The Movie Diorama
When I say it's the weakest, it's not a negative remark because Laika have been pumping out consistently good animations that are enjoyable for everyone. This is no different, it's just up against a strong canon. As the title suggests, this is all about Boxtrolls. Mischievous crafty little creatures that hide themselves underground...and dress in boxes...and each are named after their boxed contents such as Fish...Eggs...Shoe...and I think at one point we had Oil? Once again, completely imaginative and that is really where the enjoyment comes from, the creativity was utilised to its maximum potential. A town living in fear of Boxtrolls where a cheese enthusiast employs the assistance of a wannabe cheese enthusiast, who is allergic to cheese, to exterminate them so that he can enjoy cheese in the royal cheese tasting room. Did I mention that cheese was involved? It's bonkers. Our villain is villainous because he wants to wear a white hat. ALL of this, for a white hat. Just...just beautiful. Obviously conveying the point of just being yourself no matter your background or materialistic ambitions. I always appreciate stop motion animation, it's such a time consuming craft that really conveys the creator's inventiveness well. There are moments where computer animation intertwines with the stop motion, and unfortunately is noticeable, but for the most part looks stunning. The voice acting was spot on!! I could not believe that Snatcher was voice by Ben Kingsley, ridiculously good! Jared Harris and Richard Ayoade were also noteworthy and brought life into their characters. Some of these characters are not as fleshed out as I would like, but are certainly memorable. From a miniature henchman who captures Boxtrolls like The Terminator to Snatcher's burlesque alter ego Madame Frou Frou. Plenty of funny moments as well, I thought the script was well rounded and easily appeals to both children and adults. The story is somewhat basic but Laika utilised imagination to the max and it paid off.
FilmBuff1994
The Bxtrolls is a great movie with a very well written storyline and a terrific voice cast. It's a very fun story that is original in a way that I feel will appeal to both children and adults, as we follow a young boy struggling the make his town realise that Boxtrolls, a group of monsters that rared him, are not evil and mean no harm. The animation also helps with the originality of the film, it looks absolutely stunning, and you can tell a lot of work went in to making it, clay animation is very rarely used these days so I always appreciated it when it is. It bothered me how little the Boxtrolls were actually in it, for the fact that they're the title characters and the story revolves around them, the villain is practically the main character, which I felt was a mistake, especially when it's a very unlikeable one who isn't really powerful enough to hold the whole movie. The films voice cast is outstanding, they are all well known names but it dosen't feel like they did this animated film just for a pay check, it felt like they genuinely liked the script and wanted to do justice with their voice work, and they did, a lot of them sounded very different, I was particularly impressed with Ben Kingsley and Simon Pegg, who you can tell put loads of energy in to their performances. Stunning animation, outstanding voice cast and a very nice story, I would recommend the Boxtrolls to anyone looking for a good family film. A young boy who was raised by monsters known as Boxtrolls must save them from being taken and killed by an evil exterminator hoping to gain power.
LittleLilacKitty
As soon as the movie started I was cringing. "Oh dear," I thought, "here's another uninspired, hopeless stop-motion experience."As a general rule, I despise stop-motion movies, Fantastic Mr. Fox springs to mind immediately. In my mind, the only way that a stop-motion movie can ever redeem itself from the caverns of hopelessness is if the story carries it completely. Now, don't get me wrong, the plot of The Boxtrolls did have a few holes and well, some things that just didn't make sense. However, it flows logically and the funny dialogue was enough for me to gloss over the negatives.I've seen a lot of people complaining about how this is a children's movie and it's not really suitable/cute/dumbed-down enough to be labelled as such. In my view, I think the time of animation merely for children has long since passed and The Boxtrolls delivers a punchy, fun movie, with it's great voice acting and almost dystopian visuals.
MattyAndAnnika
Yet another great film! The Boxtrolls is a wonderfully created movie with the perfect script. The graphics are of great quality, and the voices by all of the wonderful cast fit their character just right. I really liked this movie and the story was very thorough, and not offset or weak like most of this style. The Boxtrolls themselves had their unique look and the boxes which were their names just said it all for me. Great concept and all together a perfectly rounded movie.The Boxtrolls did have that feel of Corpse Bride as it began, which actually made it more comfortable for me to settle into. That late night knock at the door, that suspicious look, wow it was just great to watch. I highly recommend checking out this movie, one of the most parts I enjoyed is that this film is good per all ages. Great Job!
AD
