Don Shanahan
In another edition of our “Off the Shelf” series, leave it to a family fun to bring a physical disc chock full of extras compared to every Oscar-nominated prestige title of the past year. Last month, Dreamworks Animation and Universal Picture Home Entertainment released the bubbly Trolls Band Together: Sing-Along Edition on digital, 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Film Obsessive was able to review an advanced copy of the crowd-pleaser and it blew our socks off with content.
THE MOVIE
Directed by Walt Dohrn, Trolls Band Together sets off an all-star family reunion on screen and off. As Poppy (Anna Kendrick) grows closer to her now-boyfriend Branch (Justin Timberlake), she discovers his secret past as a member of her favorite boyband, BroZone, with his four estranged brothers led by John Dory (Eric Andre). When one of those brothers, Floyd (Troye Sivan), is kidnapped for his musical talents by a pair of nefarious popstars named Velvet and Veneer (Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells), Branch and Poppy embark on an action-packed journey to reunite the other brothers and rescue Floyd. Along the way, Poppy uncovers a family secret of her own, a long-lost sister named Viva (Camila Cabello). Highlighting a spectacular soundtrack which includes the first new *NSYNC song in two decades, Trolls Band Together: Sing-Along Edition features the franchise’s signature psychedelic joy-bomb of new and classic pop hits that will have audiences singing and dancing along over the living room. See our full film review from this past November.
THE DISC
Trolls Band Together: Sing-Along Edition is candy-coated in a wide variety of special features. As advertised in the disc’s subtitle, the leading feature is the karaoke-style layers that put the words out there for the audience to participate at home with the fun musical numbers. It looks good and works to great effect to get viewers moving and teach a few verses to new fans.
Another exciting piece is the animated short It Takes Three. In this original short, Poppy, Viva, and Tiny Diamond (Kenan Thompson) get sucked into the Hustle-verse, only to discover that it is devoid of hustle. The trio decides to sing their way out hopefully generating enough harmony to re-ignite the Hustle-verse and escape. That little journey is joined by three deleted scenes that feature cut-for-time side quests of supporting characters Crimp (Zosia Mamet), Bridget (Zooey Deschanel), and King Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Each are a cheeky dalliance, but were worthy trims to keep the main story thread moving. Topping things off on the film side is a feature-length commentary with producer Gina Shay, co-director Tim Heitz, Head of Story Colin Jack, production designer Ruben Perez Reynoso and visual effects supervisor Marc J. Scott. Their combined conversation dives into the endless layers of the digital creative process and reveals many tricks most won’t notice unless they were told (like how the troll characters’ arms aren’t technically long enough to give full hugs).
Keep with the artistic aim of Trolls Band Together, the disc goes into the design and character creation processes behind the scenes. The “Building the Band” menu features little vignettes introducing cast members and their matching characters, including the new editions like Viva, BroZone, Velvet, and Veneer. Going one step further, the Trolls Band Together disc offers some open-ended creativity with two sweet features. The “How to Draw” sub-menu steps into the BroZone “green room” with story artist Wendy Sullivan where disc owners can learn how to draw your own Viva or design their own BroZone album cover. Perfect for the crafty crowd, there is how-to tutorial on making “Hug Time” bracelets just like Poppy and Viva in the movie. Let’s see a Criterion disc do that.
Finally, a great deal of the love for Trolls Band Together: Sing-Along Edition and its franchise is for the musical program stewarded by Justin Timberlake. Much buzz surrounded the return of *NYSNC, and rightfully. The “Fun in the Recording Booth” section of the disc special features goes into that genesis of that big-name get. “Hi, Hi, Hi” and “Together Again” document the reunion and the backstory of their involvement and on-screen personas. Just like the lead single, Trolls Band Together is simply in a “Better Place” packaged and presented as wonderfully as it is.
