The Boxtrolls (2014)

Please Leave A Comment Below

The Boxtrolls (2014)

6/10

Starring the voice of

Isaac Hempstead-Wright

Elle Fanning

Ben Kingsley

Toni Collette

Jared Harris

Simon Pegg

Nick Frost

Directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi

I just couldn’t help but like this stop motion animation. It didn’t start out as one of those animations that will draw you in and keep your interest to the end. The Boxtrolls had me on the edge of my sit ready to walk off, while a friend keeps trying to make me see it through.

After I got over the first 25 minutes, I began to laugh and enjoy the movie. The movie delivers its uniqueness in a way that will be entertaining and fun for adults and kids alike.

Based on the book Here Be Monsters! (2005) by Alan Snow – Laika, the stop motion animation company purchased the movie rights and with the aid of screenplay writers Irena Brignull (Shakespeare in love (1998)) and Adam Pava, Laika was able to bring to life this movie which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Laika’s first production was Caroline in 2009, which was followed by ParaNorman (2012) although Caroline was met with critical acclaim I believe that ParaNorman (2012) was better and showed how much mastery Laika has over the 3D animation art.

Back to The Boxtrolls, the movie is about a little boy who is believed to have been stolen and eating 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, where Archibald offers to exterminate every last Boxtroll in Cheesebridge in exchange for membership in the city's prestige cheese-loving council called the White Hats.

Archibald dreams of the day he will sit in the council with the who and who of the town and taste cheese and discuss the town's future.

The funny thing about the movie is not the extent that Archibald was willing to take to be part of the council, but the fact that Archibald is allergic to cheese.

Well things were working according to Archibald's plan, when Lord Portley-Rind daughter discovers a boy in the midst of the Boxtrolls, the boy whom the town believes has been eaten by the Boxtrolls. The boy now grown and is called Eggs, is looking into the capture of the Boxtrolls by Archibald. Believing he is a Boxtroll not a human, Eggs is finding it hard to fit into a world he belongs.

In the end I was glad I sat through the movie, and do hope many will take the time to sit through it too and appreciate the 3D animation art.