Tag: animated

Trolls (2016) Film Review

Find your happy place.

Rating U
Length 1h32
Release 21.10.2016
Director Mike Mitchell
About When the Bergens kidnap a group of trolls, Poppy, the troll princess, goes to their rescue all alone and is soon joined by Branch in her mission.
Moon: Full moon seen frequently in the first half of the movie
Where to Watch: BBC IPlayer
Trailer:

The Good

Anna Kendrick has that ability of playing both sides; the super super happy and the darker sarcastic gal. I would never have wanted anyone other than her in the role of Poppy.

I really quite liked the Bridget and King Gristle Jnr romance storyline and how it fits in with the main Bergens versus Trolls story.

It’s relatively short, so while it’s painful… it doesn’t last long.

The Bad

Why does Hollywood insist on making Russell Brand and James Cordon a thing? Course, RB is finally blacklisted it would seem, but Cordon?! You made him Peter Fucking Rabbit!
Both of their voices make my skin crawl.

It’s a fucking musical! Oh my god, there’s one thing to be super duper happy people… but to have them SING about it?! Yes, good song choices. Kudos on the reworkings, but did it have to be so many songs?

The Ugly

The first act is just way too sickly sweet and sugar filled toxic positivity. There’s just something about it that really makes me yak. I get that it contrasts nicely with the Berkens, but that only works if your audience stays with you.
Of course, when your audience is in single, or early double, digits there’s a good chance the adults don’t get a choice. Man, I feel for you all. I really do.

Final Thoughts

Will I watch this again; fuck no! Will I hate watch the other two for some completist compulsion? Alas, yes!

Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken (2023)

Discover the hero just beneath the surface.

Rating PG
Length 1h31
Release 30.06.2023
Director Kirk DeMicco
About Sweet and awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at school, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective mom forbids her from getting in the water. When she breaks her mom’s rule, Ruby discovers that she is a descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her grandmother. The Kraken are sworn to protect the world’s oceans against vain, power-hungry mermaids.
Moon: full moon seen at multiple times
Where to Watch: Now TV
Trailer:

The Good

Following in the footsteps of Disney’s Seeing Red, this film looks at the turbulent time of going from childhood to adulthood.

The characters are pretty cool, and I love the subversion of expectations: making the Kraken good and the mermaids evil.

It’s good to have Jane Fonda and Annie Murphy within the voice cast. There’s something distinctive and soothing about Fonda’s voice and Murphy’s work as Alexis in Schitt’s Creek makes her perfect for the popular student, Chelsea.

The Bad

For a Dreamworks production, there’s something missing. The quality of both the animation and story just don’t reach the quality of any of the other franchises from this company.

The Ugly

The biggest problem is that the opening is told by an omniscient narrator who also happens to be the protagonist, Ruby, and doesn’t know she’s a kraken until half way through the film.
It just puts the audience at odds with the narrative. We already know she’s a kraken because of the title, then the opening tells us too… but then the film plays dumb. It sucks.

Final Thoughts

I don’t regret watching, but I really did find it lacking.