By Aaron Quinones
Contributing Writer
After the release of “Trolls: World Tour,” things weren’t looking great for the Trolls franchise. “World Tour” wasn’t a great sequel to the first Trolls movie and lacked a ton of memorability, causing many fans of the franchise to simply pretend that movie didn’t happen. Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, “Trolls: Band Together” wasn’t promoted to the media at all and was just simply released a few days after the strike had concluded. Even though “Band Together” wasn’t heavily promoted like the previous movies, on Dec. 1, 2023, “Trolls Band Together” had grossed $68.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $83.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $152.1 million according to the box office. This is an improvement from “World Tour” as “World Tour” only grossed $48 million.
“Trolls: Band Together” has many messages within the movie. They show the message of siblinghood and how siblings should always stick together no matter what terrible things happened in the past. It also shows the ins and outs of the music industry and what most boy bands or girl groups go through while being a group.
The movie starts off with the character Branch as a baby who is voiced by Grammy award winning artist Justin Timberlake. Branch is a part of a boy band with his older brothers called BroZone. One of the members, John Dory, was the oldest member of the group and seemed to always boss around the other members. With their performance approaching, he told the other members of BroZone to try and reach the almost impossible perfect family harmony. The other members hesitated, but before they could protest, they were up to perform. The performance starts off strong, but out of nowhere, John Dory starts to do his own thing on stage.
The other members try following John Dory, but the performance eventually becomes a disaster with all of them being tied up due to them getting caught by strings from the backstage area. After this disaster, BroZone goes back home and all the members start to argue with each other. They decide it’s best to go their separate ways, leaving baby Branch all alone.
The movie then goes forward to present day where Branch and his soon to be girlfriend Poppy, played by Anna Kendrick, are getting ready for King Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Bridget’s (Zooey Deschanel) wedding ceremony. While King Gristle and Bridget are exchanging their vows, suddenly, John Dory shows up. John lets Branch know that one of his brothers, Floyd (Troye Sivan), has been kidnapped by the viral sensations Velvet and Veneer (Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells) and have been sucking his voice out of his body to make their singing voices sound just as good as his. Branch is hesitant to help but is encouraged by Poppy. Poppy says if she had a sibling she would do anything to make sure they were protected. Branch soon agrees but brings Poppy along with him on this new adventure. John Dory says the only way Floyd can escape is by BroZone hitting the perfect family harmony. John, Branch and Poppy soon head out to find the other two members of BroZone.
The three soon find both brothers Clay and Bruce, but while finding Clay, Poppy runs into this other troll named Viva, who is played by Camila Cabello. Viva is fun, exciting and full of energy just like Poppy. After spending some time with Poppy, she soon realizes Poppy’s bracelet which looked exactly like the one her dad gave her years ago.
It turns out many years ago when the Trolls were attacked, Viva and her dad were split up and had never seen each other again. Viva and Poppy soon realize they have the same father, and Poppy’s super excited to find out she has the sibling she’s always wanted. While everyone is ready to leave, Viva tries stopping them. Viva reveals that her group of trolls have never been to the outside world after the attack and how afraid she is to let her sister go again. Poppy makes the decision to go with Branch because BroZone needs her.
The group begins to practice like they used to back in the day, but yet again, John Dory tries taking control over the group. Branch is yet again fed up with John Dory and asks to stop the car. Branch gets out with Poppy because he’s getting horrible flashbacks to when they left him. Branch is determined he could save his brother Floyd on his own.
Branch and Poppy make their way to Velvet and Veneer’s show and try saving Floyd, but there’s no way he could get out without the perfect family harmony. Velvet and Veneer come back into the room while Branch and Poppy hide, and it is revealed Velvet sent the letter to John Dory just so she could kidnap the rest of BroZone. With four of the five members being controlled by Velvet and Veneer, it is up to Branch alone to save his brothers.
Branch and Poppy try tracking down Velvet and Venner but every attempt wasn’t working. Until randomly, Viva, King Gristle and Bridget come to Branch and Poppy’s aid to help fight off the twins. BroZone begins to perform the perfect family harmony and are freed from their diamond cages. BroZone then gets back together as a boyband, and Viva, Poppy and her father are all reunited.
Overall, “Trolls: Band Together” was the best movie to come out of the Trolls franchise. From the soundtrack, star-studded cast, storyline and important messages, it was overall a great movie. It gives me hope that whenever Trolls decides to do another movie that it will just continue to get better and better.
