I just couldn’t
help but like this stop-motion animation. It didn’t start as one of those
animations that immediately draws you in and keeps your interest to the
end. The Boxtrolls had me on the edge of my seat, ready to walk away,
while a friend kept trying to convince me to see it through.
After I got past
the first 25 minutes, I began to laugh and enjoy the movie. It delivers its
uniqueness in a way that’s entertaining and fun for both adults and kids. Based
on the book Here Be Monsters! (2005) by Alan Snow, Laika—the
stop-motion animation company—purchased the movie rights. With the help of
screenwriters Irena Brignull (Shakespeare in Love (1998)) and Adam Pava,
Laika brought this story to life, earning the film an Academy Award nomination
for Best Animated Feature.
Laika’s first
production was Coraline in 2009, followed by ParaNorman in 2012. While Coraline was met with critical acclaim, I believe ParaNorman was
even better and showed how much Laika has mastered the art of 3D stop-motion
animation.
Back to The
Boxtrolls: the movie is about a little boy believed to have been stolen and
eaten by the monsters of the fictional town of Cheesebridge. The town’s pest
exterminator, Archibald Snatcher, strikes a deal with the city’s mayor, Lord
Portley-Rind. Archibald offers to exterminate every last Boxtroll in
Cheesebridge in exchange for membership in the city’s prestigious cheese-loving
council, known as the White Hats.
Archibald dreams
of the day he’ll sit in the council with the town’s elite, tasting cheese and
discussing the town’s future. The funny thing? Archibald is allergic to cheese.
Things are going
according to Archibald’s plan until Lord Portley-Rind’s daughter discovers a
boy living among the Boxtrolls—the same boy the town believes was eaten by the
Boxtrolls. Now grown and called Eggs, the boy investigates the capture of the
Boxtrolls by Archibald. Believing he’s a Boxtroll and not a human, Eggs
struggles to fit into the world he truly belongs to.
You can draw a
lot of similarities from this plot to the story of Tarzan or The Pied piper of
Hamelin, but the movie tries very hard to make its own path and stand out with
its own characters.
In the end, I was glad I sat through the movie, and I hope many others will take the time to watch it too and appreciate the art of 3D stop-motion animation.
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