I took my daughters to see Trolls Band Together, the third film in the series revolving around the multicoloured, pint-size, music gremlins. Since my house’s Spotify has had “I Will Get Back Up Again” on repeat since 2016, this seemed like a good choice.
The film was a lot of fun, revolving around gruff isolationist troll Branch’s missing brothers and his attempts to re-form the family boy band in order to defeat the villains (trust me, it makes more sense if you see the movie). Along for the ride is the series heroine, the irrepressible Queen Poppy, and for some reason the diminutive sparkly troll Tiny Diamond, who frankly doesn’t add a damn thing to the plot.
This got me thinking: what makes a good trilogy? Trolls 3 was a good enough film, but as the third entry in the series it had some hits and misses. Let me explain…
A good trilogy continues to unfold the setting, doing so in a way that connects the current events as the inevitable result of the previous stories. If a story has to resort to “but now here’s an even BIGGER enemy!” then you’re in trouble. Trolls 3 does have some minor callbacks to the earlier films, based upon the fact that the trolls, thought to be extinct, have recently re-emerged. However, Trolls 3 is an “and then” story as opposed to an “and therefore.” For an example of this kind of storytelling done right, check out the Back to the Future trilogy. Decades later, it’s still a classic.
A good trilogy also continues the character arc, often taking them beyond their original motivation and (for extra points) reframing their original context back in the first film. Trolls 3 does a decent job of this, not just taking the grumpy Branch out of his shell but throwing more light on why he was such an isolationist in the first place. Queen Poppy also gets a “secret sibling” plotline, but to be honest it’s very tacked on and if anything clashes with the events of the previous films. The trilogy that does this type of character arc right includes Matrix Revolutions and (surprisingly) Kung Fu Panda 3, the latter of which moves the main character beyond just learning Kung Fu and getting him to deal with his abandonment as a baby as a way of attaining spiritual balance.
Finally, a good trilogy should be a satisfying goodbye to the series. This is harder than it sounds. Some stories fluff the final instalment so badly it drags the earlier stories into the mud (Blade 3, Aliens 3, the Mummy 3). Others have a great, satisfying endings and then for some reason (money) decide to keep going, even after all the loose ends have been wrapped up. I’m looking at you, Toy Story 4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the undisputed champion for a satisfying send-off, but I also adored How to Train Your Dragon: The Lost World. As for Trolls 3? I guess you could consider things wrapped up… but while the story ends well, the series as a whole doesn’t feel finished, so perhaps they’re leaving things open for a fourth film. This would be a disappointing final instalment if that doesn’t happen though.
In any case, Trolls 3, taken as a stand-alone movie, is still a lot of light-hearted fun, if three happy girls singing in the car on the way home is anything to go by. Agree? Disagree? Drop a comment below and let me know!
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