In an unprecedented move by Universal, the studio decided to release Trolls World Tour on Digital instead of moving it to another place on the theatrical calendar as a ton of studio films have been scrambling to do for the past month. Since the DreamWorks sequel became available to rent on Friday, it's strange to not have box office numbers to break down, but we can look at how critics and audiences received the film.
Trolls World Tour has debuted to a small disparity between critics and audiences. Critics are praising a bit more than those who decided to rent the film at home for $20. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was given a 75% fresh tomato score, whereas casual viewers gave the animated jukebox musical 62%.
The rhetoric of some critics seems to be the simple fact that Trolls World Tour is a shot of joy in an otherwise troubling world plagued by a tough situation. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it “over-caffeinated,” yet related it to the current situation by saying it will “entertain quarantined kids," quipping that grown-ups won’t need controlled substances to enjoy its explosions of color.
In Brian Tallerico’s Roger Ebert review, he said the movie “achieves its main goal of delivering a sugar rush to a world in great need of some intense joy right now.” But hey, not every positive review related to easing stay-at-home orders for families, some outlets praised Trolls World Tour for its message of community and embracing differences.
There’s a good amount of critics who didn’t like it though. CinemaBlend’s own Mike Reyes asked someone to “please pinkie promise this will be the last Trolls movie,” along with calling it an “absolute mess” (his full review here). San Francisco Chronicle’s Mick LaSalle warned viewers of an impending headache.
With a look at the audience reviews on RT, there’s a mix of reactions here too. Some claimed the music covers were “terrible,” others citing a convoluted storyline. There’s a lot of glowing reviews too who called the $20 completely worth it. What I gather from this disparity between critics and audiences is an overall mixed consensus for Trolls World Tour. And the same situation happened for 2016’s Trolls. Critics gave it 76% and the audience’s reviews totaled up to 67%.
Trolls World Tour once again follows Anna Kendrick’s Poppy and Justin Timberlake’s Branch, but this time they will discover a ton of other lands that play other genres of music than the pop music they know. JT is back as the music executive producer following his hit “Can’t Stop This Feeling” and has enlisted the vocal talents of Kelly Clarkson, Anderson Paak, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne just to name a few.
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