#had to include a Tiny Guy thus the Gnome

[theriu]

All creatures were chosen at random (i.e. as they popped into my head). I used "Wyvern" because creatures that fall under the term "Dragon" can be Literally Anything, so wanted to narrow it down slightly. I will not be placing any other limits, please share any personal interpretations* regarding your choice's superiority in the replies/tags :D

*(But for my sake, please TRY to keep it PG, no graphic descriptions of guts and gore I beg you. Pretend it's WWE and they all go out for coffee later or something.)

[theretroperspective-blog]

Is "Trolls" About Battling Depression? Or is it Just Me?

“Trolls” DreamWorks, 2016

So. “Trolls” came out November, 2016, but I didn’t get to see it until around March of this year. And I LOVES IT. While I really, REALLY loved all the songs and characters, what hit me hardest was the story they had to tell - at least, the story I heard them telling, which I thought was about fighting depression.

I’ve had depression and anxiety my whole life, and what’s helped me the most (well, the pills help, too), is movies. If you’ve followed this Tumblr, or know me at all, you’ve already figured that out. Movies have taught all of us a lot, and can be a helluva catharsis, therapeutic in many ways.

I also don’t seek out movies ABOUT depression. The subject might be part of a film’s subtext, or even a B - line, but not usually the main focus.

“Trolls” was just supposed to be a fun movie. It had Zooey Deschael, Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” as a major part of the soundtrack, and felt-like, stylized CGI I hadn’t seen before (well, not as much of it as is in this movie).

I guess quirky nostalgia is a thing of mine.

By the end of this thing, I was sobbing like a baby deer with a dead mom, all snotty and choking on my own spit. It was great! I told my best friend Missy that I wanted to blog about my ‘theory’, but wondered - I couldn’t be the ONLY ONE who made the connection, right? I figured that if I looked online (mistake #1), I would find a review (mistake #2) that thought the same (mistake #3).

Take a DEEP BREATH with me…

QUICK-ISH STORY BREAKDOWN

To begin, these aren’t the trolls from the 70’s and 80’s. The minute-sized pencil toppers with a shock of primary colored tuff have been replaced with neon-toned smurf-a-likes that (most of them) wear clothes and fart glitter. 20 years ago they escaped Bergen Town where they’d been trapped by the Bergens, gigantic in comparison to the trolls, and that reminded me of the trolls from the 1980’s Christmas cartoon “The Trolls and the Christmas Express”, both ironic AND nostalgic! The Bergens caged the trolls in a tree in the center of Bergen Town in order to use them to celebrate the annual Trollstice; wherein every Bergen had the chance to EAT a troll, and thus gain True Happiness.

However, King Peppy (sir Jeffrey Tambor) leads them all on a fantastic escape, and saves every - last - one (AKA - setting the precedent), and finds them all a new home - about a mile away, but the trolls are tiny, and have camo-effect, so they’re settled for the next 20 years (and start of the story).

Until Princess Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) decides to throw a rager on the anniversary of their escape, to celebrate not being dead. The only one who protests this plan is Branch (that’s Justin Timberlake), a broody, loner-type with a sad backstory who of course winds up helping Poppy (because every princess in every story needs help… #bitterfeminism). But their relationship feels authentic, showing the steps the two wind up going through to become as close as they do by the end of the movie.

And on that point - SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS

Branch has to help her because her party included screaming-loud electronica, complete with blasting bass and fireworks. And that grabs the attention of the exiled Bergen Chef (oh god I love her Christine Baranski), who’s been kicked out of Bergen Town when the trolls escaped, and ever since then has just been waiting on the outskirts for her opportune moment. When she sees the party and reaches the troll village, she grabs all of Poppy’s closest friends, taking them back to Bergen Town and fully intent on coming back and finding the rest later.

Back in Bergen Town, Chef presents the captured trolls to Prince Gristle (Christopher Mintz Plase), and begins to work on programming him to believe completely that happiness can only come from eating the trolls, that only SHE can provide. But what the prince doesn’t know is that the scullery maid Bridget (Z.D.) is frantically in love with him, and ends up getting a makeover and friendship from Poppy, who of course travels to Bergen Town to rescue her friends, and has brought a 'reluctant’ Branch, who eventually gets his own chorus for the tragic backstory flashback where the reason why he doesn’t sing is revealed. In the end, everyone learns how to be happy on their own terms, people fall in love, and find their places in their world.

That is BASIC outline material. What I can’t show you are the musical numbers that hit you almost out of nowhere (I won’t hear Simon & Garfunkles’ “Sounds of Silence” the same way again), the most poignant being Kendrick’s spritely rendition of the original song “Get Back Up Again”, where she sings/screams about not letting anything stop her while dodging various predators and near-death experiences that gives it a sardonic twist, helps the medicine go down.

I’VE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE

So I’m watching this movie, and I’m wondering to myself - is it just me, or is this movie actually about fighting depression?? And what better way to find out than to randomly peruse the internet, and a Google search later and I had me some revues.

YEESH….

It's fine that not everyone enjoyed this movie, I even expected some backlash of cynicism for something so unabashedly cheerful, bright, AKA 'spunky'. It's a cynical world, and I'm a weird, realistic optimist, but almost every bad review was following one central theme; that this flick is trying to sell you something, and it ain't happiness. Like the review from rogerebert.com by Susan Wloszczyna (11/4/16), who writes: "We are but mere humans, and it will be hard to resist the pre-fabricated pseudo charms of an escapist musical fantasia that invests most of its ingenuity into its insanely infectious soundtrack." I agree with the first part, it IS hard not to like this movie. It's bouncy. It's fun. But I believe she continues to say your enjoyment would be mostly due to the soundtrack only, which is overly critical of the narrative. While the characters aren't any study in depth, they do have actual conversations with each other, act as protagonists that MAKE things happen (as they should), and feel real. They're more than just CGI puppets on the strings of commercialism. You root for Poppy and Branch, both to save their friends AND find common ground with one another. From that same review; "Of course, love eventually conquers all but it can't camouflage the fact that the narrative is so weak that it is not just secondary to the musical numbers, but perhaps even tertiary, considering the merchandising push behind this enterprise." Which was actually pre-empted by "All you have to do is sit through the end credits to see how many bodies were devoted to securing licensing deals (Target.com alone lists 165 tie-in products)." I eye rolled so hard there I have permanent strain. Yes, the music is often spot lit, but in no way does it over-shadow the story that's being told here. From the beginning there's an undertone of empathy, like with baby Prince Gristle's prayer of "Please make me happy Princess Poppy." (Morbid, since he's gonna eat her, but we've all said a prayer that things go right), to King Peppy's regret when he realizes, "...I'm not the King I once was." These are thoughts and feelings we can all say we've had in our lives. That bit about Target - it's true, this movie had a LOT of tie-ins, but it's not shoving it down your throats. Do I believe there's a marketing element? Sure! I think there's marketing in ALL high concept, possible tent-pole studio releases. I'm paranoid like that. At least five of the eleven reviews I read continued on in this line of cynicism. Here's another one, from Matt Goldberg's 11/3/16 collider.com review: "But DreamWorks Animation saw an IP, assumed it was valuable, and that's how we've come to a 'Trolls' movie that no one particularly wants, needs, or should care about..." Now that's just mean. There are a LOT of unneeded, unasked for movies out there that still get made ("Smurfs", "Transformers", "Smurfs 2"). THIS movie has something those don't - a solid message. There was one person that made a critical and exceptional point. From pluggedin.com, "However, always being that euphorically enthused does have its drawbacks. For one thing, it emphasizes to those less happy sorts that they're kinda missing out." THAT ... is a great statement, and very true. In the film the Bergens only realize their inherent depressive state in comparison to the Trolls unending happiness. But it's an important tool in showing the audience the Bergens' state of being, an example of why these guys are searching outside themselves to find the joy they're looking for. THE GOODS OK, enough cynical, downer BS - to the good stuff! Let's start with those musical numbers and how they were used. From Owen Glieberman's 10/8/16 variety.com review; "The films' disco pulse gives it a throb of ecstasy, and this does more than create a handful of kicky musical sequences. It lends resonance to what it really means to be a happy troll - it lifts them out of the realm of the Smurfs or the heroes of a genial mediocrity like 'Gnomes'." That's what I'M saying! In the climax to Act 2, when all the trolls are captured and it looks like they're literally about to be in the frying pan AND the fire, Poppy has lost all hope, and actually turns gray, losing all color and, showing their solidarity, the rest of the trolls follow suit. It's at this moment that Branch finding it in himself to care, sings a beautiful rendition of Cyndi Laupers' "True Colors", and its haunting how well that song fits not only the moment, but the idea that this film is about struggling with sadness, not just in certain moments, but a life-long act of defiance for some of us. It also proves that there was definite thought given to the musical choices, to how they'd fit in the narrative. As Gwen Ihnat from avclub.com put it in her 10/31/16 article; "Trolls may have a lower bar going in, but the movie scales it quickly and admirably by defying conventions, adding both new and familiar musical numbers, and hiding a valuable, Zen-like message in plain sight...Trolls winds up transforming from a prospective toy commercial to a spiritual lesson about being content with what you already have." IS IT ABOUT DEPRESSION OR NOT? To me? Yup. "Trolls" hit that chord hard in me, and maybe it will in you, I'm not sure. I think a lot of moments reached that idea, plus the film has an overall optimism but doesn't punch you in the face with it like a lot of movies for younger audiences tend to do these days. I'd encourage anyone who leans to films that say a little more than intended to check out "Trolls". As for the grumpy pundits on commercialism that can't see the forest for the merchandising - I feel really bad for you, and if you need somebody to talk to, I'm here. "Trolls" is available to rent now or you can catch it streaming on Netflix.