Why is “Trolls Band Together” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some mild rude and suggestive humor.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes, a few flirting scenes, brief Troll nudity, many scenes of a Troll being locked in a jar and slowly losing his color and looking weak, we hear and see a shadow puppet reenactment of Bergens attacking Trolls and eating them, discussions of abandonment and separation from family and siblings, and some exclamations and name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
When the Troll band breaks up and each of the brothers goes their own way, the youngest one remains, waiting for them to return home. After many years pass, they receive a message that one of the brothers has been taken hostage and they must now reunite to set him free. (Editor’s Note: Bergens are a species of creatures seen in Trolls, they are large with bumpy flesh of different colors and crooked teeth and we hear that they used to eat Trolls.) With the voices of Anna Kendrick, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Michael Richardson, Patti Harrison, Andrew Rannells, Daveed Diggs, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kunal Nayyar, Troye Sivan, Amy Schumer, Kenan Thompson, Eric André, Joey Fatone and Camila Cabello. Directed by Walt Dohrn & Tim Heitz. [Running Time: 1:32]
Trolls Band Together SEX/NUDITY 1
– A wedding scene shows a husband and wife Bergen kissing and rolling on the ground after the ceremony. Two Bergens are tied together and pulled along a chute toward large teeth that are chomping down and they kiss making smooching sounds. Two Trolls kiss in a couple of scenes. A Troll holds another Troll’s hand and they hug.
►A Bergen wife tells her Bergen husband, “This is the most romantic honeymoon ever.” A Bergen wife tells her husband, “I didn’t think we’d both find ourselves tied up on this honeymoon” (implying sex acts).
►A crowd dances at a concert as the entertainers sing and dance with hip thrusts and gyrations. A Troll opens his jacket onstage to reveal his chest and abdomen and fans in the audience swoon. A Troll tells a younger Troll that his abs “need to be popping” while he does numerous crunches before a concert. A Troll’s bare buttocks are seen when he puts on a diaper. A Troll wears Speedo-type trunks onstage and they are referred to as “thunder drawers.” Male Trolls perform shirtless in a few scenes and chests and abdomens are visible. We hear that two Bergens were kicked out of a water park after the male Bergen’s swimsuit was accidentally pulled off.
Trolls Band Together VIOLENCE/GORE 3
– Several scenes show a Troll locked in a jar made of diamond and a singer inhales a mist that is extracted from him to help her be able to sing; the Troll begins to fade, seems weak, loses his color and references are made to him dying. Many Trolls attack two Bergens and throw things at them. Two characters are chased by Trolls and they speed away on a motorcycle.
►Three Trolls climb a shear wall using sticky goo on their hands and feet, they clog a fan with hair and climb through the blades. Several Trolls stand on each other’s shoulders on stage and sing in harmony; they fall and tumble off the stage and a few are wrapped up in vines and pulled into the air. When a character thinks that a Troll held in a jar is dead, she tries to flush him down a toilet. Several Trolls are trapped in jewel-covered containers on the costumes of singers where their talent is extracted.
►A large flying creature resembles a caterpillar and a dog and it flies; it flies over a cliff and into water and when it reemerges its occupants float out of the water-filled cabin (no one is harmed). A large balloon floats and crashes into a tower breaking it and waking a Bergen sleeping inside. When a large creature flies superfast, the characters inside the vessel turn 2-D. A Bergen wearing a dress made of balloons walks down the aisle to her wedding and when the balloons are popped they spray glitter all over everyone. A Troll slaps a younger Troll on the buttocks and exclaims “Junk in the trunk.” Two Trolls argue bitterly about their band breaking up and one of them being left behind. A singer yells at her brother about questioning harming a Troll to make them successful and she yells at him and orders him around. A character yells at her parents and tips over a dining table in anger. Trolls scream and hide when someone asks for a “burger” to go with fries because the word sounds like “Bergen.”
►Several Trolls argue bitterly and storm away vowing to never return, leaving one young troll alone to take care of his grandmother. Trolls talk about an attack on their villages by Bergens that ate them and we hear that a young Troll’s grandmother was eaten and other Trolls were separated when a tunnel collapsed; we see shadow puppets reenacting an attack on Trolls. A giant clown head speaks with a booming voice and has a long tongue that pulls characters up toward large chomping teeth (no one is harmed). Two characters are arrested for Troll napping and fraud.
►A Troll says, “If we aren’t perfect we are nothing.” After Trolls enter an area, heavy doors are closed and they are told that they are never leaving. A Bergen tells a Troll to walk toward her large open mouth to desensitize herself from being afraid of being eaten. A young Troll says, “I ruined everything.” A young Troll says that he feels like he is going to “barf, pass out,” and another troll adds, “and [mild scatological term deleted] your pants.” A character sucks on a ring pop in a few scenes and when he offers it to another character, the second character replies that he “can’t get back on that.” A Troll grabs another troll and pokes his finger in his ear exclaiming, “Wet Willy.” A character refers to “sniffing used undies.”
►Several characters have pink eye and we see their eyes with pink and enlarged blood vessels, as well as some glittery goo dribbling from them. A flying creature spits Trolls out from its mouth.
Trolls Band Together LANGUAGE 1
– 3 mild scatological terms, 1 mild obscenity (hell-o), name-calling (questionable taste, weird, obsessed, crazy, disgusting, garbage, rude, exhausted, tragic, frauds, beautiful idiot, big phony, bossy, fool, silly, am I being a lot, big boy, “Adulty McMan face,” moody), exclamations (uch, stop it, sick, oh no, dying sucks, oh man, sucked, sucky, good gosh darned, a word is spoken by a character whose mouth is covered by a black bar with symbols in it implying an obscenity, prove it), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, beautiful angel sent from heaven). | profanity glossary |
Trolls Band Together SUBSTANCE USE
– A character sucks on a ring pop in a few scenes and when he offers it to another character the second character replies that he “Can’t get back on that,” and two characters share a ring pop (presumably sucking on it to calm themselves, like with a pacifier).
Trolls Band Together DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Memories, boy bands, abandonment, hate, love, siblings, secrets, fear, lies, Troll napping, torture, tax evasion, trauma, true-crime podcasts, emotions, lonely people, optimism, greed, systematic desensitization.
Trolls Band Together MESSAGE
– Working together makes overcoming crises easier. People that truly love you should never try to change who you are.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.