DVD Movie Review - The Boxtrolls

Studio Laika has stepped over the "that's cool" line in stop-motion animation and has entered the realm of "astonishing" in terms of quality, character/set design, voice acting, and cinematography.  But where does all that leave the Boxtrolls' story?

STORY:

Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) wants nothing more than to be part of the cheese-eating White Hat club, which includes the city's elite ruling class.  But poor Archie isn't the elite type.  He has too many villain qualities, disgusting habits, and a hilarious severe allergic reaction to any cheese.  So instead he strikes a deal with the White Hat leader: if he can exterminate every Boxtroll in the city, he'll then be let into the club.  Meanwhile, a boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) is being raised by Boxtrolls and doesn't know he's a boy.  When Eggs' fellow trolls start to disappear, he decides to find out why.  Dirty boxes, grotesque people, original character designs, dancing animated drag queens (yes, you read that right), dirty kids, giant cheese wheels, and naked troll ass ensues.

"Sometimes...I just get the feeling there's more out there than this cave--"

"There is.  It's called a house, car, iphone, internet--"

"...but then I realize what I have here, like this fantastic box-shirt, and I'm happy again."

THOUGHTS:

The Boxtrolls looks, acts, smells, animates, and dresses (sometimes, we'll get to that) like a children's film, but it seems to be shooting for an older audience in theme, jokes, political views, and moral.  The film accidentally pigeonholed itself into a weird universe where neither child nor adult might understand just what they watched.  Sure, on a basic level it's a story about two young kids from opposite sides of the tracks learning about their very different cultures, however there's so much more happening underneath the simple story with political views and classes, that it begs the question of whether or not this truly is a children’s film.  But let's start off with what the Boxtrolls does right.

As with all Laika films, the artistry on display is at a level now that exceeds any other stop-motion studio.  The town's design—even down to the dirt—is unbelievably well-crafted and original.  The sound effects bring every footstep, gadget, and scene to life.  Cinematography and lighting is astonishing.  And the crowds, which when dealing with stop-motion are an arduous task to animate, are above and beyond what has already been done in their previous movies.  When you look at the passion and love that is put in each and every piece of this film, there really isn't another studio out there that has the ability to match the awesome power of Laika.  So if you enjoy just staring at stop-motion mastery and original design, then the Boxtrolls will not let you down.  The art is at such a high level, one might say it balances out some of the negatives in the simplistic story.  Speaking of which…

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, boss, we can help you up."

"No, no.  Hand me that bottle of whiskey over there.  I'll just continue drinking from down here."

After viewing the Boxtrolls you'll wonder what message is being sent.  Is it villains are bad no matter what?  Or that the rich are always imbeciles?  Or maybe the trolls/poor are slightly gullible but good?  Now, having those stereotypes in a film isn't a bad thing.  Every movie needs its hero and villain.  The problem comes when the characters aren't complicated.  This creates characters that are one-dimensional and—worst of all—very predictable.  Only a couple of key characters are slightly complex.  The rest of the cast act and stay exactly how you thought they would.  So if you're looking for a twist or magical ending, you might be slightly disappointed. 

The moral on the other hand is about standing up and fighting for what you think is right and also making your own choices.  And both morals are excellent mottos to live by, but are they too much for children?  Is the film too heavy handed in political themes for kids and would an adult enjoy the movie if they weren't watching it with their children?  It all depends on how deep you want to look into the film.  You could just sit there and pretend not notice the political statements being made—including the ending credits song—but that'd be quite hard considering they're shoved in your face the entire movie.  The last point about how this may or may not be a children's film is the dancing, singing, drag queen.  The problem isn't that a drag queen is in the movie, it's the fact that your youngster might turn around confused and ask what that is.  So every parent has a choice of whether or not to open that can of worms now, or maybe wait a few years.

"A young girl told me today that she thought my box-shirt was disgusting."

"Graahrrg."

"Yeah, I know.  It was the single most awesome thing anyone has ever said to me."

THE VOICE ACTING:

The cream of the crop here is Ben Kingsley as you can barely pick up his natural voice.  His Archibald Snatcher is devilish to no end and continuously creepy in every scene.  Snatcher's henchmen: Mr. Trout (Nick Frost), Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade), and Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan) are the slight comic relief, but truly don't stand out when placed next to Kingsley's Snatcher.  The main character, Eggs, is expertly voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright and Elle Fanning's voice for Winnie is perfect for the role.  But the real stars of the film are of course the trolls.  Just don't count on them to say too much.  The trolls' emotions are mainly shown through body language (which is animated excellence), but they do occasionally mumble through their words.  They sound like gremlins when they open their mouth, but are mainly just uglier versions of Despicable Me's minions.  The trolls are goofy, disgusting, and some are even quite stupid, but they do know how to create gadgets and that comes in handy in the film's simplistic plot.

"Nah, no thanks, I already had quite a few beetles for lunch.  I'm going to wait until they 

stop crawling around in my stomach before I eat again."

CONCLUSION:

The Boxtrolls is another beautiful work of art by studio Laika.  If you're looking for exquisite stop-motion, original characters (even though most are ugly), fantastic sets, and wonderful sound design, then you're covered.  If you're looking for a children's story that is fun to watch over and over again at any age, then you might be slightly disappointed.  Too many adult themes and political undertones put the film in a category where neither child nor parent might find the movie entertaining or engaging.  This might leave the Boxtrolls as a story you'll watch once and then never come back to again…but that's okay, because you still have Frozen to watch for the thousandth time and that's absolutely heaven in any parent's world.

3 out of 5 Stars (add a star for cinematography, art direction, and for voice-acting)

Movie Review - ParaNorman

All I knew about ParaNorman was what I saw in the trailer.  I also knew that Studio Laika—the same studio that brought you Neil Gaiman’s Coraline—were the ones responsible for this movie.  If you’re like me, and the above is all you know, then you’re in for a treat.

As I wandered into the theater, I realized I was the only grown man without a smaller version of myself, in attendance.  You might think that’s weird, or call me a freak—like the main protagonist of the movie—but, let me explain.  I have a background in art, and I really appreciate all animated films, no matter if they’re 3d-animation or Claymation; made for children or for adults.

ParaNorman is unbelievable in its execution, and the creators should be patting themselves on the back for the astounding film they’ve created.  If you haven’t already seen the behind-the-scenes videos on youtube, do yourself a favor and visit.

Odds are, if you’re reading this review, than you already know slightly what the movie is about, so I won’t go crazy in the detail department.   ParaNorman, stars Norman, who’s basically the town weirdo and outcast.  Everyone knows that he’s the boy who claims to talk to the dead.  But it’s this boy, who no matter how badly he’s treated, will stop at nothing to save his family and the town from a centuries old curse.  There’s also a great moral lesson being shared here, which should make for good conversation with the kiddies at dinner time.

The first 15 to 20 minutes are spent meandering around with childish bathroom and bully jokes, which had me really turned off, but the children in the audience were laughing hysterically.  It’s funny because the parts that I really enjoyed toward the end of the movie, the children were in complete silence.  Anyway, after those initial 20 minutes of typical kid jokes, the actual story starts to take shape, and that’s where you earn the cost of the ticket.  What you’ve seen in the trailers has almost nothing to do with the actual story.  I’m not scared to say, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The animation is incredible, and that’s down playing it.  Do you know what goes into creating a movie like this?  The effort, the time…the time and don’t forget the time.  It fascinates me, that there’s still studios out there, that will go down this road, instead of just pumping this stuff through a computer.  Not to say that there’s no time and effort behind computer animation, but Claymation is still astounding in my book.

The way they created the scenes with the witch in the sky still has my head spinning from the beautiful visuals.  What’s crazy is: you completely forget there all just models, and you get sucked right into Norman’s world, with no trouble.

Toward the end of the movie—when the story is really rocking and rolling—is when the film itself seemed to lose its younger audience, because it can get a little dark and a tad scary.  I was going to ask the 3 month old next to me what he thought, but it seemed it was his nap time, so I held back.

The only actual problem I see with ParaNorman is: the film has a hard time defining itself.  Is it a scary movie meant for young adults or a children’s movie geared toward kids that would rather pick their noses?  It seems Studio Laika tried to do both, and ended up with a film that was a little off balance.  But, trust me…if you feel a little foolish in the beginning, and you’re thinking “Why am I watching this children’s movie?” stick with it, you won’t regret it.

ParaNorman gets a solid 3 out 5 stars.