The Boxtrolls is a family event movie from the makers of Coraline and ParaNorman, both of which were Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature Film. It is the third feature production for the Oregon-based animation studio LAIKA. Shot on-site in 3D, and further advancing the groundbreaking work by hand and in technology at LAIKA, The Boxtrolls is a stop-motion, hand-drawn, and CG hybrid movie based on Alan Snow’s bestselling fantasy adventure book Here Be Monsters.

The new movie introduces audiences to a new breed of family – The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous, fantastical creatures who have lovingly raised a human boy, Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright of Game of Thrones), since infancy in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the cobblestoned streets of Cheesebridge. They live a happy and harmonious existence away from society; the posh Victorian-era town’s residents are obsessed with wealth, class, and fine – but stinky – cheeses. Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris of Mad Men), the de facto mayor, rules the roost with his snobbish elite crony men in White Hats. Like everyone else, he believes the scary stories about the Boxtrolls that have been spread far and wide for over a decade by the villainous Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley). Determined to be accepted into the White Hats, Snatcher has imprisoned genius inventor and Boxtrolls friend Herbert Trubshaw (Simon Pegg of Star Trek) and is leading a gang known as the Red Hats to capture all the Boxtrolls. The Red Hats include the relentless Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan of 30 Rock), the awkward Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade of The IT Crowd), and the stolid Mr. Trout (Nick Frost of The World’s End).

While keeping their community together underground, the humans’ trash becomes the Boxtrolls’ treasure. The Boxtrolls wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The kindhearted band of tinkerers also dumpster-dive and collect mechanical junk which they transform into magical inventions. But with his Boxtrolls family increasingly at risk because of Cheesebridge citizens misunderstanding them and because of Snatcher’s dangerous scheme, Eggs must venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with another 11-year-old, the fabulously feisty Winnie (Elle Fanning of Maleficent) – Lord Portley-Rind’s daughter. Together, Eggs and Winnie devise a daring plan to save the Boxtrolls from Snatcher, embarking on an adventure with madcap antics and open hearts which proves that heroes come in all shapes and sizes – even rectangles.

The Boxtrolls Ben Kingsley, introducing Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan, and Simon Pegg. Costume Designer, Deborah Cook. “The Boxtrolls Song” words & music by Eric Idle. Music by Dario Marianelli. Casting by Mary Hidalgo. Edited by Edie Ichioka, ACE. Production Designer, Paul Lasaine. Director of Photography, John Ashlee Prat. Screenplay by Irena Brignull, Adam Pava. Based upon the book Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow. Produced by David Bleiman Ichioka PGA, Travis Knight, PGA. Directed by Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable.

 

Classification U