Watching Trolls amounts to having glitter thrown in your eyes for 92 minutes. Yet considering that appears to be the film’s goal, I suppose on some level it counts as a success. There is occasional, absurdist wit here (I loved Cloud Guy), as well as lovely interludes featuring an animated-felt aesthetic that allows some semblance of a human touch. But mostly this is a manic, candy-colored, pop song-peppered assault, perhaps best appreciated as a trippy kids’ flick alongside The Country Bears. The story, which I’ll greatly simplify in a gesture of mercy, involves a tribe of happy-go-lucky trolls whose life of hugs and dance parties is threatened by giant Bergens, miserable creatures who believe eating a troll is the only way to achieve happiness. Unless you’re fully on board with the film’s particular brand of psychedelia, Trolls eventually becomes a chore. When it comes to inventive, animated, bizarro optimism, I much prefer The Lego Movie’s Cloud Cuckoo Land.
