The Birth of an Internet Annoyance: "Troll"

I've been told to watch “Troll 2” for obvious reasons, and if you don’t know why, IMDB it and you’ll get your reason. But before I jump the gun, I wanted to check out the first part in the series: “Troll”. Even though the two movies have nothing to do with each other, it would be a great excuse to separate the bad form the terrible. Now an interesting thought came up while watching this movie, did the internet term ‘trolling’ originate in this particular movie? I’m not entirely sure, but I can totally see it. Anyhow, let me take you on the wonderful world that is “Troll”.

I actually thought the story had the potential to be a fairly entertaining kid’s movie. This was appropriate because it is obvious that it is targeting those trouble makers. It starts with the Potter family moving into a new apartment, Harry is told to watch over his sister Wendy. But does a terrible job, Wendy gets lost and gets kidnapped by a Troll, Torok. The Troll has the power to shape shift and takes the appearance of Wendy. As the troll deceives everyone, he starts to cause mischief in the apartment. You could say he was trolling those fools. Harry is onto Torok and makes it a goal to stop Torok before he causes too much trouble. But unbeknownst to Harry, Torok has a plan to convert the apartment into a magical kingdom for his fellow troll. A city of Trolls, Trollsville, Trolopolis, maybe even a Trolls-verse.

The trolls were gross, but really good looking.

Knowing that this was a kid’s movie, I tried to dumb down my brain and maturity to their level (so not that big of a change). I actually found a good part of the movie entertaining, in a very childish way. The humour could only be entertaining to kids, but it was just silly. When Wendy is going crazy, she acts like a total barbarian. It gets real good when she starts to trick the fellow apartment residents and when they least expect it, turns back into a troll and devours them. It might freak kids out a bit, but I just thought it was funny.

As much as I liked a lot of the characters this included a lot of the residents, from the gun happy guy to the creepy and very sleazy man with a moustache. I hated Harry Potter Sr. He was this weird Chevy Chase mockery, but none of the funny. And it got especially annoying when he had a dance sequence. He was rocking out, and when I say rocking out I mean appearing like he was having a seizure, to “Summertime Blues”. Thanks for ruining the song, jerk. The whole scene was awkward and just out of place. I am not sure why this was in the movie, but it was.

Interestingly enough, this was Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ break through movie. Most people know her by Elaine from Seinfeld. She even removes her clothes for the movie when she is transforming into a Troll. Probably the most attractive troll out there. But she does a decent job of acting out as one of the residents, not a big roll but a roll none the less.

Might look like Ron Jeremy, but it's actually a mid transformation into a Troll.

I got to give a hand to the troll design, be it puppets or a costume. They looked especially ugly and I’m sure it could easily freak kids out. It wasn’t as scary as Harry Sr.’s dance number, but creepy none the less. Also, when the humans are transforming into trolls was just gross and awkward, but a good awkward.

With that said, I can’t think of anything else that stood out. I didn’t hate this movie, but it wasn’t good. I can only conclude on saying it was entertaining with the few comedy bits, intentional or not. The fantasy story was surprisingly good and very entertaining. And I wasn’t as bored as I thought I was going to be. The acting is laughable, but forgiving for this is 80’s movie with its cheesy flair.