THE BOXTROLLS- The Review

So far this year we’ve seen the return of valiant Dusty Crophopper, lovebirds Blu and Jewel, and Hiccup (and best pal Toothless) in their respective animated sequels PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE, RIO 2, and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2. Now it’s time for another animated return, but not of a character: it’s the return of a style of animation. Those previous films were all done the way most features are produced this days, via computers aka CGI. This new feature harkens back to process nearly as old as film itself. This new feature uses stop-motion animation, the movement of tiny figures (often made with clay, rubber, or wood) one frame at a time to simulate movement. Perhaps best known for bringing dinosaurs and other big beasties to life thanks to effect pioneers Willis O”Brien and Ray Harryhausen, it was later used for television specials (the perennial “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) and eventually feature films like THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Across the pond, Aardman Studios has wowed us with their Wallace & Grommit shorts and features like CHICKEN RUN. Back in the states a new animation titan has emerged, the Laika Studios based in the great Northwest. After exploding on the scene with the gorgeous CORALINE in 2009 they followed with another Oscar-nominee, the haunting and hilarious PARANORMAN three years later. Well, they’ve put the past two years to very good use by producing perhaps their most visually stunning and entertaining work yet. Look out, here come THE BOXTROLLS!

The film takes place in the towering village of Cheesebridge. In the opening flashback we see one of the boxtrolls (dwarf-like, green-tinted humanoids who use discarded cardboard boxes for clothing and disguise) taking a human baby down the sewer and away to its underground lair (all in the cover of darkness). Enterprising exterminator Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Sir Ben Kinsgley) strikes a deal with the town elder Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris): if he rids the town of the boxtrolls, Snatcher can trade in his red hat for a coveted white hat and be part of the elite set. As the years pass, the baby grows into a strapping lad now named Eggs, after the product label on the box he wears (Isaac Hempstead Wright). But Snatcher and his three henchman have been quite busy using a new method of capturing the boxtrolls that venture out of the manholes. When his best friend Fish is caught, Eggs dashes above and meets Portley-Rind’s spirited young daughter Winnie (Elle Fanning). Together they learn of Snatcher’s devious plot and try to convince her father that the boxtrolls are harmless before a new destructive device wipes them out.

The film makers have assembled a stellar international cast to bring this delightful tale to vibrant life. Kingsley brings a maniacal glee to the class-obsessed Snatcher. He must have that white hat at any cost! In one of many memorable sequences he insists on ingesting fancy cheese (in preparation for his descention) even though it really, REEEALLY does not agree with him. Harris delivers the perfect, clueless aristocrat, who only devotes his attention to those fine cheeses. Wright is a likeable gung-ho young hero who doesn’t quite know how to behave above ground. Fanning is an unexpected wonder as the young girl who’s not merely another damsel-in-distress to be rescued. She’s eager to explore life outside the mansion. Nothing prim and proper about this golden-tressed tomboy (upon seeing the boxtrolls’ lair, she dejectedly remarks,”Where’s the rivers of blood? I was told there’d be rivers of blood!”). The movie’s main scene stealers are the trio of henchmen: Mr.Trout (Nick Frost), Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade), and Mr.Gristle (Tracy Morgan). As the diminutive Gristle gleefully goes about his dirty work (usually repeating words and phrases from his boss), Trout and Pickles hilariously question their lives (are we actually bad guys or do people just perceive us as bad?). I’d love to see a spin-off just about these three.

Directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi, working from screenwriters Irena Brignull and Adam Pava’s adaptation of Alan Snow’s book “Here Be Monsters!”, have created a feast for the ears and the eyes. Be sure to see it on the biggest screen possible in order to drink in its visual splendor which is not dimmed by 3D in the least. The colors still pop, while the characters come alive in front of the magnificent, intricate backgrounds. Cheesebridge is an unending maze of twisty streets, curved alleys, contorted buildings and palatial estates. Just as much detail and care has gone into every carriage and street lamp. The adults are all long, spindly limbs that barely support their sandbag-like torsos. The title characters are almost cavorting jack-in-the-boxes, forming walls, before splitting up as their limbs spring out of their cardboard middles into manic action. The pre-preschool set may be a tad spooked by the figures jumping out of shadows and later as the heroes face danger, but most kids will love the wild gross-out style gags (Eggs and the trolls relish munching on crisp, crunchy bugs) while a great lesson on tolerance seeps into the tale. Be sure and stick around for the terrific, 2D (classic hand-drawn style) animation during the end credits that includes a brief peek “behind the curtain”. Come Oscar nom time look for the Laika team to be one the short list in the Best Animated Feature category because THE BOXTROLLS is one of the most dazzling, imaginative films released this year. And hey, why not Best Picture since it’s definitely…

5 Out of 5 Stars