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"THE BOXTROLLS"
(2014) (voices of Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Ben Kingsley) (PG)


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QUICK TAKE:
Animated Comedy/Adventure: A boy and his mischievous troll friends must contend with a ruthless man and his small team who want to capture and exterminate all of them.
PLOT:
In the town of Cheesebridge, everyone would love to be a so-called "White Hat" and have access to unlimited amounts of cheese. That includes Archibald Snatcher (voice of BEN KINGSLEY), an unscrupulous "Red Hat" who desires that but can't seem to remember that he's highly allergic to that food.

Ten years ago, he saw his opportunity when a child known as the Trubshaw baby was seemingly abducted by creatures known as Boxtrolls -- labeled that for the discarded cardboard boxes they wear like clothes -- taken down into their subterranean lairs and reportedly eaten, with the whereabouts of the father, Herbert Trubshaw (voice of SIMON PEGG), unknown. Snatcher then made a deal with White Hat leader Lord Portley-Rind (voice of JARED HARRIS) that if he could catch and exterminate all of the Boxtrolls, he'd be allowed to join the White Hat ranks.

With the aid of his assistants, Mr. Trout (voice of NICK FROST), Mr. Pickles (voice of RICHARD AYOADE) and Mr. Gristle (voice of TRACY MORGAN), he's been doing just that. And to keep the masses at a fever pitch, Snatcher dresses up in drag as the aging but popular entertainer Madame Frou Frou and puts on performances reenacting the taking of the Trubshaw baby, something that continuously repels but also fascinates Portley-Rind's daughter, Winnie (voice of ELLE FANNING).

Little do any of the villagers understand, however, is that the Boxtrolls aren't vicious child abductors and baby eaters. Instead, they're mischievous creatures that come out at night to collect pieces of trash that fascinate and entertain them. And the Trubshaw baby is alive and well in the form of Eggs (voice of ISAAC HEMPSTEAD-WRIGHT), a 10-year-old human boy who truly believes he's a Boxtroll, even to the point of wearing a cardboard box just like his best Boxtroll friend, Fish (voice of DEE BRADLEY BAKER).

Due to the work of Snatcher and his minions, however, the number of Boxtrolls is dwindling and Eggs wants to do something about that. When he ends up befriending Winnie and learns about being human, that might just be his chance.

OUR TAKE: 6 out of 10
Except for the number of studio films that are obviously designed as nothing more than money-grabs designed to stroke egos and keep investors and stockholders happy, most films are labors of love to one degree or another. After all, they're quite difficult to make, usually costs lots of money, and suck up a great deal of time to engage in with any sort of nonchalant attitude.

A lot more goes into filmmaking than the average moviegoer could ever imagine, but the most arduous in my opinion are those of the stop-motion animation variety. While the newer computer driven as well as traditionally animated movies obviously require a great deal of talent and skill, there's just something about moving a "cartoon" figure a fraction of an inch, shooting one frame for that, and then continuing that process for the entire running time (multiplied exponentially by having multiple characters in the shot at the same time).

Whether it's the 1933 version of "King Kong," the old "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on TV around the holidays, or far newer entries such as "Coraline" and "Paranorman," there's just something entrancing about the art form. That certainly continues in this week's release of "The Boxtrolls," the latest offering from the stop motion animation studio Laika that previously produced the last two aforementioned films.

Based on the 2005 novel "Here Be Monsters!" by Alan Snow, it's the tale of mischievous creatures who live below a fictitious town and are so-named due to and for the sort of cardboard box they wear as their attire. They come out at night and rummage for trash they find useful or fascinating, but due to the efforts of a social climber wannabe, they've been labeled as child abductors and killers (both done in the sort of children's story fashion that makes it far less creepy than in real life).

You see, that repulsive climber (voiced by Ben Kingsley) has a thing for cheese (despite being severely allergic to it), and the upper class townsfolk (known as the White Hats) have unlimited access to it, while the Red Hats toil away, apparently with limited to no cheese for the vast majority. The appropriately named Archibald Snatcher -- after priming the masses with the abduction lie -- has made a deal with the White Hat leader (Jared Harris) that he'll get to join the cheese eaters if he manages to round up all of the Boxtrolls.

Little does he know that one of them isn't really a Boxtroll. Instead, "Eggs" is a boy (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) who was raised by them and thus believes himself to be one. With the numbers of his kind dwindling, he wants to do something about it and thus ends up meeting the daughter (Elle Fanning) of the town leader who then tries to help him, all while the Boxtroll catcher's team of three minions -- voiced by Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade and Tracy Morgan -- do the dirty work for him.

The film -- directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi from a screenplay adaptation courtesy of Irena Brignull and Adam Pava -- certainly possesses a great deal of visual flair and related humor embedded within. It also sports a certain cheeky comedic tone that makes it feel far more like a British rather than American production. There's clearly enough material to simultaneously spook/scare, gross-out and delight children of all ages, especially when presenting the kids as the heroes and the adults as the villains or buffoons.

Despite that praise, the offering didn't blow me away on any level, and it's definitely better in the first half (when characters and plot elements are being introduced) than in the second (when the villain and filmmakers go to extreme measures to jack up the action). Bigger clearly isn't better, and by the time Snatcher arrives on a large mechanical device that comes off as a creaky but still dangerous predecessor to some sort of Transformer, the film has started to go all Fonzie in terms of jumping Peter Benchley's most famous character. It might also disappoint some viewers by the fact that, the title notwithstanding, the pic really isn't about those Boxtrolls. Instead, it focuses too much on the villain and then the boy going the fish out of water route as he's introduced into human high society.

All of that said, I was never bored by what transpired and there are enough entertaining and winning elements and moments to lift this above mediocrity. It's just too bad that with as much love, time and effort that obviously went into turning stationary objects into living creatures, the same wasn't also applied to the script to make it reach the same heights. With a fun little coda briefly delving into the stop motion animation process (with a bit of that cheeky humor layered atop it), "The Boxtrolls" rates as a 6 out of 10.




Reviewed September 19, 2014 / Posted September 26, 2014


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