Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Trolls 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Smurfs By Any Other HDR Color...

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 8, 2017

Those little trolls are making a big comeback because of the succinctly titled Trolls, the latest DreamWorks Animation movie based on those tiny, colorful, big-haired creatures that were so popular back in the day as distracting pencil toppers or charming backpack dongles. Of course, now -- thanks market saturation merchandising -- they're everywhere, tied into the new movie and transformed from pop culture phenomenon to the last digitally animated film craze. Their movie doesn't find much of a unique identity, though. Part catchy-Pop Justin Timberlake-produced Musical, part Smurfs, part Barbie films, it's about little beings forced to hide from much larger bad guys that want to eat them to consume their innate happiness. It's ridiculously and diversely colorful, much like the Barbie universe. In other words, it has everything little kids are going to go crazy for. The movie proper just isn't of much value beyond the flash and splashes of color. It's fun but rather generic, bland beyond its colors, but a baseline satisfying little jaunt through the motions as it explores themes of personal identity and finding happiness.

#Trolls!

The trolls are a happy bunch of colorful little creatures who love to sing, dance, hug, and be happy. And that's pretty much their entire world. But one day, a Bergen finds them. Bergens are the opposite: large, ungainly, lacking color or humor or cheerful expressiveness. And they definitely don't hug or dance. The only way the Bergens can apparently be happy is by eating trolls. They make the troll's majestic tree the center of their civilization and hold an annual festival in which they consume their diminutive captives. But this year, the trolls manage to escape en masse. Twenty years pass and the trolls have lived at peace. Princess Poppy (voiced Anna Kendrick) is amongst the most carefree and buoyant. Opposite her is the colorless, conspiracy driven Branch (voiced by Justin Timberlake) who has prepared for the day the Bergens will most assuredly return. And that day is today. The trolls party just a little too loudly and colorfully and catch the attention of a Bergen named Chef (voiced by Christine Baranski), a mean-spirited creature who attacks the trolls and takes several of them prisoner. Now, Poppy and Branch have no choice but to team together, infiltrate Bergen territory, and rescue their friends before they become a Bergen Happy Meal.

The movie does a fairly good job of finding a balance between the extremes on both sides, the happy-go-lucky colorful trolls and the dour, sour, blandly colored Bergens. It's never much of a secret how the film will play out and what it will have to say from a thematic perspective, particularly as it focuses on one troll who has lost his color and spark -- literally and figuratively -- and a Bergen who finds her cheer with a little help from the trolls. In fact, one can almost not help but to feel for the Bergens on some level. Sure they're the big bad villainous goofs with crooked teeth, but their actions are at least understandable. They just want to be happy. They're just going about it the wrong way, and they've never been told differently or had the opportunity to learn from their prey, not just consume them. Yet it's all very transparent as the movie maneuvers through the usual animated fare ebbs and flows of high points and low points, a roller coaster of manufactured emotions and plot contrivances that open up new character details while still remaining firmly entrenched in cliché. It wants to be Inside Out but never finds nearly enough dramatic or structural muscle to push out a story of substance, settling instead for simple gags, catchy tunes, and barrages of cuteness and color with just enough offsetting peril to dazzle the young ones.

Even the movie's technical wizardry doesn't offer enough novelty to prove enticing. The film's visuals admittedly feel fresh (the felt-style texturing is very attractive), but beyond the surface there's not much here that catches one's attention. The trolls themselves are a known commodity and the Bergens are just sort of the standard-fare ogre-type creatures that look like a cross between something out Shrek and the Skeksis. Environments aren't imaginative, either, and even the barrage of color, cheer, and character quirks, particularly from tertiary characters who are essentially repeated one-hit gags, don't prove all that enticing. Add that to the straightforward core story and the tried-and-true themes that are explored to satisfaction but without any appreciable novelty, not to mention stagnant character depth that's only interesting enough to prop up the story and propel it forward, and the end result is a film sure to dazzle kids but more than likely to bore adults who will pine for the better movies in this class and wonder which old-is-new property is next on the list.

Trolls 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Trolls's 2160p 4K (reportedly upscaled from a 2K digital intermediate) UHD presentation is noticeably different than its 1080p Blu-ray counterpart, though certainly not in any bad way. The uptick in resolution definitely produces increased detail. Where the felt-like texturing was plain as day on the Blu-ray and thoroughly enjoyable to look at, the UHD manages to pull an honest bit more raw definition and textural eye candy out of the source. "Skin," as it were, appears appreciably more tactile and revealing of the finest little textures. Environments and troll/Bergen clothes aren't always quite as drastic, but they, too, are both sharper and more texturally dense. The big change comes in the colors. The UHD's HDR color scheme actually makes for a fairly significant difference in viewing. Comparative analysis between the two shows that the Blu-ray is substantially brighter. Colors are more dynamic, vivid, punchy. They're that too on the UHD, but the HDR colors are appreciably darker, more refined, less gaudy, as it were. That doesn't mean the Blu-ray looks bad. It's a circus of cheerful, vibrant colors. The UHD is more reserved in delivery, more willing to sacrifice punch for integrity.

The increase in detailing is noticeable, but not as substantial as the shift in the color palette. Ultimately it'll come down to what the viewer wants more: a slight boost in detail and a more refined (and still very lively) color palette or a slightly less, but in no way lacking, textural presentation with much more cheerful and dynamic but less nuanced colors. Both look amazing. Both look very different. It's a good thing the UHD release comes with both. They make for a very interesting case study in dueling format dynamics, particularly in the HDR arena.

Trolls 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike the standard Blu-ray release of Trolls, which featured a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 loses soundtrack, UHD owners are treated to a "premium" sound experience that's been boosted to Dolby Atmos. Unfortunately, differences are minor and, in some cases, the DTS track seems to have more depth about it. A few of the film's heaviest low end pushes, which come around the 5:15 and 1:12:27 marks, are substantial in both cases, but the DTS track seems a little more aggressive and, more than that, a touch more filling terms of diffusive depth and presence around the stage. Overhead engagement isn't regular nor is it very pronounced; the track certainly entertains some support bits that seem to create a more generally full sense of top-layer spacing, but there's not a substantial and regular barrage of added top-end goodness. The tracks are otherwise fairly similar in terms of musical delivery and fidelity, dialogue clarity, and the like. Both are excellent listens and the differences, favoring one or the other, are generally slim.

Trolls 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Trolls contains all of its supplements on the included Blu-ray disc. No unique 4K extras are included. Note that this version drops the DVD included with the basic 1080p release. An iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Travel Through Troll Village (1080p, 4:43): Cloud Guy hosts a tour through one of the film's primary locations and introduces several key characters along the way.
• The Potion for Stop-Motion (1080p, 5:06): An introduction to some of the amazingly diverse materials used to make stop-motion, scrapbook-y trolls and environments for one of the film's key sequences. It also looks at the process of building them. Arts-and-crafts fans will love this feature.
• Creating Troll Magic (1080p, 5:21): Another piece that looks at some of the more in-depth processes involved in, and inspirations for, building the look of the trolls. It also covers the importance of storyboards, pre-viz, and the various additional digital processes necessary to give the film its finished look.
• Inside the Bunker (1080p, 2:54): Cloud Guy returns to look through Branch's doomsday bunker.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 7:24 total runtime): The directors introduce a few cut scenes in various stages of completion.
• Troll 2 Troll (1080p, 4:46): Poppy and Branch debate a few questions of great import to the world, like "cat or dog?" and "mousse or gel?."
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:05):
• The World of DreamWorks Animation (1080p): Music videos and more from Shrek, Madagascar, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, The Croods, Turbo, and Home.

Trolls 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trolls is in no way a bad movie, offensive, dull, or anything of the sort. It's just trite. Little imagination, commendable but blandly explored themes, simple caricatures, uninteresting construction...the movie is good enough to hold one's interest and keep the kids happy, singing, and pining for that themed lunch box or backpack, but parents will probably find the movie a fairly empty experience. This 20th Century Fox/DreamWorks UHD release of Trolls is very good, albeit a bit of a different viewing experience. The HDR coloring definitely gives this version its own unique look, darker, less punchy, but more refined. Details are increased a bit. The Atmos soundtrack isn't appreciably "better," and in some cases maybe a small step below the Blu-ray's excellent 7.1 DTS track. Supplements are identical between releases, though the UHD package does not included a DVD copy of the film. Recommended to UHD owners, who are encouraged to watch both discs and enjoy one of the more interesting comparisons so far between the two formats.