I Wanted My Four-Year-Old to Love Moviegoing. How Hard Could It Be?

variety.com:

Trolls Band Together.” The trouble started about midway through the trailers, when Cleo began fidgeting as ad after ad played.

I’d explained that these were previews of what we could look forward to, and Cleo did OK for a while. But at some point, a commercial for a car company came on, and Cleo groaned and said, loudly, “Again?” (I was a professional critic when she was born, and perhaps that has rubbed off.) Next came a promo for the musical remake of “The Color Purple,” one that began with foreboding music and went on to feature Colman Domingo’s character screaming and firing a gun into the air.

Even those who appreciate “The Color Purple” can perhaps understand that its intended audience doesn’t overlap much with the “Trolls” demographic. “I want a break,” Cleo said.

We left the theater, and she told me that it was too loud and not fun. We eventually went back in and watched just enough of the movie to begin to get the premise — they’re trolls, but they’re also NSYNC — before Cleo announced, “I want to be done.” So we went to the Strand bookstore nearby, where I told her she could buy any book she wanted; instead, she picked out a purple toy cat and named it Sylvia, after one of her classmates.