Like its titular tinkerers, The Boxtrolls is drawn to a familiar patchwork of a story, collecting ‘scraps’ from other works of animation that are attuned to the subliminal works of its animation house, Laika Studios. Yet, this should not stand as discouragement for the viewer who seeks the political in children fables. There is a busy (often too busy) amount of that in here. From the Holocaust to homosexuality, the third animation feature from Laika is still as striking if somewhat strained and rather mouthy about its socio-political motives. “It’s time to come out of the boxes,” the protagonist yells in revolt midway the film. How can anyone miss that?
The protagonist is a boy, not a Boxtroll; although named ‘Eggs,’ a moniker derived from the picture on the old box that encase his torso. For years Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) has lived in the subterranean lair owned by the fantastic oddities—ogre-like creatures that wears, like a turtle to its shell, old boxes of supplies—unaware of the cheese-obsessed Dickensian village above, where a wannabe-Aristocrat goes to the extremes of hunting down the entire race of Boxtrolls in exchange of a place in the circle of hat-toting Victorian elites. The Jungle Book-esque principal character; an assortment of colourful personas; a doe-eyed community that is only slightly, subtly corrupt. Good. Every familiar piece is in place. It completes a picture.
Except Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley). The conniving Boxtroll-exterminator who longs to blend in with the lush society of elite-Cheesebridge, like Waldo would to an impossibly hectic illustration. For a film that ostensibly tells the story of a young boy and his life with the presumed ‘monsters,’ The Boxtrolls seems less concerned about it than ParaNorman did, and it, too, seems less character-centric than Coraline. The script–penned by Irene Brignull and Adam Pava, sourced from Alan Moore’s novel Here Be Monsters!–is made the expense, if this is in fact the case for the Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable-directed feature. It seems to me like the film is a denying condescension to its younger audience, which is a total shame. To begin with, the film is a fable about children and—supposedly—has a trajectory towards children.
Snatcher, instead, emerges as the film’s most fantastic aspect. He is willing to get past beyond the fact that he is sorely allergic to dairy (often ends in grotesque reactions); the idea of killing an entire race of innocent creatures; and scheming his way through cross-dressing as a stout, thin-armed malady who calls herself Madame Frou-Frou. All just to get accepted by the elites—the White Hats. This resonates to most young people who deals heavily with conformity amongst their peers, and to which Archibald Snatcher is ultimately doomed. Comically, too. For the film it is sort of an affirmation.
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THE BOXTROLLS
Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable / UK / 2014
Adventure, Comedy, Animation / 96 min. / PG
