, a Troll that passes glitter instead of gas. But you can’t fight the overwhelming sense of fun and lightness, one that little kids will especially adore (though they may hide their eyes during some of the Bergen attacks). …

…Exuberant, busy and sometimes funny…

…offers an obligatory “be true to yourself” moral… “Trolls” plays like a psychedelic Smurfs spin-off… it can feel like a strange drug trip…

…Too often, “Trolls” is happy to just be cute. Cute is nice enough, but clever and funny are better. …[3]

…a derivative madcap money machine that is all about ensuring that DreamWorks, which has had few hits other than sequels in recent years, has a fresh pipeline of steady revenue. All you have to do is sit through the end credits to see how many bodies were devoted to securing licensing deals (Target.com alone lists 165 tie-in products). …[2½]

…parents… might be counting down the minutes until they can see something more hair-raising… [3/5]

…the characters are clichés and the plot is assembly-line predictable. The film is basically an even-less-original variation on “The Angry Birds Movie,” right down to the cynical, antisocial Troll (Branch, voiced by Justin Timberlake) who ends up saving the day. …[2/5]

…We’ve seen it all before. …works overtime trying to be cute and irrepressible without bothering to create characters and plotlines that are as engagingly dimensional as the textured, Day-Glo visuals. …