From the creators of “Coraline” and “Paranorman” comes an animated tale of unlikely heroes, “The Boxtrolls.” The film has been nominated for 13 Annie awards. The 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack hits stores Jan. 20. Here’s my review.
“The Boxtrolls” is a story about a group of little creatures who come out at night and wreck havoc on the town. Well, it’s not so much of wrecking havoc or being monsters like the townspeople think. These creatures are just curious little critters who live underground and are raising a human boy named Eggs (voiced by Issac Hempstead Wright), as their own. When the evil and nasty Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) has made a deal to catch every last one of the Boxtrolls, Eggs has to not only rescue the Boxtrolls but convince the town that the Boxtrolls are not monsters like they think.
The film was a sweet story with a great moral. Any one of us can be a hero. No matter how big, how small or how different you are. Which is a great moral for kids. As for this being a family film, it is indeed a family film but a parent should first watch this with their child due to some crude humor that some parents may feel isn’t appropriate for their child. The jokes in the film are all made in good fun, nothing vicious, just things that may seem a bit disgusting. Things such as eating bugs and the way some of the characters look may gross the children out a bit.
I did like that the story involved both a little boy (Eggs) and a little girl (Winnie) as they served as main character and secondary character. I thought it was a bright idea since “Coraline” was about a little girl and “Paranorman” was centered around a little boy. It felt right that both genders would be the base of the film this time around. As for the supporting cast, each and every character was very distinguished and not one Boxtroll was like another. Each had their own look and personality. The Boxtrolls themselves didn’t have much dialogue, only that they spoke in their own language which consisted of funny noises and one english word here and there.
The animation in the film was truly amazing! The way the characters moved so life like was pretty creepy and really impressive. This was a huge highlight for me in the film and the quality of the 2D Blu-ray just enhanced it all so much more. I can only imagine how great it would all look in 3D.
There are plenty of bonus features that are included with the Blu-ray 3D combo pack. Plenty is probably an understatement. This combo pack has easily over an hour’s worth of extras. The extras include “Preliminary Animatic Sequences,” lots of behind-the-scenes footage and insight, as well as several featurettes.
“The Boxtrolls” is not my favorite film from Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi, Chris Butler and company but it’s definitely an animated masterpiece. The animation stood out to me the most and I think you all would appreciate all of the stunning visuals. Like I said before, the moral of the story was great and it gave the film some true meaning. It was a very cute and unique film. I’m sure many children will love it.
“The Boxtrolls” is already out on digital HD but you can own the Blu-ray combo pack Jan.20. The film features voices from Issac Hempstead Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan, and Simon Pegg.