Review of The Boxtrolls (2014) by Stuart K — 06 Feb 2015

From animation studio Laika (Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012)), this creepy animation is based on the 2005 book Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow. It's very grotesque animation, but it's grotesque in a good way.

You need animation like this to counterbalance the cuteness of Disney's work, as this is something Disney would never dare attempt. It's dark, but very well made and fun to watch. Set in Cheesebridge, a group of trolls go out at night stealing stuff and returning to their sewer home, while trying to avoid being captured by Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) and his henchmen, Mr.

Trout (Nick Frost), Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade) and Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan). One Boxtroll, Fish (Dee Bradley Baker) cares for a human called Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), and Eggs goes out on their raids.

One night, he's spotted by Winnie Portley-Rind (Elle Fanning), who befriends Eggs, but her wealthy father (Jared Harris) isn't interested. Snatcher has been capturing Boxtrolls, and it's soon up to Eggs and Winnie to save them all.

Laika relish with weird and grotesque stories, and they've hit the jackpot with choosing this one. It's quite sinister in places, and it has some brilliantly imagined characters, and there's some very gross sequences in it, but we need more films like this, to remind people that animated films done have to be nice and cutesy.