Families don’t have to achieve perfection in order to live in harmony. Along with a lesson about the breaking down of fear-based barriers, that’s the basic theme of “Trolls Band Together” (Universal), a pleasant third animated adventure for the music-loving, doll-derived beings of the title who first arrived on the big screen in 2016.
This time out, the temperamentally contrasting central couple of the franchise, upbeat Poppy (voice of Anna Kendrick) and worrywort Branch (voice of Anna Kendrick) are successfully navigating the border between acknowledged friendship and mute love. Unexpectedly, however, a secret from the past presents them with a new challenge.
As an opening flashback reveals, in his childhood, Branch was part of a celebrated boy band, the other members of which were his four older brothers: John Dory (voice of Eric André), Floyd (voice of Troye Sivan), Spruce (voice of Daveed Diggs) and Clay (voice of Kid Cudi). But the ensemble had come to a disastrous end, leaving the siblings mutually alienated and estranged.
To Poppy’s amazement all this comes out after John Dory suddenly reappears asking for Branch’s help. Floyd has been kidnapped by a talentless duo of singers, Velvet (voice of Amy Schumer) and Veneer (voice of Andrew Rannells), who are keeping him in an outsized perfume bottle and atomizing his gifts out of him each time they perform.
Together with Tim Heitz, returning director Walt Dohrn presides over another colorful, tune-fuelled and good-natured production. A few potty jokes and one needless sexual gag that only grown-ups are likely to catch aside, it’s a likable diversion suitable for all but the youngest.
The film contains a couple of mild oaths, fleeting mature wordplay and brief scatological humor. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
