Ben Kingsley, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan,Toni Colette, Elle Fanning and Simon Pegg all lend their vocal talents to Boxtrolls. ...
Ben Kingsley, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan,Toni Colette, Elle Fanning and Simon Pegg all lend their vocal talents to Boxtrolls. Not that they sound recognisable or anything. Boxtrolls, a stop motion animated feature, hangs its hat on the movie itself as opposed to shouting about its big name cast. And that’s mightily refreshing.
Following the tale of a young orphaned boy who is raised by a bunch of boxtrolls (trolls who have a particular attraction to wearing cardboard boxes), he must try and save his friends from an evil, cross dressing exterminator. Yes, you read that right.
Is it stop motion? Is it computer generated animation? Just some of the first thoughts that’ll crop up in the opening few minutes. The visuals on offer in Boxtrolls are sublime. This is genuinely one of the most accomplished pieces of stop motion animation in quite some time. From the oodles of personality bestowed on every single cast member to the insane levels of detail on display, this is simply breath-taking. While the movie only centres itself on a few boxtrolls, that’s not to say that the rest of the trolls are forgotten about. Every one of them has an individual personality and look. It’s an incredible piece of work and it’s easy to forget that all of this was done by hand by some amazing artists at Laika.
To round off the incredible animation are plenty of visual gags and flourishes. Take the non-stop supply of creepy crawlies for example. From ladybirds, to flies and everything else that’ll make your skin crawl, these act not only as a minor supporting cast in places, but provide many of the movies wonderful little touches and jokes. To highlight them here would be a travesty, so keep your eyes peeled everytime the bugs are on screen. It’s not just the bugs though. The backgrounds spring to life with equally amazing touches, from a skewered teddy bear head, that minutes previous acted as a toy, to a stunning star ceiling made of old light bulbs highlighting the trolls as a caring bunch for their adopted human. Boxtrolls is brimming with wonderful details and a second viewing is needed just to spot them all.
While one or two of the big named cast might sound a little bit familiar in places, none of them are particularly recognisable and thus not a distraction in the least. Each cast member from Simon Pegg to Toni Colette is perfectly suited to their onscreen counterparts and are the icing on the cake for the wonderful animation.
The story itself, while straight forward, can get a bit confusing at times, especially for younger viewers. However, it’s a small gripe and while parts of the opening and finale might have some scratching their heads with a little bit too much going on, it doesn’t really detract from the overall movie.
Despite the fact that the story is quite dark in places, it’s never too scary and kids (and adults alike) will love the big ensemble of characters. In contrast to the trolls, the “human” characters are equally amazing and the cross dressing bad guy provides many of the movies funnier moments.
Boxtrolls surprised me to no end. It’s funny, it looks phenomenal and is wholly entertaining. Most definitely worth a watch. Oh, and the credits are pretty special too!
