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Trolls

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This article is about the movie. For the franchise, see Trolls (franchise). For the character species, see Trolls (species). For other uses, see Trolls (disambiguation).



Trolls is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film based on the dolls created by Thomas Dam for his Good Luck Trolls franchise. It is the first film in the DreamWorks Trolls franchise. It was directed by Mike Mitchell with co-direction by Walt Dohrn, produced by Gina Shay, and written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, and Erica Rivinoja. The film stars Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christine Baranski, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Russell Brand, Jeffrey Tambor and James Corden. It revolves around two Trolls on a quest to save their village from destruction by the Bergens.

The film's first teaser was held at the Licensing Expo 2015.[4] Produced as the 33rd full-length animated feature by DreamWorks Animation, the film premiered on October 8, 2016 at the BFI London Film Festival, and was theatrically released in United States cinemas on November 4, 2016, by 20th Century Fox; it followed the production of DreamWorks' previous Trolls concept. A sequel, Trolls World Tour, was released on April 10, 2020.

The movie was the launch of the main "DreamWorks Trolls" brand, and is one of the two Trolls Doll-related brands DreamWorks currently holds licensing for, the other being the "Good Luck Trolls" brand, the flagship brand for the Trolls licensing. The Trolls movie also marked the re-branding and re-introduction of the Good Luck Trolls franchise as a whole, after its decline since the early 1990s, being the first successful attempt to bring back the brand since the Troll Doll craze in 1992-1993 after the failure of Trollz in 2005, over a decade earlier.

Synopsis

DreamWorks Animation’s TROLLS is an irreverent comedy extravaganza with incredible music! From the genius creators of SHREK, TROLLS stars Anna Kendrick as Poppy, the optimistic leader of the Trolls, and her polar opposite, Branch, played by Justin Timberlake. Together, this unlikely pair of Trolls must embark on an adventure that takes them far beyond the only world they’ve ever known.

20 years after the Trolls escaped from the Bergens, who eat Trolls as they believe it makes them happy, Princess Poppy throws a party that attracts the attention of banished Bergen Chef, who captures her friends. Feeling responsible, Poppy enlists paranoid disgruntled survivalist Branch to go along with her on a quest to save Troll Village's population from the Bergens. Their king, King Gristle Jr., plans to serve the Trolls to his kingdom, oblivious to the romantic infatuation towards him by the scullery maid Bridget.

Plot

The Trolls are small colorful creatures who live in an almost perpetual state of happiness, singing, dancing, hugging, and having fun all day. However, they are discovered by the Bergens, large, ugly miserable creatures, who can only feel happy by eating a Troll. The Bergens imprison the Trolls and eat them every year on a special occasion, called Trollstice. The Trolls, led by their king, King Peppy, with his baby daughter, Princess Poppy, escape through tunnels on the day of Trollstice, when Prince Gristle was going to eat his first Troll. Enraged, Prince Gristle’s father King Gristle Sr. banishes his Chef, who was in charge of preparing for Trollstice. Chef promises to leave and find the Trolls herself.

20 years later, the now-adult Poppy is retelling the story of how they escaped to a group of young Trolls from a scrapbook. She tells them that she plans to throw a big party to celebrate the Trolls' escape, despite the warnings from the over-cautious and egotistical gray troll, Branch, that loud parties will attract the Bergens. A Troll named Creek, arrives and tells Branch to start being happy instead of being grumpy; Branch refuses. At the party, Branch's warnings come true, when Chef sees the fireworks and kidnaps Poppy's friends Guy Diamond, Biggie with Mr. Dinkles, Fuzzbert, Smidge, Satin & Chenille, DJ Suki, and Cooper, along with Creek, despite Poppy trying to rescue him and Peppy.

Alone inside the bunker, Branch looks at a bunch of homemade party invitations, indicating that he appreciates Poppy's offers of friendship, has an unrequited love for her, and that internally would like to have fun with the rest of the Trolls. Poppy goes to Branch for help, but he refuses, stating he has 10 years worth of supplies in his Bunker and plans to hide. To convince him to go along with her, she brings the other Trolls into his bunker to hide them; with these many Trolls, Branch complains that the supplies will only last a short while. Poppy goes on a rescue mission alone. When she gets into trouble, she's saved by Branch, who thinks she won't make it if she goes alone and wants his bunker back, all of which is Poppy's predictions. Poppy and Branch interact on their journey with each other, with Poppy failing to understand Branch's point of view and Branch finding Poppy annoying. At night, they settle down but Poppy's singing annoys him; he says he likes silence, to which she performs The Sound of Silence in response; this ends with Branch throwing her ukulele in their campfire.

At Bergen Castle, Chef returns with the Trolls and tries to re-instate Trollstice. This is part of her own plot to overthrow Prince Gristle, now King Gristle. She gets her job back and Gristle is in awe of the idea of being happy.

The next morning Branch and Poppy arrive at the tunnels, one leads to Bergen Town and the others to certain death. Cloud Guy appears, annoys Branch to chase him, and both Trolls are led by the cloud to Bergen Town, where they see a crowd of miserable Bergens.

Once inside the Bergen Castle, Poppy and Branch witness Creek getting force-fed to the now-King Gristle Jr. by Chef, but Poppy remains hopeful that Creek survived. Poppy and Branch find the rest of the captured Trolls being guarded by a scullery maid named Bridget (perjoratively called "Idget" by Chef). Poppy discovers that Bridget is secretly in love with King Gristle Jr., and offers to help her get a date with him while trying to confirm if Creek is alive.

While setting Bridget up for the date with a musical number, Branch refuses to sing and triggers an argument with Poppy, revealing that, as a child, his grandmother was captured and got eaten while trying to save him, because his singing compromised his location to Chef. Branch's complete guilt over his grandmother's death caused his color to turn from blue to gray.

After Poppy comforts him with a hug, Branch decides to help Bridget and the Trolls, though he still refuses to sing. Bridget, disguised under the name of "Lady Glittersparkles", gets her date with Gristle Jr. at a roller rink and arcade restaurant, and Gristle Jr. asks her to be his "plus one" at Trollstice. Poppy notices Creek being held captive inside the jewel adorning Gristle's mantle.

Having helped Bridget, the Trolls attempt to rescue Creek from Gristle's room and take his jewel, but discover that it's empty. The Trolls are then captured by Chef, and Poppy gets shocked to discover that Creek sold them out to the Bergens to spare himself from being eaten. Creek lures out every Troll from Troll Village (via Poppy's cowbell), and they're captured by Chef and the other Bergen cooks. With all the Trolls captured, thrown into a pot, and soon to be eaten, a heartbroken Poppy becomes sad and falls into despair after she had been betrayed by her crush, and loses hope as she and all the other Trolls turn gray.

Branch, even though he's gray, tries to sing "True Colors" for Poppy to cheer her up, and also confesses his love for her. Poppy, after regaining her colors and realizing Branch actually cares for her, joins in his song as this makes him happy and he shows his True Colors. As the two dance and sing together, the other Trolls get a sense of renewed hope and regain their colors.

Bridget frees the Trolls from the pot, willing to sacrifice herself. Poppy cannot bring herself to abandon Bridget after her sacrifice that is sure to doom her life, and with Branch and her friends, shows the Bergens that Bridget was Lady Glittersparkles, and that it's not necessary to eat Trolls to be happy, and they too, can find happiness within themselves.

The vengeful Chef refuses to accept the peace and tries to kill the Trolls, but is knocked into the pot and sent rolling out of Bergen Town. Chef is set on fire with Creek, who was still in her fanny pack. Both species celebrate, bringing new life to the town and renewing the life of the Troll Tree. Poppy is then declared queen of the Trolls, and shares a hug with Branch.

In a mid-credits scene, the pot Chef and Creek are on stops rolling. Chef prepares to eat Creek herself, but they soon find out that they're on top of a hill monster, who opens its mouth and eats them both.

Cast

Trolls

In some versions of the movie, Harper is referred to as "Painter Troll", while Aspen, Moxie, Cookie and Mandy are left unnamed despite their voice actors being credited as having spoken lines.

Bergens

Other

Production

The production of Trolls came after previous development of a DreamWorks Trolls film was abandoned.

2013

In May 2013, DreamWorks Trolls was noted to have been pushed back for a year to November 4, 2016.[5] The same month, DreamWorks Animation announced that Mike Mitchell and Erica Rivinoja has been hired as a director and screenplay writer to "reimagine" the film as a musical comedy, which will present the origin of the Trolls' colorful hair. On June 17, 2013 it was confirmed Netflix and DreamWorks made a deal to bring 300 hours of animated content to the service provide from the movies Shrek, Madagascar and Trolls.[6]

Lead artist Timothy Lamb was brought onto the project in 2013.[7]

In the same year, Dark Horse comics released a second wave of licensed blind bag Good Luck Troll Dolls.[8]

2014

On June 16, 2014, Anna Kendrick joined the cast to voice Poppy, a princess.[9]

Trademark activity was quite notable in late 2014 and early 2015, even without character name trademarking being accounted. On July 17, 2014, the first logo related to the movie was trademarked. DreamWorks had continued to go with the early name of DreamWorks Trolls on November 13, 2014. Both of these versions had prototype logos filed with them.

The name "DreamWorks Trolls: Cupcakes and Rainbows" was filed as a trademark on December 3, 2014. The logo included in this version bares resemblance to one of Poppy's hairstyles in early concept art, and was likely related to the confirmed TV Series for Trolls, later confirmed to be titled DreamWorks Trolls: The Beat Goes On!. The show was confirmed by one of its animators Jim Mortensen, being worked upon parallel with the movie.[10]

2015

The name "Good Luck Trolls was filed on January 14, 2015 and another logo was made. However, it's unknown if it is related to the moviem as DreamWorks would later release a separate brand of Trolls merchandise with that name under the umbrella branding of "Dreamworks Trolls".

On September 15, 2015, Deadline.com reported that Justin Timberlake will voice a character named Branch.[11]

2016

The full cast announced their respective roles via announcements on Twitter on January 6, 2016.[12]

Director Mike Mitchell and co-director Walt Dohrn presented footage from the film at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International.

On January 28, 2016, a teaser trailer was released on YouTube.

On February 4, 2016, DreamWorks trademarked the film under the term "DreamWorks Trolls" for toys and playthings, clothing, children's books and downloadable software. This also confirmed they had gone with the name "DreamWorks Trolls" as a name for the movie.

In April 21st, 2016, trademarks for the movie were made for lotions, toys and playthings and food items.

On June 29, 2016, the film's first trailer was released online and on the DreamWorksTV's YouTube channel. A second trailer was released online on September 14, 2016. A third and final trailer was released online on October 7, 2016.

Trolls was theatrically released in all United States cinemas on November 4, 2016.

2017

Trolls was released on Digital HD and 4K Ultra HD in January 24, 2017, and on Blu-ray and DVD in February 7, 2017.

From June 7, 2017 to December 7, 2018, the film is available to stream on Netflix,[13] and the film returned to the streaming platform after 4 years on December 19, 2022.[14]

Development

Themes

The main theme of the movie is about the lengths some go to to obtain and maintain happiness, as stated in the movie's marketing and books such as The Art of DreamWorks Trolls. Despite the cheerfulness of the Trolls (except Branch) and its brightly colored world, the setting of the story, details such as the Cookin' With Trolls book indicate a more darker theme, and the story implies has a much more sinister undertone about a great horror dealt towards the Trolls by the Bergens as a result of their desire to be happy once a year.

The Bergens are the main focus of this theme, and it comes in several forms: being willing to eat sentient creatures (the Trolls), Chef wanting to use happiness to have power over her fellow Bergens, Bridget wanting King Gristle Jr.'s love, and King Gristle Jr. believing that there's only one way to be happy, which is eating a Troll. With this, the cost of happiness comes at a price to the Trolls and the Bergens. The Bergens themselves fail to acknowledge that they can be happy without Trolls, as happiness is already inside of them. They're also left unhappy constantly, and can easily be manipulated so long as happiness is promised.

For the Trolls, they represent in the movie happiness itself. They fear Bergens, as their happiness costs the Trolls their liberty, but gives the Bergens an expectation that once a year they can stop being miserable. Their carefree nature means they're naturally happy and lack sadness nor want of it, making Branch the only grey and sad Troll.

Related to this happiness are smaller themes such as social status. Bridget's position as scullery maid leaves her unable to believe her happiness with King Gristle Jr. can never be obtained due to her low rank. Meanwhile, Branch's greyness is unattractive to the other Trolls and his paranoia a subject of ridicule. Branch also gives a small theme of being a Troll who lets his own past experiences deny himself happiness, and is the only Troll from the Trollstice days left with bad experiences hanging over him. Thus, Branch represents self-punishment and guilt, being a denier of happiness.

But happiness is not without its own flaws, and the movie also shows a few negative sides to being happy. As previously mentioned, Chef "controls" the happiness of her fellow Bergens using the Trolls as a means to get what she wants. For the Trolls themselves, one of their most cherished members Creek, who was believed to the most positive Troll in the village but is actually a coward and a traitor, is willing to sacrifice the entire population to stay alive at the cost of their happiness. Poppy also shows blissful ignorance at her party by not treating the Bergens as a threat; thus, her happiness put herself and her fellow Trolls in danger. When it happens, Poppy decides to fix her error and tries to save her captive friends, but after Creek betrayed her and the Snack Pack, she's so distraught at the fact that she and the rest of the Trolls are as good as dead; all the color drain from her body, leaving her looking like Branch, with all the other Trolls following suit.

Software Usage

The main problem presented with the films approach to CGI rendering was a choice by the storyline. Trolls were to extend their hair, split and mould into various shapes. The problem this presented is maintaining a consistency in the bend of the hair as it did these things. In addition, another choice was to make the world out of wooly textures. This provided the tw biggest artistic challenges of the film.

The result was that both animation and character effects teams had to work closely together. The Character effects team was repsonisble for control of the hair animation. Trolls produced large hair hair rigs, which had to be robust. In larger scenes, animation effects would have to step in and control the animation taking place with draw overs, CV locking tools and animated stylers.

Hair rigs were produced with a modified version of the Spline IK system. Each rig has 3 primary IKs and 10 secondary, rigs also had to scale and warp with their cage and grow as animation required. The hair rigs required large amounts of control and accuracy of shapes was critical. A kink styler also ahd to be added to willow to control some noise and space manipulation. A convex NURBS tube was used during chorographical shots to control the hair in a artistic manner. Keith's running gag of hiding in Troll hair also required a collision styler in willow.

To control Bridget's hair, the rainbow wig was split into 8 parts. The software handled the control of wig both when it was formed and when it was deconstructed. Fire was constantly rendered as hair and followed much of the same principles as other examples of hair. Shots were renders using a mixture of techniques to suit the scene. Most destruction on set took place at Troll height (6 inches) so most of the textiles were visible in shot. However, this had to be maintained for the Bergens as well and digging through dirt and rock would also result in fuzz, wool and hair. The technology behind Trolls was an achievement for the hair and textures alone, but proved that the same techniques could be used for non-hair elements.[15]

Character Development

General

The main character of the movie was decided upon being named "Poppy" after the color "poppy pink". Originally, they went for a more 1980s-style of character design, but rejected it for a more ugly-cute style as it gave more distinction in character design. As Poppy's design changed, so did the general style of the Trolls themselves, and each version of Poppy caused a different art direction. A number of artists produced designs for the concept of Poppy. Timothy Lamb's art style was chosen as the overall look. Other artists included Craig Kellman, who did a number of character studies, and Sebastian Piquet, who made color concepts, including one of Poppy's dress designs of which seemed to have been used for her appearance in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!. Priscilla Wong also did the costume that would be her royal attire in the original party scene, which would have been Poppy's coronation. Poppy had a number of dress designs which were used for a scene removed from the film. She was even at one stage considered for having a gem, but it was removed. At one point, Poppy was even supposed to be naked, but this was dropped.

Poppy was one of the first characters designed. As Poppy's design was completed, Branch became the focus. Branch was made to be her counterpart and was considered much easier to draw, since he just had to contrast Poppy's design, i.e. grey colors against Poppy's vivid pink. Similarly to Poppy, Branch had a gem in his belly button that was added and removed. His attire went through a number of alterations, but was always based upon survival-style clothing made from found items such as leaves. He was often depicted with weapons.

Cooper's design was also overhauled a number of designs, and was based on an old animal Troll doll Dam Stuff produced of a giraffe. His design went through lots of alternations, and was also produced quite early on, as his initial design matched the 1980s design Poppy had. At different points, he would look very different in design.

Satin & Chenille also had a number of design changes, and were supposed to change outfits regularly throughout the movie, but this was dropped due to costs. The twins had numerous design concepts.

Snack packcropped

The Snack Pack design comparison

By the point Cooper, Biggie, Smidge, Branch, and Poppy were at some sort of design status, they were lined up against a design chart. The print of this from The Art of DreamWorks Trolls shows that more members of The Snack Pack were originally intended; the rest weren't yet finalized. DJ Suki was originally trademarked as "DJ Harmony", but this name was changed less than a month later on February 25, 2015, when new trademarks were filed under her finalized name of "DJ Suki".

The Bergens were meant to be unattractive and miserable looking monsters that ate Trolls. Bridget and King Gristle Jr. were made short for their species, which made them unattractive to other Bergens for this reason. Gristle's direction was simply that he was spoiled and wore the same clothes as a teenager, hence they didn't fit him. Bridget's design was made alongside Zooey Deschanel's performance, so voice actress and character development were side-by-side designs. She was one of the more fun designs to come up with for the artists. Her persona "Lady Glittersparkles" was based on a 1970s diva (generally referring to a female celebrity). The Bergens in general were meant to be based on 1970s slum. Craig Kellman initially came up with the more weirder approach to the Bergens with tight clothes and high waists.

Unused Characters

Creek was meant to have a charming and handsome look, and went through several designs, many of which had his hair glistening. Grandma Rosiepuff was also added to give Branch a traumatic background. These two characters are a split of an initial character who was meant to be the one who betrayed the Trolls, Miss Guffin, until she was scrapped as she seemed too appealing and they thought she was so funny that no one could recover from her betrayal. Miss Guffin actually had a trademark in her name on January 20, 2015. Presumably she was dropped as a character by June 10, 2015 as this is the date of Creek's trademark.

A number of other characters were made for the film that did not get in: Maddy, Cybil (whose guru aspect was also reused for Creek), Aspen Heitz, Karma, Harper, the only one of these Trolls to actually appear in the movie with a background role. Aspen's design, alongside other more characters, was instead used for a Random Troll model, which appeared in the inital escape from Bergen Town.

Other

Kevan Shorey confirmed that a lot of cheating went on with the characters' models. An example was uploaded of Poppy and Branch's hug at the end of True Colors, demonstrating that Poppy's head actually moved into Branch's, but from the angle seen in the movie this wasn't apparent.[16]

Plot Changes/Scene Deletions

Original Storylines

Trolls was originally not going to be a musical.

Even after becoming a musical, the original plot was on how the Trolls gained their colorful hair, and thus was an origin story on Troll hair. Overall, what remained is that Trolls was meant to be an origin story for further installments of the franchise.

Even in the final version of the storyline, the plot would involve Poppy becoming Queen due to her father becoming senile. The 20-year party was originally going to be her coronation, but this was changed to make Peppy's character more like a wise teacher. The plot wasn't forgotten, and Peppy's former persona would be later given to King Thrash in the Trolls World Tour sequel.

As mentioned in "Character Development", Miss Guffin was meant to be the original betrayer of the Trolls, before Creek was created.

Deleted Scenes

Poppy was going to have a story time with some of the village's children, with King Peppy being part of the attendance.

Satin & Chenille had a scene where they showed Poppy a number of dresses they had made for her cut coronation party. The scene was cut as a feedback, after it was given a test viewing that noted how it made Poppy look spoiled.

Chef's song Bringing Back Happy was also cut from the film, being replaced with dialogue from her.

Another cut scene involved King Gristle Jr. and four Bergen Castle guards chasing down Poppy, Branch and other Trolls (though not all of them from the Snack Pack) on rollerskates after Gristle caught them out in the streets. Unlike most of the aforementioned scenes, which had been fully animated, this one was only made into an animatic.

Concept art shows that early on Branch's hair was meant to be part of the "Lady Glittersparkles" wig. In the movie, Branch isn't involved in making the wig, except when Poppy and The Snack Pack save Bridget from Chef.

World Building

The textile landscape was chosen to make the world look like it wasn't CGI and had actually been made by hand. A number of landscapes had real-life models produced to represent them and see what they look like. Early concept art didn't have this knitted-world look to it.[17]

The film used a number of textures, some of which were devised along the development of the film and thus were used by Trolls for the first time. The Trolls' habitat went through several redesigns, but mostly focused on them living in the trees.

For the Bergens, a drab palette and 1970s slum look was chosen. Overall, Bergen Town was meant to be a contrast to the forest the Trolls lived in. Initially, they were meant to have vehicles like cars and motorcycles, but none made it to the movie, though they're referenced by odd things, such as Prince Gristle's bike as a baby in the opening sequence and a tire in the Cloud Guy scene at the Tunnels of Certain Death.

The world design of Trolls wasn't allowed to touch water.[18]

Music

For the score of the film, see Trolls (Original Motion Picture Score).
Main article: Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

After being announced as the voice to the lead character in the musical comedy Trolls opposite Anna Kendrick,[19] Billboard reported that Justin Timberlake also signed on to write and perform original music for the film.[20]

By the time Timberlake joined the project, there was still some original music needed to be written for the film. Timberlake planned to cover the disco genre among the variety of pop songs present in the film.[21] For the soundtrack album, Earth, Wind & Fire re-recorded "September" with Timberlake and Kendrick.[22]

In November 17, 2016, the song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" won the "Hollywood Music In Media Award for Best Song Written for an Animated Film".

Movie Songs

Movie

  1. Celebration
  2. Hair Up - Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani & Ron Funches
  3. Move Your Feet / D.A.N.C.E. / It's A Sunshine Day - Anna Kendrick & Ron Funches
  4. Get Back Up Again - Anna Kendrick
  5. The Sound of Silence - Anna Kendrick
  6. Dream a Little Dream of Me
  7. The Fakeover
  8. Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
  9. Theme from A Summer Place
  10. Hello - Zooey Deschanel
  11. I'm Coming Out / Mo' Money Mo' Problems - Anna Kendrick, Zooey Deschanel, Gwen Stefani, Aino jawo, Caroline Hjelt, James Corden, Ron Funches, Kunal Nayyar & Walt Dohrn
  12. They Don't Know - Ariana Grande
  13. I Feel Love
  14. True Colors - Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick
  15. Can't Stop the Feeling! - Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick

Ending Credits

  1. September - Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick
  2. What U Workin' With? - Gwen Stefani & Justin Timberlake

Soundtrack

See Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

Cut Songs

Success and Critical Response

The film itself grossed over $346 million in cinemas and made a profit of $19 million. The rest of the money grossed was taken up by its price tag of $125 million, while its global P&R costed $105 million. It made a further $170 million from TV revenues.[23]

By February 2021, Trolls made over $343 million in box office sales, both domestically and overseas, and another $71 million on home video sales, including DVD and Blu-Ray.[24]

Despite its commercial success, there was still much criticism towards the movie upon its release, often being compared to Sony Pictures Animation's two The Smurfs animated films released at the time; one of the common cited advantage that the movie over them had was less Canon from its source material to rely upon. The cast was noted by Forbes reviewer Luke Y. Thompson to be one that would not appeal to the target demographic, but a wider "hipper" audience. He said that the movie was badly timed with Doctor Strange being released at the same time.

The movie was praised for its trippy experience and excellent setting. The Bergens were compared as being a cross between Gargamel from The Smurfs and the Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine, while the Trolls were seen as Prozac that the Bergens popped to feel better. The film's world was described as "reassuring" and "unsettling". Story-wise, it was described as following the typical plot formula that DreamWorks was criticized for constantly using during the 2000s, but with a few twists.[25]

Rotten Tomatoes has a rating of 75% and 67% from critics and viewers, respectively. Most reviewers noted that its trippiness and fun make it "hard to dislike", while others just flat-out disliked it for that reason among others.[26] In spite of this criticism, general responses from parents and children were almost always positive.[27]

Awards & Accolades

Year Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
2017 Academy Awards Best Original Song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" – Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake Nominated [28][29]
2017 American Music Awards Top Soundtrack Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Nominated [30]
2017 Annie Awards Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production Tim Lamb and Craig Kellman Nominated [31]
Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Kendal Cronkhite and Tim Lamb Nominated
Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Claire Morrissey Nominated
Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Zooey Deschanel Nominated
2017 Billboard Music Awards Top Soundtrack/Cast Album Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Nominated [32]
2016 Critics' Choice Awards Best Animated Feature Trolls Nominated [33]
Best Song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" – Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake Nominated
2017 Golden Globe Awards Best Original Song Nominated [34]
2017 Grammy Awards Best Song Written for Visual Media Won [35]
2017 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Best Song/Recording Created for a Film Nominated [36]
2016 Hollywood Film Awards Hollywood Song Award "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake Won [37]
2016 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Best Song Written for an Animated Film "Can't Stop the Feeling!" – Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake Won [38][39]
Best Soundtrack From a Movie Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Nominated
Outstanding Music Supervision – Film Justin Timberlake Nominated
2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Song from a Movie "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake Nominated [40]
2017 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Animated Movie Trolls Nominated [41]
Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick Nominated
Favorite Frenemies Nominated
Favorite Soundtrack Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Nominated
2017 Satellite Awards Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature Trolls Nominated [42]
Best Original Song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" – Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake Nominated
2017 Saturn Awards Best Animated Film Trolls Nominated [43]
2016 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Soundtrack Nominated [44]
2016 Teen Choice Awards Choice AnTEENcipated Movie Nominated [45]
Choice Music: Song from a Movie or TV Show "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake Nominated
2017 World Soundtrack Awards Best Original Song written directly for a Film "Can't Stop the Feeling!" – Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake Nominated [46]
  • Note: Regarding music award shows, only film-related categories are included on this list.

Errors

  • The lever to lower the elevator of Branch's bunker does not appear next to Branch until he needs it to.
  • An animation error occurs when Poppy says goodbye to the Trolls in Branch's bunker; King Peppy is suddenly wearing only his underwear.
  • The movie makes used of random models to fill out crowds. However, many of the color variations of Trolls seen in the "20 years ago" introductory scene do not appear later on. The most notable example is Darius, a Troll named in the Trolls: The Junior Novelization who was unnamed in the actual movie; his exact coloration is never seen again in the movie. However, other Trolls made with the random troll models (used for the crowd simulation) are of characters like Aspen Heitz, Mandy Sparkledust and Cookie Sugarloaf, all three of which appear in multiple locations in the movie unchanged by the 20 year gap from the escape from Bergen Town to the establishment of Troll Village. This sort of error wasn't repeated in Trolls World Tour, which had its crowd filler models and characters adapted from models of named characters such as Clampers Buttonwillow.
  • Cooper mentions having an uncle in the movie. Said uncle never appears despite being mentioned, and his relationship is noteworthy due to Trolls World Tour.

Related Media & Merchandise

Trolls helped contribute to 2016 being a very successful year with licensing of movie product tie-ins. The film's merchandise was a surprising success, and it was one of the bigger launches of the year.[47] By the time approaching sequel Trolls World Tour hit, the franchise was worth $700 million.[23]

As previously noted elsewhere, the original party featured early on was meant to be Poppy's coronation. However, this was changed late into production of the movie, and many early promotional material such as books like Sing With Us! and the 2017 Trolls Annual were released with that particular plot instead of the current one. Thus, the change of plot impacted early merchandise related to the movie.

In total, 10 major new merchandising partners were added to the production of supportive marketing of the movie.[48]

Home Video Releases

The Digital HD and 4K Ultra HD versions of Trolls were both released on January 24, 2017, while the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film were both released on February 7, 2017.[49]

Several versions of the film have been released, including:

  • The normal release.
  • "Party Edition".
  • "Sing-along" version.
  • A special.
  • The "Happy Place Collection", which included Trolls Holiday and season 1 of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!.
  • A special 2-movie release with Trolls World Tour.
  • A Collectable Steelbook was only available from Best Buy.[50]
  • Target later ran a version that included 6 bracelets from Trolls World Tour and a $8 ticket reduction to see the movie in theatres.
  • Walmart included a version with 2 figurines.
  • Best Buy exclusive version with one Trolls comic bundled.
  • Another Target version was released with a second DVD in 2017 that contained a 20-minute bonus disc containing more extras.
  • The movie was also included in the 10-movie DreamWorks collection. The other movies included were The Boss Baby, The Croods, Shrek, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, How To Train Your Dragon, Home, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and Abominable. Other such collections with various movies have appeared since.
  • "Dance! Dance! Dance! Collection" Blu-ray and DVD which includes Trolls: Holiday and Trolls World Tour.
  • Walmart had also released a special limited Edition version of the DVD which came with a wig.[51]
  • A 3-movie release edition with Trolls World Tour and Trolls Band Together.

Note that not all versions were available on all formats.

"A Blu-ray 3D release was also planned to be released and was produced but for some reason it got cancelled."

In the "Trolls: Party Edition", there are 3 different movie versions, the normal theatrical version, the movie with Party Mode and the movie with sing-along version. There are also a bunch of extras/bonus features that comes with the edition, which includes:

  • Travel Through Troll Village
  • Boogie Down in Bergen Town (Digital HD only)
  • Inside the Bunker (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and Digital HD only)
  • Creating Troll Magic
  • The Potion for Stop-Motion
  • Troll 2 Troll (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and Digital HD only)
  • Deleted Scenes
    • Intros by Director Mike Mitchell and Co-Director Walt Dohrn
    • Story Time With Poppy
    • Bringing Back Happy
    • So Many Dresses
  • 2 Music Videos (DVD only)
    • Get Back Up Again
    • Hair Up
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Sneak Peek
  • The World of DreamWorks Animation (Shrek, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, The Croods, Turbo, and Home)

In addition, there is also a Target Exclusive Bonus Disc that came with the Target Exclusive "Trolls: Party Edition", which includes the following extras/bonus features:

  • Cooper’s Colorful Guide to Trolls
  • Rock Your Troll Moves
  • How Do You Rock Your True Colors?
  • Troll Tunes
  • Trolls Create a Scrapbook
  • Cannes Live Performance of "True Colors" by Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick

Follow Your Art

Follow Your Art was a prequel book released for Trolls by Scholastic. The protagonist of this book is Harper, and is narrated from a 1st-person point of view by both her and Poppy.

The Art of DreamWorks Trolls

The Art of DreamWorks Trolls is a book showing the various concepts of Trolls, including details of influences.[52]

Troll 2 Troll

Troll 2 Troll is a short 6-episode series that features Branch and Poppy debating about various topics. Ultimately, the debate derails due to their different personalities. The shorts were released as promotion for the movie.

Trolls Holiday

Trolls Holiday is a half-hour Christmas TV special featuring most characters (except DJ Suki, Creek and King Peppy) from the movie. It premiered on November 24, 2017 on NBC.

Other Specials

Kamal Walker mentioned pitching a Halloween special spec. However, Kamal noted in the following tweets that its just an idea.[53]

Trolls: The Beat Goes On!

Trolls: The Beat Goes On! is a tie-in series based on the film that involves the Trolls' everyday lives. 8 seasons of the series have been streamed on Netflix throughout from January 19, 2018 to November 22, 2019.

Poppy's Playlist

Poppy's Playlist was a promotional website where users can keep up to date with the latest DreamWorks Trolls related video contents.

Trollify Yourself

Trollify Yourself was an online promotional game where they can create their own custom Troll.

Find Your Trollmate

Find Your Trollmate was an online promotional game where they can take a quiz to find out their Troll BFF.

Trolls Musical Hair-band

Trolls Musical Hair-band was an online game where the player can keep the beat while playing songs from the DreamWorks Trolls franchise, including songs from Trolls Holiday. It was a tie-in promo for Trolls Holiday as Musical Hair-band Holiday.

Books

A number of adaptations of this storyline were written by David Lewman, including Trolls: The Junior Novelization. Other books include years 2017 and 2018 of the Trolls Annual, Out of Branch's Bunker (a retelling from Branch's point of view) and a Treasure Trove adaptation. Trolls Cinestory Comic is a comic book-styled re-print of the film that uses screenshots from the film's print-out.

Jewelry

Origami Owl produced a charm series based on the film, named HAIR-RAISING, TROLL-TASTIC LOOKS.

Cosmetics

PÜR produced a tie-in named PÜR X TROLLS, which consisted solely of an eyeshadow palette with 16 colors.

Food & Beverages

Both Burger King and McDonald's ran promotional toylines for the movie.

Sensible Portions also did a promotional tie-in with the Trolls.[54]

The Cookie Jar company also did a Gingerbread house and cookie related party treats.

In 2020, "Good2grow" had a special series of busts released in their "Podz" range with Biggie, Poppy, Branch, Tiny Diamond, Guy Diamond and a few others released. Despite its timing, the promotions featured characters from Trolls rather then Trolls World Tour, Tiny Diamond was the only non Trolls character in the promotion.[55]

Surprise Drinks also did a promotion with Trolls wherein a number of collectibles were available alongside the drinks.[56] The main surprise for the drinks was a collectable figurine, which had a "stamp" on the bottom (ink for usage was not supplied). Aside from a figurine, other surprises the promotion in a separate occasion could include was a temporary tattoo, puzzle and magnet, which each surprise capsule for this had one of each.

TruMoo also did a promotion for their milk which ran alongside the movie for Orange and Chocolate flavors.[57]

Cultural References

  • Unlike many other toylines that have been revamped from older decades such as My Little Pony or Transformers, the Trolls franchise has had virtually no past references to go by. The only other major project for the toyline was the animated series The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors. Meanwhile, Trollz, the only official "Trolls" cartoon prior to the Trolls movie with any form of major world building, ran into numerous problems. According to The Art of DreamWorks Trolls, the lack of a background or story for the Trolls actually gave the filmmakers a lot of room to work with.
  • A lot of critics compared Trolls to the The Smurfs franchise. The world the titular Smurfs lived in orignated in 1952 from the Johan and Peewit comic, into which the Smurfs first appeared in 1958. They were given a spin-off comic of their own a year later, and eventually overtook Johan and Peewit entirely. The first Dam Trolls trademark was registered in 1959; the original Troll Doll is older than this, though the two properties were developed independently of each other, and at the time neither were popular enough to be known outside of their countries of origin.
  • The Bergens' pursuit of happiness from Trolls may be a reference to the older TV series The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors. In it, the "Magic Trolls" themselves were the ones who lacked happiness and they were kept surpressed by the "Warrior Trolls". In the series, the Magic Trolls were the size of Trolls, and the Warrior Trolls the size of Bergens.
  • "Bergen" means "mountain" in several European languages, which is the most likely correct meaning of their name; it refers to how their height appears to the Trolls. It's likely that this is also why the song Hair Up is composed to the tune of In the Hall of the Mountain King at Bergen Castle, as it can referred to as "the halls of the Mountain King [King Gristle]". The use of the "Bergen" term for the species may come from the Norwegian city in which the song's writer Edvard Grieg resided, also named "Bergen". The Bergens resemble the actual folktale trolls from Norse mythology, which were the inspiration for the Troll Dolls. Lastly, the "King" from In the Hall of the Mountain King was also a Troll.
  • Bridget's story is loosely based upon Cinderella's.
  • Trollstice is based upon Solstice, while the Trolls' homes or "pods" resemble charismas tree decoration Baubles.
  • The fake Trolls made out of wood are a homage to the original Troll Dolls which were made of wood and sheep hair before switching to plastic, later with cotton hair. In addition, they resemble the "Russ" Troll Doll look of the 1990s.

Trivia

  • In the trailers, Branch is seen performing "Can't Stop the Feeling!" with the other Trolls, but still has his grey coloration for some reason. This was likely done to avoid spoilers.[58]
    • Also in the first official trailer, Branch had a misleading narration about the outside danger, which is actually referring to how he initially felt about Poppy being incompatible with him, instead of the movie's main antagonists the Bergens.
  • One of the hints that Bergens can be happy without eating a Trolls is that the sheer thought of doing so makes Bergens smile. This is actually a note pointed out by Cinema Wins when they did their "Everything Great About Trolls" checklist and that Chef seemed to know they could be happy without Trolls.
  • From the start of the movie when Poppy is telling the history of her people to the end when she is crowned takes place over the course of 4 days and 3 nights.
  • Poppy's picture frames are a logic-based gag. The first image of Creek is small, but as she expands the frames, the photos of her friends get bigger and bigger, with Cooper's being double the height of Creek's and the twins (Satin and Chenille) being double the width, meaning that it would be impossible for her to have all the frames folded away behind Creek's. This might also be a subtle hint of Creek betraying the tribe and therefore removed from the Snack Pack afterwards.
    • The frames would later appear in the background of Poppy's pod in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, with a photo of Branch replacing Creek's.

Taglines

“

The creators of Shrek, invite you on a musical adventure, that proves one voice can change the world.

”
“

This is a story about happiness, how far some would go to get it, and how far we went to get it back.

”
“

Find your happy place.

”


Videos

Official Trailers/Teasers

Music Videos/Credits

Movie Clips

Clip Compilations

Behind the Scenes

Promotional Videos

Deleted Scenes

Commercials

References

  1. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/trolls-film-review-936514
  2. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-fi-ct-movie-projector-20161031-story.html
  3. ↑ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=trolls.htm
  4. ↑ https://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/06/08/first-look-at-dreamworks-trolls-revealed/
  5. ↑ https://collider.com/boo-release-date-trolls-release-date-dreamworks-animation/
  6. ↑ https://www.ibtimes.com/dreamworks-netflix-agree-bring-original-animated-series-growing-market-streaming-1310249
  7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMXjA6_BfY0/
  8. ↑ https://kastorskorner.com/toy-fair-2013-dark-horse/
  9. ↑ https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Anna-Kendrick-Sing-DreamWorks-Trolls-43487.html
  10. ↑ https://jimmortensen.tumblr.com/post/616883939405086720/how-come-in-trolls-branch-ears-are-pointy-but-in
  11. ↑ https://deadline.com/2015/09/justin-timberlake-joins-trolls-dreamworks-animation-1201527740/
  12. ↑ https://blog.bcdb.com/dreamworks-announces-a-cast-of-trolls-9414/
  13. ↑ https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/coming-soon/june-2017-new-netflix-releases/
  14. ↑ https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/coming-soon/whats-coming-to-netflix-in-december-2022-12-26/
  15. ↑ https://research.dreamworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/26-0269-missey-Edited.pdf
  16. ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1304102383744462848
  17. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMcLQ9Shncf/
  18. ↑ https://www.awn.com/animationworld/walt-dohrn-talks-trolls-world-tour
  19. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/justin-timberlake-star-opposite-anna-823334
  20. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6835152/justin-timberlake-trolls-movie-music-executive-produce
  21. ↑ https://www.thewrap.com/oscar-songs-justin-timberlake/
  22. ↑ https://www.npr.org/2017/02/10/514332025/to-get-his-first-oscar-nod-justin-timberlake-had-to-act-like-a-troll
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/
  24. ↑ https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Trolls#tab=summary
  25. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2016/11/04/review-trolls-plays-like-a-psychedelic-smurfs-spin-off/?sh=1f78bd547f15
  26. ↑ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trolls
  27. ↑ https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/trolls
  28. ↑ http://edit.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/oscar-nominations-2017-complete-list-nominees-960044
  29. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/film/news/2017-oscar-nominations-academy-awards-nominees-1201968107/
  30. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/events/amas/7997612/ama-nominations-2017-full-list
  31. ↑ http://annieawards.org/nominees/#1
  32. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bbma/7752631/billboard-music-awards-2017-nominations-full-list
  33. ↑ http://www.criticschoice.com/critics-choice-awards
  34. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/golden-globes-nominees-2017-list-955075
  35. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/grammys/7686168/grammy-awards-2017-winners-list
  36. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/tv-film/7662395/la-la-land-justin-timberlake-among-guild-of-music-supervisors
  37. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20161031203124/http://www.hollywoodawards.com/2016/10/justin-timberlake-to-be-honored-at-hollywood-film-awards/
  38. ↑ https://variety.com/2016/film/news/la-la-land-hollywood-music-in-media-nominations-1201907464/
  39. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/11/hollywood-music-in-media-awards-justin-timberlake-alexandre-desplat-trent-reznot-1201857357/
  40. ↑ http://www.eonline.com/news/819406/2017-iheartradio-music-awards-complete-list-of-nominations
  41. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/nickelodeon-kids-choice-awards-nominations-2017-full-list-1201975603/
  42. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2016-satellite-awards-nominees-listed-includes-moonlight-la-la-land-950935
  43. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/film/awards/saturn-awards-nominations-2017-rogue-one-walking-dead-1202000833/
  44. ↑ http://www.stlfilmcritics.org/awards
  45. ↑ http://www.eonline.com/news/767635/teen-choice-awards-2016-nominations-announced-see-the-first-wave-of-potential-winners
  46. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/music/news/world-soundtrack-academy-award-nominees-2017-1202526811/
  47. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/licensed-merchandise-sales-hit-2629b-2016-boosted-by-star-wars-1005108
  48. ↑ https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/dreamworks-adds-10-trolls-partners
  49. ↑ https://www.animationmagazine.net/home-entertainment/dwas-trolls-brings-the-happy-home-on-disc-digital/
  50. ↑ https://www.bestbuy.com/site/trolls-steelbook-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-blu-ray-only--best-buy-2016/6395054.p?skuId=6395054
  51. ↑ https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dreamworks-Trolls-Limited-Edition-DVD-Wig-Set/242963670
  52. ↑ "The Art of DreamWorks Trolls", ISBN no.;9781785653025
  53. ↑ https://twitter.com/kemo5791/status/1053749355960655872
  54. ↑ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sensible-portions-announces-animated-movie-collaboration-with-dreamworks-animations-trolls-300339676.html
  55. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/good2growdrinks/posts/2706608639555480M
  56. ↑ https://eu.surprisedrinks.com/productpage-trolls
  57. ↑ http://www.drinkpreneur.com/beverage-industry-news/marketing/trumoo-cooperates-with-dreamworks-to-promote-trolls/
  58. ↑ Branch is still grey.

External Links

DreamWorks Trolls franchise
Movies
Trolls • Trolls World Tour • Trolls Band Together • Trolls 4
TV Specials
Trolls Holiday • Trolls: Holiday in Harmony
TV Series
Trolls: The Beat Goes On! • Trolls: TrollsTopia
Mini-series
Troll 2 Troll • Trolls Holiday Digital Shorts • Ask Poppy • Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School • Trolls: Pump up the Party! • Trolls Scrapbook Stories • It Takes Three
Trolls characters
Trolls - Main Characters
King Peppy • Princess Poppy • Branch • Creek • Cooper • Biggie • Smidge • Guy Diamond • Satin & Chenille • DJ Suki • Fuzzbert • Grandma Rosiepuff †
Trolls - Minor Characters
Harper • Moxie Dewdrop • Cookie Sugarloaf • Mandy Sparkledust • Keith • Darius • Uncle Ron Sr. †
Bergens
King Gristle Jr. • Bridget • Chef • King Gristle Sr. • Chad and Todd • Bibbly • Captain Starfunkle
Other
Mr. Dinkles • Cloud Guy • Barnebis
Cut
Miss Guffin • Aspen Heitz • Cybil • Maddy • Karma
Trolls songs
Soundtrack
Hair Up • Can't Stop the Feeling! • Move Your Feet / D.A.N.C.E. / It's A Sunshine Day • Get Back Up Again • The Sound of Silence • Hello • They Don't Know • I'm Coming Out / Mo' Money Mo' Problems • True Colors • September • What U Workin' With?
Other
Total Eclipse of the Heart • Clint Eastwood • Dream a Little Dream of Me • Celebration • The Fakeover • I Feel Love • Theme from A Summer Place
Cut
Bringing Back Happy
Polski
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