Main Messages from Trolls Band Together
- Family isn't perfect, and is often complicated. It's full of ups and downs, but what's important is being there for each other.
2. Family doesn't have to mean blood: Poppy at first says Bridget is 'like' a sister, then after hanging out with Viva she realizes her and Bridget act like sisters, then Poppy ends with referring to Bridget as her second sister.
Also, Poppy and Viva are included in the family harmony and the family song at the end, yet they are not related to Brozone. Poppy and Branch are only dating, not married - but he and Poppy have such a strong connection and care about / support each other so much, that she and her sister are already part of Branch's family.
3. Just because someone is related to you doesn't mean they're allowed to treat you badly.
And lastly, the most underrated and perhaps most important lesson in this movie:
4. Bad behaviour needs to be punished
I figured Velvet and Veneer would get off easy, the usual kid's movie ending where the villains suddenly transform into good people and everyone loves them now, or at best the villains run away never to be seen again.
Instead, we see Veneer with a change of heart, but not Velvet. We saw right from the beginning that Velvet is the true villain, and Veneer is half-heartedly going along with it because she's his sister so he feels he has to support her.
Then Velvet rightfully gets arrested, but so does Veneer - even though he realizes he was wrong, he still did bad things as Crimp pointed out, and should be punished. A quote from the Land Before Time movies, movie #7, describes this perfectly: "He may be sorry, but it doesn't change what he did, and he must be responsible for that. We must all be accountable for our actions."
It's SO nice to see this lesson. Too often characters commit terrible crimes and get nothing more than 'that wasn't nice, please be nicer', 'okay, I will', and then the bad stuff is just 'oh well'. And this happens way too much in real life too - people get away with anything because 'punishment is mean'. No, it's not, it teaches people right from wrong, and/or stops bad people from continuing to hurt innocent people. Like Veneer, some people can change. But like Velvet, some people are just evil.