The Boxtrolls

Here be monsters. Lots of creepy monsters. They're cuddly, though.

A novel by Alan Snow, Here Be Monsters, was the basis for Laika's latest stop-motion spooktacular, The Boxtrolls. The end result is one of the most entertaining films I've seen in a while.

The Boxtrolls are critters who wear cardboard boxes, make stuff out of garbage and live underground. They've raised a human boy (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) to live among them. The Boxtrolls name themselves after their respective box; the boy is Eggs and his Boxtroll stepfather is Fish (Dee Bradley Baker).

Above them is the town of Cheesebridge, which idolizes and only eats cheese. The residents of Cheesebridge believe the Boxtrolls to be monsters who devour children. The evil Archibald P. Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) vows to rid the town of the Boxtrolls, if only to join the prestigious cheese-eating White Hats. Someone ought to drill it into him that he has a grotesque allergy to cheese.

As Snatcher snatches more Boxtrolls, including Fish, Eggs decides to act. Along the way, he meets Winnie (Elle Fanning), daughter of Pompous White Hat Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris). Eggs will have to use her help to find the Boxtrolls before Snatcher decides to do away with them.

The screen story, by Irena Brignull and Adam Pava, has plenty of satire. The White Hats are pompous fools so in love with cheese that they buy an expensive cheese wheel rather than build a children's hospital. Let's not forget how Snatcher so loves Cheese even if it kills him. The kids, meanwhile, will enjoy the antics of the Boxtrolls.

The film's puppets and sets are twisted, which suits the spooktacular mood well. The Boxtrolls are more lovable than grotesque, so they may not frighten small kids. But when Snatcher's allergy acts up and turns him into a dead-ringer for Quasimodo, watch out.

On the aural side, there's a good score by Dario Marianelli. A tune to watch out for is "The Boxtroll Song" by Monty Python Eric Idle. That is the catchiest part of the film.

The Boxtrolls keeps up the pace with its 96 minute runtime. So much so that I wasn't bored. The only complaint, a minor one, is that I kept mishearing certain names. But other than that, The Boxtrolls was a fun spooktacular worth remembering.