‘Trolls World Tour’ starts out fun, but it gets lost in the conclusion

Posted on April 24, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

Over the past month, I’ve been reviewing new films released on various streaming services, because that has been all is available since movie theaters went dark last month due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

As such, I accidently let the only new film release of the past month slip by: “Trolls World Tour.” Although several films released in the weeks leading up to the closures have since been re-released online for digital rental, “Trolls World Tour” is the only film that had been scheduled for release after March 13 to debut online. Everything else has been delayed to either later this year or sometime in 2021.

Movies such as “Emma,” “The Hunt” and “Bloodshot” — as well as “Trolls World Tour” — are available through various digital avenues for rental for $19.99. I’m not sure if the rules apply universally, but with Amazon you have access to the movies for 30 days until you actually begin the movie, after which it is available for only 48 hours.

“Trolls World Tour” is the sequel to the 2016 film “Trolls” from Dreamworks Animation and is based on the Good Luck Troll toys popular in the 1950s and 1960s and again later in the 1980s.

In addition to expanding beyond just pop music, “Trolls World Tour” is a movie that is trying to do a lot with its story, including attempting to impart multiple messages. In fact, there are so many lessons that it’s no surprise that they mostly get muddled by the film’s conclusion.

At a quite lean 90 minutes, this is a movie that could have used an additional 10 minutes or so, especially in the final act, to help the various plot threads and themes land better than they ultimately do. Up until the end, I was enjoying this movie, albeit not as much as the first one, but the ending is a mess.

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