2016’s Trolls brought the ugly but popular dolls to the big screen. The franchise continued via 2020’s World Tour and picked up again with 2023’s Band Together.

As a youngster, Branch (voiced by Justin Timberlake) sang in a Boy Band called "BroZone" with older brothers John Dory (Eric André), Spruce (Daveed Diggs), Clay (Kid Cudi) and Floyd (Troye Sivan). However, they clashed, the group split, and Branch became estranged from his siblings.

20 years later, John Dory finds Branch and tells him talentless pop stars Velvet (Amy Schumer) and Veneer (Andrew Rannells) kidnapped Floyd so they could suck his musical essence out of him and use it for their own ends. Along with his girlfriend Poppy (Anna Kendrick), this sends Branch and John Dory on a quest to reunite with the other brothers and rescue Floyd.

Some movie franchises spawn multiple sequels due to massive popularity. Others don't sell bajillions of tickets but they do just enough to continue.

Into this category falls the Trolls series. With a worldwide gross of $347 million on a $125 million budget, the first film likely squeaked out a narrow profit, just enough to greenlight a sequel.

World Tour merely made $49 million worldwide, but that comes with a massive asterisk as Universal released it smack-dab in the middle of spring 2020's COVID "shutdowns". It only played some drive-ins in the US and went straight to streaming in the States, so most of that $49 million came from other countries, and clearly the pandemic impacted those receipts as well.

With COVID essentially in the rear view, Band managed a wholly unspectacular box office reception. It cost $95 million and brought in $203 million worldwide - not terrible, but probably not profitable.

Though with a series like Trolls, the related toys offer a certain financial cushion. While I won't call these movies advertisements for playthings, they do give the merchandise a boost that means ticket sales become less significant than would be the case for films without those prospects.

I wish I could claim the Trolls movies offer creative inspiration, but the first two fell firmly into the category of serviceable but wholly mediocre. Did this doom Band to blandness as well?

No, as franchises can improve along the way. For instance, although 2005’s Madagascar and 2008’s Madagascar 2 offered perfunctory entertainment, 2012’s Madagascar 3 delivered a smart and inventive effort.

This didn’t mean I went into Band with actual expectations. However, it gave me some hope the third Trolls would top its two predecessors.

Nope. The same flaws that marred the prior movies continue to be an issue with Band.

Primarily, Band lacks any real inspiration. While it throws a lot of attempted comedy and cleverness at us, little of this sticks.

Too much of the movie just offers cheap winks related to Boy Bands, and this tends to make Band feel dated. With a firmly late 90s/early 00s POV, the movie largely pretends the last 20 years never happened.

Of course, the presence of Timberlake adds a twist. With his initial fame as the most popular member of N Sync, Band gets a potential comedic boost.

Which it wastes on cheap and predictable gags. Band delivers alleged witticisms like “We’re not in synch - we’ve gone from boys to men and now there’s only one direction for us to go: the backstreet.”

Ha ha? And the movie attempts a similar collection of puns at the end, which feels even more eye-rolling.

We find a busy affair that seems desperate to amuse. It cranks at a relentless pace that never allows it to slow, as if the filmmakers fear a moment’s peace will let viewers realize how uninventive and trite the whole enterprise is.

In addition to the desire to sell toys, the incessant parade of old pop hits feels more like an attempt to move music than anything organic. I guess this also allows parents in the audience something onto which they can latch, as they’ll potentially dig all those familiar 70s/80s tracks.

Again, all of this makes Band feel much more like cinematic product than a creative project. It lacks inspiration and becomes a forgettable 91 minutes.

Footnote: a brief tag scene appears early in the end credits, and a quick line of dialogue shows up at the very finish.

Trolls Band Together appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a strong presentation.

At all times, sharpness looked crisp and detailed. If any softness materialized, I didn’t see it, as I thought the image remained tight and well-defined at all times.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and the movie lacked edge haloes or artifacts. Of course, no print flaws popped up along the way.

In terms of colors, Band went with a broad palette. All these characters and settings allowed for a wide variety of hues, and the image brought them out in a vivid and dynamic manner.

Blacks were dark and deep, and shadows seemed smooth and clear. This became a dynamic image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also pleased. The film didn’t deliver a ton of opportunities for auditory theatrics, but we got enough to bring the mix to life with reasonable frequency.

That was especially true during the “journey” elements and the musical numbers, as those allowed for a good variety of exciting soundscape elements. These blended together well and created a nice package of sound components from all around the room.

Audio quality was solid. Music sounded dynamic and full, while speech was distinctive and natural, so no signs of edginess occurred.

Effects appeared accurate and showed nice range, with solid low-end when appropriate. Though the mix never really threatened to reach “A”-level, it became a definite “B+” track.

A bunch of extras appear here, and we open with an audio commentary from producer Gina Shay, co-director Tim Heitz, head of story Colin Jack, production designer Ruben Perez Reynoso and visual effects supervisor Marc J. Scott. All sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, design choices, music, cast and performances, cut/altered scenes, animation, influences, and connected topics.

Traditionally, I’ve found commentaries for films from DreamWorks Animation to seem spotty. Whereas Pixar tracks tend to focus well on narrative areas, the DreamWorks ones usually feel more technical and a bit dull.

Though not a great chat, this one fares better than the average DreamWorks Animation piece. We get a good mix of creative and technical issues in this largely enjoyable and informative track.

Fans can watch via a Sing-Along Version. As expected, this option just offers animated lyrics along with the film. Unfortunately for viewers with good ears, it comes only Dolby Digital 5.1 with no lossless option.

A new animated short called It Takes Three runs three minutes, 55 seconds. When Tiny Diamond pushes the wrong buttons, Poppy and Viva turn into 2D characters.

It comes with some cleverness and ends before it wears out its welcome. Three benefits from the presence of the original actors as well.

Three Deleted Scenes appear. Including a not-especially-informative 46-second intro from Colin Jack, these span a total of four minutes, 52 seconds.

We find “Wall Climb – Broken Tooth” (1:05), “Bridget Gristle Honeymoon” (1:30) and “Crimp and Tiny Romance” (1:27). We get all presented as storyreels, so none appear as finished animation.

If you expect anything memorable, sorry! These offer minor filler sequences that attempt a few laughs but add nothing notable.

A slew of short featurettes follow, and Fun in the Recording Booth runs three minutes, 49 seconds. This gives us a compilation of shots that show the actors as they perform their lines. I like this kind of feature, mainly when we hear the castmembers chat between takes.

Hi, Hi, Hi goes for three minutes, 27 seconds. It features Shay, Heitz, director Walt Dohrn, and actors Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Justin Timberlake.

We get a look at the movie’s reunion. This turns into a pretty fluffy take.

Next comes Building the Band, a set of six clips that occupy a total of 12 minutes, 36 seconds. These offer info from Dohrn, Heitz, Shay, and actors Anna Kendrick, Eric André, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, and Troye Sivan.

“Band” examines cast/performances. It offers a lot of superficial material.

Together Again lasts two minutes, 38 seconds. It involves Dohrn, Heitz, Shay, and actors Andrew Rannells, Zooey Deschanel, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

We get basics on the Veneer and Velvet roles and the performances. More fluff results.

With Animating Trolls, we find a four-minute, 22-second piece. Here we get notes from Dohrn, Heitz, Shay, digimatte supervisor Sun Yoon, head of locations Cassandra Fanning, head of cinematography and layout Theophile Bondoux, and production designer Ruben Perez Reynoso.

We find notes about the animation processes here. Though brief, this turns into a fairly engaging reel.

How to Draw demonstrates tutorials that cover six characters. These take up a total of 23 minutes, nine seconds.

Story artist Wendy Sullivan leads us through these instructions. She offers a fun view of these techniques.

Finally, we get another How to that focuses on the creation of “hug time bracelets”. It goes for two minutes, 34 seconds and brings the expected simple instructional that kids may enjoy.

After two mediocre animated tales, Trolls Band Together does nothing to redeem the franchise. Too frenetic and devoid of much actual cleverness, the movie fails to amuse. The Blu-ray offers excellent visuals as well as good audio and a mix of bonus materials. Maybe a fourth Trolls will click, but this third flick goes nowhere fun.