‘Trolls Band Together’ Review: Justin Timberlake Takes the Spotlight in Boy Band-Themed Toon Sequel
22.10.2023 - 18:59
/ variety.com
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic When DreamWorks’ original “Trolls” movie was released, it wasn’t immediately apparent that the studio was launching a musical franchise. The rainbow-bright computer-animated feature boasted a sparkly soundtrack and the voice of Justin Timberlake as grumpy, gray-skinned Branch, but it wasn’t until the sequel — “Trolls World Tour,” released straight to streaming during the pandemic — that the series explicitly embraced its top-40 ’tude.
Now, having survived the rock apocalypse of that film, the saga rewinds to explore Branch’s backstory … as the junior member of a boy band, BroZone, in zero-calorie sugar high “Trolls Band Together.” If you’re wondering why this is the first you’re hearing that Branch once performed arena concerts — as the diaper-clad “Baby B” — with older brothers Floyd (Troye Sivan), Spruce (Daveed Diggs), Clay (Kid Cudi) and John Dory (Eric André), just imagine how his girlfriend, Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick), must feel about the news. She’s a huge BroZone fan, rattling off a list of same-sounding song titles (Timberlake clearly has a sense of humor about his early-2000s musical and hair stylings).
Plus, Poppy’s always wanted a sibling, telling Branch, “A brother is a friend who can never leave you,” when John Dory shows up years after the band broke up with a mission to rescue Floyd. Floyd, “the sensitive one,” has been troll-napped by Velvet and Veneer (voiced by Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells), a divalicious brother-sister singing duo from Mount Rageous who’ve figured out a way to extract trolls’ musical talent in order to boost their own.
The website celebfans.org is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.