Trolls: Missione vacanze

Okay, obviously this wasn't Citizen Kane/Paddington 2 but this was really cute! Probably my favorite part was when they had the refrence to the old troll designs from the 1980s. Also, I KNEW i recognized Zoey Deeschanel (Bridget) but I couldn't put my finger on it. A bit too much modern pop music (it is Trolls, after all) and Anna Kendrick's voice is pretty annoying (specifically her Poppy Voice not her actual voice) but it's cute. Show it to your kids around the holiday season, 20 minutes to yourself.

So first, Trolls Holiday is not about Christmas or any other seasonal holiday. It is ok, but disappointing if you are expecting something else. At least the animation on Trolls Holiday is decent.

However, packaged with it (at least on Vudu) are 3 "bonus" episodes - two from the film HOME and one from the CROODS. But don't get excited - these "bonus" episodes are no bonus. The animation doesn't even stand up to Saturday morning cartoons and the requisite laugh tracks are just terrible as are the stories. Just sad. I was expecting the caliber of the films, and this is not it. Very disappointing!

The Trolls movie was enjoyable to watch even as an adult sitting in with the kids it had some amusing parts and worked for the whole family.

Trolls Holiday is a short piece of cash in marketing riding on the back of its predecessor. There is 1 scene that is expanded into 20 odd minutes of song after song, and annoying repetition.

Massively disappointing

The Trolls celebrate almost everyday and everything. In Bergen Town, the Bergens celebrate nothing after they stop eating the Trolls. Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is presently the queen of the Trolls. When she discovers that the Bergens don't have a holiday, she intends to introduce the Holiday with Branch (Justin Timberlake)'s help to the Bergens. Bridget is unwilling to accept it.

Trolls is a surprisingly acceptable animated movie. The super poppy songs fit the colorful Trolls and the poptastic voices. Anna Kendrick's hyper-Try-Hard fits really well. This follows that formula to a tee. It would be better if the Holiday is given a name. It might not be a future classic but it's an acceptable extension of the movie. It's poppy and acceptable.

I'll admit, when I saw Trolls on Netflix last year, I thought it would end up being a disappointment, but it turned out to be much better than the trailers. Sure, it didn't do anything new with it's story and the villain was pretty forgettable, but the main leads were likeable enough, the animation was cute, and the songs were good too.

So, when I heard that DreamWorks was going to make a holiday short, I was interested and hoped that it would be as good as the other holiday shorts like Gift of the Night Fury and the Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special. From what I got, it was decent enough and it's cute and charming in places. However, it's not exactly memorable as there are some problems that held Trolls Holiday back.

The story did feel predictable and at times a bit repetitive at parts, although I do admire it's attempt to stick to the holiday theme. Then, there's the pacing, which felt a bit rushed there wasn't enough time to breath and there's one song number that felt quite unnecessary (I'm not going to spoil to those who haven't seen it yet).

That being said, everything else is good. The animation is even more cute, the most of the song numbers are fine, the characters are charming like they were in the movie, and the voice work is spot on with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake continuing to shine with their chemistry. Oh, and there are some funny moments which gave me a chuckle or two.

So, overall, not exactly as strong as Gift of the Night Fury and the Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, but still cute and charming for kids to see. :)