I make pretty good money, but I’m not made of money. So, when I learned that Trolls Band Together (which we recently reviewed), and Disney’s Wish were coming out literally days apart, I knew I had to have a long, heartfelt talk with my kids, because I couldn’t afford to pay for both movies. That talk went something like this: “Trolls or Wish? Pick one.”
Now, given that I would personally rather see Trolls Band Together since I unabashedly love the Trolls movies, I knew I could just put my foot down and say, “We’re seeing Trolls,” and that would have been the end of it. But, you know, being a good dad and all, and remembering that I would be seeing one of these movies for them, and not for me, I decided to let my kids decide. Besides, I’m sure Wish would be pretty good anyway (Because we reviewed that one, too).
But, my daughter, who just recently asked me what my favorite Disney movie was, surprised me, because she picked Trolls in a heartbeat. When I asked her why, these were the reasons she gave me.
My Daughter Has No Interest Whatsoever In Seeing Wish
Now, my son, who was playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at the time, was so absorbed in his game that he said, “Let Ate [Which in Tagalog means ‘older sister’] pick.” So, that was his vote. And when I asked my daughter what her choice was, she said, with no hesitation, Trolls. Nonplussed, I put my foot in my mouth and asked, “Wait, why? I thought you liked Disney.” And then she told me that she does, of course, but Wish looks “boring.”
Now, being a Disney fan who was alive during the Disney Renaissance, I don’t know why, but I had a sudden urge to defend Disney. Like, hey. Watch your mouth. Disney’s celebrating its 100th year, for Pete’s (Dragon) sake! I reminded my daughter of how she thought Encanto looked “boring,” too, and how she ended up loving that movie, but she just shrugged and said, “Yeah. But I’d just rather see Trolls.”
So, I probed deeper. I asked her what about Wish seemed “boring,” and she said, “it just looks it.” Plus, my wife had been playing some of the songs from Wish in her car, and my daughter didn’t like any of them. She thought they were “corny” (Her exact word). At this point, I was actually kind of aghast since I thought the music sounded wonderful, especially a song sung by Chris Pine (The best Chris, of course).
But my daughter was having none of it. Instead, she just threw her head back and moaned, “Fine, we’ll see your movie,” And I replied, “No, no. It’s not my movie! I just wanted to understand what you find so boring about Wish.” And she said, “Well, that thing before the movie starts looked pretty boring. Trolls looked much better.”
The Trailers For Trolls Band Together Have Been More Enticing To My Children Than The Trailers For Wish
“Do you mean the trailers?” I asked her, and she said, “Yeah. Those things.” So, I was intrigued, because I honestly didn’t even remember the trailer to Wish. And then, we watched it together on my phone, and I could immediately understand what my daughter meant. Now, the trailer to Wish is…fine. It basically goes over all the major story beats, and lets you know who the characters are, and what’s at stake, and, like I said, it’s fine.
But then, we watched the Trolls Band Together trailer, and it was instantly apparent how one of those films would be more appealing to my daughter than the other.
Trolls, by nature, is a very colorful series with lots of fun (and often recognizable) songs, and plenty of movement. While the trailer for Wish was…not that. In fact, the trailer for the Disney movie was pretty dark, and, while I don’t want to call it dull, I will say that it looks like it’s just lacking something (With some critics saying that Wish itself is lacking something).
So, okay, that makes sense. I was actually willing to let it rest right there, but then my daughter had even more reasons for why she’d rather see Trolls Band Together over Wish, because I suppose she felt she had to convince me at this point.
This Will Be The First Trolls Movie They Will Get To See On The Big Screen
My children are 8 and 6 years old. The first Trolls movie, if you can believe it, came out all the way back in 2016. My daughter was only 1 back then. Sure, she’s seen the first Trolls movie SEVERAL times since then, but back when the film originally came out, she was just learning how to walk.
Flash forward to Trolls World Tour, and we’re talking 2020. Now, my kids did see that one (and had mixed feelings about it), but we all watched it at home. Because, you know, Covid, remember?
It was one of the first major at-home releases during the pandemic, and it just didn’t have the same punch as it probably would have had if we had seen it on the big screen.
So, in every way, this will be the first Trolls movie my kids actually get to see on the big screen, and my daughter is really pumped for that (Again, my son will be happy just as long as he gets a big tub of popcorn). But, that’s not the only other reason why my daughter is gung-ho for Trolls and no-go for Wish.
My Kids Know All Of The Trolls And Have Zero Connections To The Characters In Wish
Here’s the thing about Wish: The only strength it really has going for it is the Disney pedigree itself. This can work both for and against the House of Mouse, depending on how you look at it. Now, personally, I think the animation studio has been on a roll lately. I don’t know if I’d say it is now in its golden age like I’d say with Pixar, but I would say that Disney has been consistently good for the past decade or so.
It really started with Tangled (Which is better than Frozen, and I will die on that hill), and it hasn’t really stopped ever since. I mean, come on. Frozen, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Zootopia, Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World, the good movies just keep on coming.
And my children do love all of those movies. We’ve watched all of them multiple times. But the thing is, my kids have not seen a single one of those aforementioned movies in the theaters. Not a one. In that way, I don’t think my daughter really associates Disney movies with the big screen. These are all characters that they have come to love at home, on their own time.
And the Trolls are like that, too, but my children have gotten a LOT more exposure to the Trolls, and not just in their respective movies, either. Because, unlike the Disney movies that I just mentioned, my kids have watched multiple seasons of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and the Trolls Holiday special has been a tradition in our household ever since it debuted back in 2017.
In that way, my kids are very familiar with the Trolls (and the Bergens) since they’ve seen them several times outside of the movies, while my daughter has no clue who these new characters in Wish are, nor does she really care to learn about them. At least not when it comes to the big screen, which brings my daughter to her final point.
My Children Know They’ll Just Watch Wish Once It Comes Home To Disney+, So There’s No Rush To See It
Lastly, and this might just be the most important reason, my kids know they’ll just watch Wish once it comes home to Disney+, which I’m sure is something nobody at Disney wants to hear, but it’s the truth. My kids are now conditioned to watch Disney movies at home with our Disney+ subscription. So again, they don’t associate these flicks with the theaters. They associate them with the couch, typically under a snuggly blanket.
And it’s not just the animated movies, either. My kids watched (and loved) The Little Mermaid at home, and they’ve since seen it several times. In fact, my wife asked my daughter if she would like to see The Little Mermaid when it was still in theaters, just the two of them, but my daughter flat-out declined, because she wanted to see something else instead and didn’t want to “waste” her time at the movie theater (again, her word, not mine).
However, my daughter doesn’t really know when Trolls Band Together will be coming home. Also, will we have to rent it, or will it be free? These are the kinds of things that were running through her mind when she picked Trolls Band Together, and you know what? I’m not going to argue, since I’d rather see Trolls Band Together, too.
But what about you? Are you in the same boat as me, (to put things into perspective, seeing Trolls Band Together with just my two kids on a Saturday afternoon with a box of popcorn and two drinks is setting me back $75), or, are you going to be seeing both movies in theaters? For more news on both Trolls Band Together and Wish, be sure to swing by here often!
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
