USA 2023
Opening October 19, 2023

Directed by: Walt Dohrn, Tom Heitz
Writing credits: Elizabeth Tippet, Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Principal actors: Animation: German: Lena Meyer-Landrut, Mark Forster, Friederike Walke (English: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel)

Floyd, Clay, Branch, John Dory, and Spruce are five trolls leading separate lives. Long ago, they were together in a successful band, Brozone. Now Branch is in love with Poppy, and they are on their way to the wedding of their friends Bridget and King Gristle. Spruce has renamed himself Bruce; he has a wife and children. Plans change when Floyd is captured and imprisoned by two singers—Velvet and Veneer (brother and sister known as BopnTop). The trolls must unite quickly to rescue him. Poppy helps and along the way, makes the acquaintance of Viva, who, we soon learn, is her unknown sister.

This animated film opens with the sentence “Showtime in just one minute.” Then it’s all showtime with fantastic colors, animation, and action supported by over 30 songs, sung in German and English, some of which you will recognize, such as “Sweet Dreams are Made of This.”  Trolls have been around since the early 1990s in videos, short films, and television. This is the third in a series of Trolls feature films which began with Trolls in 2016. The title Trolls - Gemeinsam Stark translates to Trolls Band Together. My colleague Amber, age 11, says, “The larger characters are gruesome and many look like hand puppets. The storyline about brotherhood and finding each other, as well as the singing and the various sites are fantastic. I’ve never seen so much talent.” (Becky T.)