I have become a major fans of the animation projects of Laika Studios. The films
Coraline and
ParaNorman were both stand out animated films that featured a lot of style. Plus the studio uses one of my favorite forms of animation, which is stop motion.. So you could only imagine my excitement when I heard about Laika's latest animated feature:
The Boxtrolls. This movie is based off the novel "Here Be Monsters" by Alan Snow. The film tells the story of Eggs (voiced by Issac Hempstead Wright), a boy raised by the Boxtrolls. Things take a major turn when Eggs meets a girl named Winnie (voiced by Ellie Fanning) and two must protect the lovable boxtrolls from the villainous Archbald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley). Given Laika's track record,
The Boxtrolls had a lot to live up to. The end result though was a film that missed the mark, but only by a little.
The story to
The Boxtrolls is fairly simple. The film plays with several themes and concepts that have been done in a variety of movies; albeit the story to
The Boxtrolls was still effective. The thing that hurts story was its pacing. For a film that is 96 minutes,
The Boxtrolls has remarkably quick pacing. While it is not a bad thing to have a fast moving plot, the pacing to this movie did not give us a lot of time enjoy the characters and the world itself. Still
Boxtrolls revels in simplicity with its enjoyable, yet flawed, story.
