The BoxTrolls 4K review by Bobby Blakey
LAIKA has been delivering some of the best and beautiful animated films in years including Kubo and the Two Strings, Paranorman, Coraline and The Missing Link. In 2014 they took on another ambitious project with the film The Boxtrolls based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow. The film features a great voice cast including Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Tracy Morgan, Richard Ayoade, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Fred Tatasciore, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, and Nika Futterman from directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi.
Boxtrolls follows a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs in the amazing cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of a city called Cheesebridge. The story is about a young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors who tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator, the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher. When Snatcher comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls. Eggs decides to venture above ground and "into the light," where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie. Together, they devise a daring plan to save The BoxTrolls family.
It’s hard not to always have good things to say about the films from LAIKA because they are always so good. I can honestly say that of them all The BoxTrolls is the most engaging to look at but was the one I wasn’t instantly interested in from the trailers. Of course that was quickly put aside once I saw the strange beauty of it all and was instantly pulled into it.
The film offers up numerous layers dealing with status, belonging, obsession and misinformation that brings forth a great story from beginning to end. The
character design is once again on the strange side which I have grown to love in their designs. This one pushes boundaries in some moments most notably when Snatcher has his allergic reaction to the cheese. It is both funny and horrific to look at and I love it.
The voice work here is most excellent with everyone bringing so much character to their roles which further enhances the strange beauty of it all. LAIKA has set the standard on stop motion with every single film they have made being a winner for me and I cannot wait to see their next.
This is another amazingly beautiful and well done film that should be seen by everyone and this new 4K release further enhances the beauty of this already amazing film. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including photo galleries, featurettes, commentaries, and so much more.
Grab your copy of The BoxTrolls available now on 4K Steelbook from Shout Factory.
For more information head over to www.shoutfactory.com