Grade: A-
Allow me to indulge in true editorializing for a moment when I say that “The Boxtrolls,” co-directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi, is a visually stunning film.
The fact that it’s stop-motion, a technique Tim Burton’s fans will be familiar with, is truly mind-blowing. The characters are colored beautifully, their forms and shapes, both male and female, are diverse and distinct and the setting is gorgeous, each detail perfect. Even the doorways are seemingly carefully carved out of wood.
At one point a character does a vaudeville performance on stage that is so fluid I had to wonder if someone had been filmed doing it, until, again, I realized that it was all animation.
If you are wanting to see a piece of art, go see this movie.
However, if you’re wanting a cozy, warm-hearted children’s story, you might have to wait for the new Pixar film to come out.
Laika Entertainment produced the film. They are the visual geniuses behind such children’s classics as “Coraline,” which I would never, ever, ever show to a child, as I am not one to mentally scar little kids.
“The Boxtrolls” walks a fine line between a Disney fairy tale and a Grimm’s fairy tale. At one point the main character is bound and gagged, dangling over a furnace of hot coals. Moments later he is saved by his boxtroll friends, who, hilariously, ride into town naked.
Spoiler: boxtrolls are afraid to get out of their boxes, but they will learn how in order to save their friend. And thus we all learn the moral of the story.
But the film doesn’t get much darker than that.
It’s about Eggs, voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright, a human boy who is rescued and saved by a troll named Fish. The trolls are being hunted, for various reasons, by Archibald Snatcher, voiced by Ben Kingsley. Fish is captured, and Eggs must save him.
At its core it is an earnest fairy tale, and the characters, troll and human alike, are so lovable and real that, even though there are some plot holes and a few odd moments, you really find yourself rooting for them in the end.
It also has enough laughs to make it fun and enough of a human element to make it sad. It’s a children’s film, but it contemplates the dynamics of good and evil in a way that made me think.
And, as I said before, it was beautiful to watch.
It was unusual, but earnest. If you have a moment to see it, I recommend going. It is not a particularly heady film.
It was, however, a lovely one.
