If there is a God, have him bless Laika. Formed in 2005, the company has been keeping stop-motion animation within the American market thanks to Coraline and ParaNorman. Plus, they keep their narratives nice and dark, and are unafraid to touch on topics like homosexuality, death and the economy in an industry that so-often fears these discussions being so blunt in children films.
That said, however, the studio is not quite the Pixar of stop-motion. That would be Aardman Animations. But they have had a strong track record of making good—if not great—movies. And they keep the good things going with their newest feature, The Boxtrolls.
Buried deep inside the lower levels of the city are the Boxtrolls, a bunch of grey-skinned, wide-eyed, mumbling creatures that have been cast out of a society that fears and doesn’t know them. Constantly wandering the night streets, looking for unique and cool things in the trash to bring home, they find their lives in constant danger when Lord Portley-Rind (voiced by Jared Harris) hires Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Sir Ben Kingsley) to capture and destroy every Boxtroll in the city.
This is following the supposed baby snatching they took part in, resulting in the care of the little human boy, named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) by the creatures, in their offbeat reality. But, as the number of Boxtrolls starts deflating, so too does Eggs’ perception of reality after he meets a little girl named Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning) who’s the same age as him and who begins reintroducing Eggs to human life.
Comparisons to the Boxtrolls and the minions from the Despicable Me movies are inevitable. In many ways, they are very similar. Both speak in a weird, jumbled variation of English, both communicate primarily through their expressive wide eyes and they are both the kind of offbeat weird creatures you want to hug and squeeze. But what sells the Minions are their crazy antics and their Looney Tunes-esque behavior. In comparison, the Boxtrolls are far more grounded and bottled down by the movie’s slightly grim reality. This is ultimately what makes them fairly nuanced as characters. Their hyper sensitive antics are what make them funny, but what makes them poignant are their well-meaning variation of love.
The reason the movie’s best moment is a montage of Eggs growing up with the Boxtrolls is because this is how the movie earns its staying power: its heart. There is a level of sincerity inside The Boxtrolls that has only been touched lightly in Laika’s past two features. It’s easy their most emotionally-drive movie to date, and, in some sense, this makes this movie their most accomplished as well.
Despite its oppressive need to be as jokey or goofy as the movies from Aardman Animation, The Boxtrolls keeps a bleeding heart flowing. If only the movie didn’t constantly feel like it had to be funny, for its written puns—while progressively better as the movie continues—always feel awkward and forced, and only drag the movie down as it progresses. There are plenty of animation-based gags that work, but when the movie tries to translate its written humor from Adam Pava and Irena Brignull, based on the book Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, it’s so sheepishly confused.
Needless to say, the animation in The Boxtrolls is absolutely gorgeous, featuring what is easily Laika’s most free-flowing and intricate animation to date. The character designs are naturally wacky without being overbearingly kooky, and its sets are absolutely mind-blowing in their level of sophistication.
The lack of out-of-the-box thinking (no pun intended) within the movie’s plot and its inability to truly create something highly unique and memorable probably account for the movie’s fairly forgettable experience. The message of being open-minded and loving everyone, no matter how weird or different they are, has been done in a million-and-one kids movies by now. But because The Boxtrolls is able to create this well-earned sense of heart, it translates past its insecurities and produces an animated feature deserving the attention of its hyper-energized target audience.
In a day-and-age where stop-motion animation seems on the verge of extinction, it’s impeccable what Laika has been able to produce and distribute. Hopefully, even though they are still without a truly great movie, they will continue to be pushing their brand into popular culture and keeping their little clay creatures on the big screen. I know there is at least one audience member who will keep showing up.