Year of Release: 2014
Director: Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Steve Blum, Dee Bradley Baker, Max Mitchell, Tracy Morgan, Nika Futterman, Pat Fraley, Fred Tatasciore, Isaac Hampstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Maurice LaMarche, James Urbaniak, Brian George, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
Following the success of both "Coraline" and "Paranorman", Laika studios followed suit with another unique endeavor, "The Boxtrolls", which premiered in 2014 to middling reviews and a tepid box office. The narrative of the film focuses on subterranean trolls, who live in the town of Cheesebridge in the country of Norvenia. Archibald Snatcher, an ambitious and ruthless citizen of that city strikes a deal with the city's leader to exterminate every boxtroll, as long as he can finally move socially upwards and become a member of the city's cheese-loving council. The boxtrolls unlike the rumors that have plagued them, are actually peaceful and ingenious creatures. They develop inventions with scrap and discarded items which the general population abandons. A human boy by the name of Eggs lives with them, and has been looked after by a boxtroll named Fish. As Eggs grows up he notices the disappearance of the boxtrolls at the hands of Archibald Snatcher. When Snatcher captures Fish, Eggs decides to come to the surface to save him. He realizes everyone's perception of the boxtrolls is distorted, and he eventually follows Winnie, Lord Portley-Rind's daughter, who desperately seeks her father's attention. Winnie informs Eggs of the location of Snatcher's headquarters, where he manages to save Fish, only for both to be captured once more in their escape.
What's always been a remarkable trait across all of Laika's films, is how well written all their narratives are. Going back to their start, "Coraline" was adapted from the Neil Gaiman story by Henry Selick, while Chris Butler authored "Paranorman". These features were not afraid to tackle some darker and somber motifs in their plots, even if their output has always been firstly intended for children. "The Boxtrolls" which is written by Irena Brignull, Adam Pava and Alan Snow, is the first of their features where there is a distinct lack of a central point of view for the hero of the narrative (and also where the central hero is uncertain, is it Eggs or is it the group of boxtrolls), which makes the overall thread murkier, on top of which the writers don't necessarily seem to know what do with the boxtrolls themselves. Meaning: they're not exactly depicted as funny sidekicks, nor are they depicted as the lead of the story, they mostly come across as an unfairly maligned group, who also refuses to change their own perception, independently of what happens to them. There's some sparkles of inspiration from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in here (the haunted pseudo monster who turns out to be sweet and kind), but the story fires in so many different directions (Eggs, Winnie, the boxtrolls, Archibald, Lord Portley-Rind), that it makes the narrative a disheveled porridge. Another problematic aspect of this narrative is the fact that the directors and writers ultimately fail to make any characters truly likable. This latter aspect is problematic, since there's an uneven balance in the narrative between the monstrosity of the villainous Archibald Snatcher, and the passivity of the boxtrolls and their pseudo savior embodied by Eggs. These aspects of the writing really undermine the appreciation of what is otherwise a very beautifully designed feature, one where the production team provides great craftsmanship, including art direction from Curt Enderle, production design from Michel Breton, August Hall, Paul Lasaine, and Tom McClure and also the score from Dario Marianelli. It's not by any means a terrible film, but it's a minor effort from a studio and creative team that has done remarkable work.
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