6/10

Laika Productions latest animated feature takes us underground to the world of The Boxtrolls. They are a group of mischievious creatures who adopt a human boy and raise him as one of their own. When a town maniac is driven to get rid of The Boxtrolls to serve his own political agenda, the creatures find themselves with their backs against the wall to get the truth out to the townspeople. I did enjoy this film, but nowhere near on the level of other Laika features “Coraline” and “Paranorman”, and because of that i consider a disappointment of sorts. That’s not to say that The Boxtrolls isn’t a good movie. It excells highly on the things it does do well. One of those things is outstanding voice acting. I have always said that a voice actor does their best work when you cannot recognize who is voicing the character. In this film, Ben Kingsley carries the reigns as he adds to a resume that is already stacked to the ceiling. He plays the villain, Archibald Snatcher (Not making that up). I seriously thought Eric Idle was playing this role when i heard the voice, and couldn’t believe my eyes when i saw it was “The Sir” himself. Nick Frost is also great playing one of Archibald’s henchmen. Frost co stars in this with his long time business partner and collaborator, Simon Pegg. So i guess we can consider The Boxtrolls another Pegg/Frost production even if they aren’t at the forefront. As with the tradition with Laika films, the animation is the best in children’s films. I fell in love with The Boxtrolls characters even if they served as supporting characters in a film named after them. The design and production that went into creating not only these trolls, but the town which they inhabit is breathtaking. There is a featurette on Youtube that is a making of, and i recommend everyone see it before seeing this film. It’s why i prefer a film like this over a typical animated cartoon any day of the week. There is so much detail that goes into every clay character they create. From wrinkled skin to veins in their eyeballs, you have to admire the time and skill that goes into their craft. One problem i did have with the visual was that of the 3D. There is no reason what so ever for this film to be in 3D. With the exception of some light background effects with sparks or smoke, i saw no point for it. I am thankful that i had a free 3D movie ticket in my pocket because i would’ve been very upset with what was arguably my most pointless 3D sitting ever. Besides the 3D which is only a problem if you opt to pay more, i had a problem with the comedy and dry first act of the film. The first act is always the most important in a film because it represents the audience’s interest in the film from the opening line. This film had a lot of problems early on deciding how much of the film was going to be dominated by our title characters. With The Boxtrolls speaking their own language, it’s hard to get any satisfaction out of their exchanges, and the first half hour is riddled in this. I also mentioned before how the comedy wasn’t as great in this film. In “Paranorman”, i found myself constantly chuckling at not only the manneurisms of the character traits, but the hidden classic horror movie winks they were giving to the crowd. The Boxtrolls does improve comedically by the final 40 minutes, but by then it’s too late. This movie needed a better comedic start to get it off the ground to the satisfying climax it received during film’s end. Even with all of that said, The Boxtrolls is entertaining for children and adults alike because it gives a style and design that is completely different from anything Disney or Pixar can do. I always prefer Laika Studios when it comes to animated features, and i hope they can keep the ball rolling. The Boxtrolls is a passing effort in my opinion, but the bar was set too high from the previous two Laika films to keep this from being a slight disappointment