Trolls World Tour (2020)

Honestly, there are times when I just don't want to write a review of something I have watched. But I made my viewing choice, I wanted it to go on my blog, and now I am up at 0530 in the morning to write about Trolls World Tour because there are only 24 hours in a day and I was too tired last night to get this done ahead of time.

Following on from the horribly average, but I guess successful enough, Trolls, this sequel comes along to make you look back on that averageness with fondness, and yearn for those good old times when the worst thing a Troll movie did was rework some classic singalong tunes alongside some kid-friendly visuals.

This is horrible. Really horrible. If it wasn't for the charm of San Rockwell (yes, even in animated form, his charm blasts out of the screen and helps things along), I am not sure I would have given it such a relatively high rating.

The slight plot concerns the fact that our two main trolls, Poppy and Branch, find out they are one of a number of troll tribes. Each tribe is aligned with a certain type of music. You have the ones we already know from the first movie, pop trolls, and you also have ones that enjoy techno, classical, country, funk, and rock music. Queen Barb heads up the rock music trolls, and she wants to collect the one guitar string from each troll territory before bringing everyone together into one big world of rock.

Yeah. Although the main message here is about valuing individualism over conformity, it's hard to see beyond the fact that a) trolls are only individual when compared to other tribes, so that's a stumbling block for the main message, and b) rock is pretty much shown as an evil kind of music over all the others.

Everyone returns to the main voice roles they had in the first movie, and Kendrick and Timberlake are still just fine in the leads, although James Corden still gets a few lines to give him the potential to spoil things by being James Corden. Rachel Bloom is suitably loud and impetuous as Queen Barb, and there are cameo roles for Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Clarkson, George Clinton, and Mary J. Blige (to show that the makers of the movie DO know some people who sing songs that aren't just upbeat pop tunes). I already mentioned Rockwell, but he's definitely worth mentioning again.

Walt Dohrn returns to co-direct, this time with David P. Smith alongside him (his first feature). Everything is as you'd expect from a sequel to Trolls, although maybe slightly worse in the obviousness of the various design choices and attempts to build different worlds.

Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger are back to write the screenplay, helped along by Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, and Elizabeth Tippet. Five people. It took five people to write this piece of crap, and yet there still isn't enough here to make it worth your time. No great character moments, no funny lines of dialogue to single out, no redeeming value in the muddled message at the heart of it all. Even the soundtrack is just a big mess.

One to avoid, although I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who felt differently about this. It's one of those films that you find hard to consider anyone being a fan of.

3/10

You can buy this shiny set here.
Americans may want to go for this.

Sorority Boys (2002)

A lowbrow teen comedy that focuses on some clumsy cross-dressing for the majority of it’s comedy may not sound like something very appealing but I happily recommend Sorority Boys as a great laugh and a perfect distant relative along the branches of the fraternity comedy family tree that grew from the seed planted by Animal House (a movie given many nods throughout) many years ago.

Three young men are very popular members of the KOK fraternity, where the parties are always lively and the women are always attractive. In fact, if any women from the much-derided DOG fraternity try to get in then it’s not long until the cry of “dogcatcher” is heard and a net is thrown over the unfortunate individual, who is then ejected from the party. It’s a great life. Women are treated with a complete lack of respect, beer is drunk in large amounts and the guys don’t have a care in the world. Until the money that they’re safeguarding, to be used in the funding of the all-important “cocktail cruise” where futures are often decided, goes missing. Or is stolen. Proving their innocence will be difficult, due to the fact that they are run out of the fraternity. In an effort to buy some time the guys don some womenswear and end up spending more time than they ever thought they would in DOG house. You can probably guess what kind of antics ensue and what lessons could be learned.

While there’s no denying that Sorority Boys is fairly formulaic and predictable stuff, there’s also no denying that it aims to provide simple, unpretentious, laughs. The first 10-20 minutes are downright offensive for any female viewers but it’s all necessary stuff so we can watch the guys go along a very steep learning curve and be dealt some humility.

The men in drag are all good sports and look comical as women. Barry Watson is the one who comes close to almost looking ladylike for all of two minutes as Dave/Daisy. Harland Williams is almost scary in a dress but also constantly hilarious as Doofer/Roberta. And Michael Rosenbaum, as Adam/Adina, sits uncomfortably in the middle while receiving the roughest treatment at the hands of men he used to consider friends. Melissa Sagemiller is the pretty head of the DOG house while Heather Matarazzo, Kathryn Stockwood and Yvonne Scio also join in the miserable company.

The script by Joe Jarvis and Greg Coolidge is very mean throughout but also very funny. When the guys are mean it’s all a set-up for the comedy derived later in the movie as the tables are turned. When people are mean to the guys (dressed as women) it’s both hilarious and deserved. The fact that the guys quickly seem to get in touch with their feminine side is another well-mined rich vein of humour (Rosenbaum obsessing over the size of his backside may be playing up to a stereotype but is also very funny while Barry Watson gets so comfortable so quickly that it’s no wonder he gets one or two funny looks from the others).

Wallace Wolodarsky directs things with great energy to compensate for the inherent implausibility of the material. Cross-cutting between characters for extra comic effect, exaggerating some ridiculous situations and topping off any semi-serious moments with a rude punchline – these are just some of the ways in which Wolodarsky makes the best of the enjoyable, lightweight material.

It’s quite possibly the best cross-dressing comedy since Mrs. Doubtfire. Without the schmaltz. 

7/10. 

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