Trolls (film)


Trolls is a 2016 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, based on the Good Luck Trolls doll line. The film was directed by Mike Mitchell, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and stars the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden and Gwen Stefani. The film follows two trolls, Poppy and Branch, who go on a quest to save their village from destruction by the Bergens, giant creatures who eat Trolls.
Trolls premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 4, by 20th Century Fox. The film grossed $347 million against a $125 million budget. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Can't Stop the Feeling!".
The film launched a franchise, which included two television specials, Trolls Holiday and Trolls: Holiday in Harmony, two television series, Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and Trolls: TrollsTopia, two sequels, Trolls World Tour and Trolls Band Together, and six short films.

Plot

Trolls are small, cute, colorful, perpetually happy creatures who like to sing, dance and hug all day. They are discovered by the Bergens, large, hideous and miserable creatures who believe they can only feel happy by consuming a Troll. The Bergens imprison the Trolls in a caged tree and eat them every year on a special occasion called "Trollstice".
On the year that Bergen Prince Gristle, son of King Gristle Sr., is due to eat his first Troll, the chef in charge of the ceremony discovers that the Trolls, under the leadership of King Peppy, have managed to escape. King Gristle banishes Chef from Bergen Town, and she vows to find the Trolls, secretly plotting to overthrow the monarchy as revenge.
Twenty years later, Peppy's daughter Princess Poppy organizes a gigantic party to celebrate the anniversary of their escape. A serious, gray Troll named Branch warns that this could expose their home, but everyone ignores him. However, his forebodings are justified; Chef notices the party fireworks, follows them to Troll Village, and kidnaps Poppy's friends, including her secret crush, a "zen" Troll named Creek. While the rest of the Trolls take refuge in Branch's survival bunker despite his objections, Poppy sets off alone to rescue her friends. She gets herself into several potentially deadly situations and is finally rescued by Branch, who thinks her quest is hopeless and only followed her to escape his crowded bunker.
After arriving in Bergen Town, Poppy and Branch sneak into the castle of the new King, Gristle Jr. They witness Chef apparently feeding Creek to King Gristle, but Poppy still holds out hope that Creek is alive. They find the other captives being guarded by a young scullery maid named Bridget; after learning that Bridget is secretly in love with Gristle, Poppy and the Trolls agree to help her get a date with him in exchange for her help in ascertaining whether or not Creek is still alive. When Branch refuses to sing along with the others in the ensuing musical number, he and Poppy argue, and he reveals that he has refused to sing ever since Chef followed his singing to his home and took his grandmother away when he was a child in a past Trollstice. His bitterness at the event also caused him to lost his happiness and his colors to fade into gray.
The Trolls use their powers to disguise Bridget as "Lady Glittersparkles", and she and Gristle go on a date at a roller rink/arcade restaurant. During the date, Poppy spots Creek being held captive inside a jewel on Gristle's mantle. Afterwards, the Trolls leave Bridget and go to rescue Creek, but are all captured by Chef. Creek reveals he is betraying them in exchange for his own survival, and steals a horrified Poppy's cowbell and uses it to summon King Peppy and the rest of the Trolls from Troll Village which they think Poppy’s back and had saved her friends. They are rounded up by the Bergens and imprisoned in a large cooking pot. Hurt over her crush’s betrayal, a heartbroken Poppy then turns gray in her misery, believing the situation is all her fault and the rest of the Trolls also become sad and lose their colors.
Branch, however, overcomes his fear by singing "True Colours" to cheer Poppy up, which successfully brings back both their colors and those of the other Trolls. Bridget, grateful to the Trolls for helping her, secretly releases them from the pot while Chef is not looking. Poppy refuses to let Bridget be punished for their escape, so the Trolls return to Bergen Town, reveal Bridget's true identity to the Bergens and explain that she and Gristle are happily in love with each other.
This shows the rest of the Bergens that they can find happiness within themselves without eating the Trolls, and the Trolls and the Bergens celebrate together in song, ending their feud. Chef refuses to accept the peace, so she and Creek are sent rolling out of Bergen Town on a flaming serving cart, while King Peppy crowns Poppy the queen of the Trolls, much to the Trolls and Bergens, including her friends, Poppy and Branch start a romantic relationship. Then they hi-fives the Cloud Guy, which they encountered earlier on the journey off, and he fell off while laughing crazily.
In a mid-credits scene, the flaming cart that contained Chef and Creek had wheeled and stopped on a hill, and they are relived. However, before as Chef was about to eat Creek, the hill, which is actually a monster, eats them.

Voice cast

  • Anna Kendrick as Poppy, the sweet and optimistic princess and later queen of the Trolls
  • * Iris Dohrn as Baby Poppy
  • Justin Timberlake as Branch, an over-cautious and cynical survivalist Troll who is Poppy's best friend formerly hates singing, dancing, hugging and music, after he turned gray due to his grandma's death
  • * Liam Henry as Young Branch
  • Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Prince Gristle, son of King Gristle Sr., and the second King of the Bergens
  • Zooey Deschanel as Bridget, a kind-hearted Bergen who works as a scullery maid to Chef
  • Christine Baranski as Chef, the sadistic, cruel and power-hungry chef of the Bergens
  • Russell Brand as Creek: a supposedly "zen" troll and Poppy's secret crush, who is actually a coward, a fraud and a traitor.
  • James Corden as Biggie: a large friendly British Troll & the owner of Mr. Dinkles.
  • Jeffrey Tambor as King Peppy: the king of the Trolls and Poppy's father
  • John Cleese as King Gristle Sr: Prince Gristle's father and the first King of the Bergens.
  • Gwen Stefani as DJ Suki: a Troll who uses DJ equipment made of insects.
  • Ron Funches as Cooper: a giraffe-like Troll who can walk on all fours, he raps and plays the harmonica
  • Icona Pop as Satin & Chenille: twin Trolls with a flair for fashion design who are conjoined by their hair
  • Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond, a glittery Troll with a highly auto-tuned voice
  • Quvenzhané Wallis as Harper, a Troll artist with heterochromia who paints with her hair
  • GloZell as Grandma Rosiepuff, Branch's late grandmother who sacrificed herself when she and Branch were discovered by Chef.
  • *Dami Im voices the character in the Australian version.
  • *Susanna Reid voices the character in the UK version.
  • Meg DeAngelis as Moxie Dewdrop, a dancing Troll
  • *Connie Glynn voices the character in the UK version
  • Ricky Dillon as Aspen Heitz, a Troll skitterboarder.
  • *Greg James voices the character in the UK version
  • Kandee Johnson as Mandy Sparkledust, a Troll who designs and repairs treasures
  • *Abbey Clancy voices the character in the UK version
  • Walt Dohrn as:
  • * Smidge: a small, inordinately strong female Troll with a shockingly deep voice
  • * Mr. Dinkles: Biggie's pet stuffed worm.
  • * Fuzzbert: a Troll whose legs are the only thing visible besides his hair
  • * Cloud Guy: an anthropomorphic cloud whom Poppy and Branch encounter during the journey to Bergen Town.
  • * Karma
  • Grace Helbig as Cookie Sugarloaf, one of the Trolls
  • *Carrie Hope Fletcher voices the character in the UK version.
  • Mike Mitchell and Curtis Stone as Chad and Todd, two royal guards that work for the Bergen Royal Family
  • Rhys Darby as Bibbly, a Bergen shopkeeper of the Bib Store

    Production

DreamWorks announced plans for a film based on the Troll toyline as early as 2010. This version was to be written by Adam Wilson and Melanie Wilson LaBracio. By 2012, Chloë Grace Moretz had already been cast in the female lead role and Jason Schwartzman was reported to have been offered the male lead. In September 2012, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation announced that the film with the working title Trolls would be released on June 5, 2015, with Anand Tucker set to direct the film, written by Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes.
By April 2013, DreamWorks Animation had acquired the intellectual property for the Trolls franchise from the Dam Family and Dam Things. Having "big plans for the franchise," DreamWorks Animation became the exclusive worldwide licensor of the merchandise rights, except for Scandinavia, where Dam Things remains the licensor. In May 2013, the film was pushed back for a year to November 4, 2016. The same month, DreamWorks Animation announced that Mike Mitchell and Erica Rivinoja had been hired as a director and screenplay writer to "reimagine" the film as a musical comedy, which would present the origin of the Trolls' colorful hair. On June 16, 2014, Anna Kendrick joined the cast to voice Poppy, a princess. On September 15, 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that Justin Timberlake would voice a character named Branch. Timberlake previously worked with DreamWorks Animation as the voice of Arthur "Artie" Pendragon in Shrek the Third in 2007. The full cast announced their respective roles via announcements on Twitter on January 6, 2016.