Trolls

Troll princess Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) sets out to rescue a group of her subjects from the Troll-eating Bergens, commandeering the reluctant aid of Branch (Justin Timberlake), a Troll as grim and churlish as Poppy is upbeat and chipper. It’s another unnecessary animated feature, but it could have been worse; in fact, it’s kind of fun. Directors Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn pepper the numerous pop musical numbers with splashy visual fripperies that underline and italicize the movie’s cheerful sweetness, reminding us of the fertile symbiotic relationship between music and animation—something most animation studios seem to have forgotten. Vocal performance honors go to Zooey Deschanel (as a lovesick Bergen) singing Lionel Richie’s “Hello” and Timberlake’s take on Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors.” J.L.