Trivia / Trolls

• Actor Allusion:
  • Right off the bat, the acapella singing over the Dreamworks logo nods to Anna Kendrick's best known role.
  • Bridget leaves her rollerskate behind on the palace steps in a Shout-Out to Cinderella. Anna Kendrick had played Cinderella in the film version of Into the Woods - which also starred James Corden and Christine Baranski.
  • Gristle, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, has a similar, if not identical, face to Fishlegs.

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• Bad Export for You: The only home releases with the 3D version are in Mexico, Portugal and Sweden.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: Lead single "Can't Stop the Feeling" seems to have been tailor-made for this trope. The fact that the song came out long before the film did definitely help.
• Cash Cow Franchise: Quickly became this upon its release and quickly outgrossed other kid favorites such as Frozen and PAW Patrol ^note  although the latter is also a cash cow, this article reveals that the year the film came out, Trolls was the second most popular licensed property, only beaten by Star Wars. in merchandise sales. The franchise also got a holiday special, a Netflix series, a museum experience in New York City and a theme park ride in Singapore, all before the franchise turned two years old.
• Casting Gag:
  • Justin Timberlake, an experienced singer who also sings the film's Breakaway Pop Hit "Can't Stop The Feeling!", voices a pessimistic cynical loner who hates singing. Subverted when it's revealed that he can and does like singing, but his Dark and Troubled Past keeps him from doing it.

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  • In the Japanese dub, it's not the first time we hear Makoto Furukawa (Creek) voicing a Dirty Coward before.
• Creator Backlash: A now deleted tweet made by an animator at DreamWorks Animation condemned the infamous teaser trailer, stating that it misses the point of the film.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Smidge, a female troll, is voiced by Walt Dohrn.
• Dueling Works: Merchandise sales are not the only place where this film had to deal with Frozen, as spin-offs of Trolls will be competing with Frozen spin-offs at least twice in the next few years. First, the holiday specials for both franchises will be released the exact same weekend in the United States ^note  however, Olaf's Frozen Adventure will play in theaters with Coco, while Trolls Holiday will air on NBC, and their sequels will come out three months apart from each other. Trolls won the first duel against Frozen because of the bad reception Olaf's Frozen Adventure received compared to the positive reception of Trolls Holiday.
• Playing Against Type:

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  • Zooey Deschanel is normally a Cloud Cuckoo Lander or the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Here she voices a put-upon scullery maid who needs to be taught to be happy via The Power of Love.
  • To a lesser extent James Corden. Whenever he acts he finds himself playing roles that evoke the Fat Bastard or Butt-Monkey tropes. Here he's a peppy Genki Guy (which is closer to what James is like in Real Life).
  • Speaking of Genki Guy, Russell Brand is nearly unrecognizable as an Erudite Stoner.
  • Not exactly this but, in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Jeffrey Tambor played a guy trying to get Christine Baranski to fall in love with him. Here, she plays an evil Chef that's trying to get all of the trolls eaten, one of which is played by Jeffrey Tambor.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The story was originally planned to be about how the trolls got their colorful hair.
  • Originally the traitor was Miss Guffin, Poppy's former nanny who raised her since she was a baby. This may have been changed to make it less cruel.
  • The Bergen Chef originally had a Villain Song called "Bringing Back Happy" which was cut as the creators felt it made the character too likable and humorous.

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