The BoxTrolls

Cheesebridge, a small, well-to-do Victorian town, where the residents are class-conscious and adore cheese, is plagued every night by abominable monsters that clamber up out of the sewers and steal the things that the locals hold most dear, their children and their cheese. Or so at least the townsfolk have always believed. In reality, the BoxTrolls are a community of quirky, good-natured creatures who use old cardboard boxes as clothes and as camouflage and who enjoy making amusing odds and ends out of junk. They raise an orphan boy called Eggs with great care in their underground caves and keep clear of the townsfolk. When the local villain Archibald Snatcher (voiced in the original by Ben Kingsley) sets about exterminating the BoxTrolls in an attempt to climb the social ladder through this supposedly kind deed, Eggs summons up all his courage and ventures to the surface to defend his troll family. Together with the tough, quick-witted girl Winnifred, he bridges the gap between the two worlds and devises a daredevil plan to defeat Archibald. “The BoxTrolls” is a very lovingly and elaborately designed 3D stop-motion animation from Laika (ParaNorman, Coraline) and, packed with funny features and careful attention to detail, excels through the facial expressions and gestures of the characters and through the artistic direction. In addition to the gripping crime narrative, the entertaining tale at the heart of it is a timeless and philanthropic story – a gem of a movie for all the family.