Directed by Graham Annabel, Anthony
Stacchi. Written by Irena Brignull, Adam Pava, Alan Snow. Starring
Ben Kingsley (Archibald Snatcher), Jared Harris (Lord Portly-Rind),
Nick Frost (Mr. Trout), Isaac Hemstead (Eggs), Elle Fanning (Winnie).
Bottom line: The Boxtrolls is a
complete disappointment, as a family movie, as a clay-mated movie,
and even just as a plain old movie.
1/4
In the city of Cheesebridge, there
exist two groups: humans and Boxtrolls. The humans are governed by
group of four old white men called White Hates (because they, ya
know, have white hats). Meanwhile, underneath the city, lives a group
of creatures called Boxtrolls. Each night the Boxtrolls leave their
subterranean dwelling to scavenge for junk which they re-appropriate
into fantastic inventions. “See they aren’t stealing, they’re
taking the discarded junk to make anew.” That’s what the movie
wants you to say, anyway.
The Boxtrolls opens with the
creepy, ugly, Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley) proposing a deal to the
chief White Hat, Lord Portly-Rind (Harris); if/when Snatcher kills
every last Boxtroll, he will receive a White Hat. Reluctantly,
Portly-Rind agrees.
Snatcher goes on the hunt with three
henchmen, capturing every Boxtroll they find. It isn't too difficult
to catch a Boxtroll; when startled or afraid the little creatures
hide in the boxes they wear for clothes (hence the name Boxtrolls).
There is a baby who lives with the Boxtrolls too. His name is Eggs
(Hemstead) because the box he wears held eggs. Cue montage of him
growing into a teenager. Yadda yadda yadda Eggs must save his family.
This movie provides several layers of
disappointment with a varied amount of spoilers. I'll leave the
spoiler ones until the end, of course. My first mistake was hoping
and expecting the Claymation to be worthwhile: it wasn't. The thing
that makes Claymation unique is that it's so physical but, for the
life of me, I couldn't really tell how much was CGI and how much of
it was Claymation. Is that a testament to how well done it was? No,
it's just that the CGI detracts from the Claymation experience. They
might as well have made 3D models look like clay and no one would be
the wiser.
My second mistake was seeing this in
3D, which has two side effects: it's darker and the animation becomes
choppy if it moves too quickly. This choppiness cripples Claymation.
The best parts are the colorful characters and smooth animation!
Correction, the only thing this movie has going for it is the color
and animation.
Leading up to its premier, the
avalanche of marketing reminded me The Boxtrolls is "from
the makers of Coraline & ParaNorman." Coraline
was really good and ParaNorman was lame so they had one out
two. What I failed to realize is that "makers of" was not
"directors of." So these guys worked in the Art Department
of those films or were assistant directors. If you read my review
John Wick, you'd know that the first time directing a feature
length film, doesn't have to be bad. If you haven't read that review,
do, but in the mean time, let me paraphrase. If Annabel and Stacchi
had Claymation experience, they could've just put nearly all of their
eggs into that basket. What I was hoping to see was really good
Claymation. I didn't care about some convoluted, problematic (for
reasons I'll discuss later) story. Consider this:
Even if you love Claymation, heck, even
if you mildly enjoy Claymation don't see The Boxtrolls. It
isn't like a fun type of bad it's just a waste of time type of bad.
This isn't something from which you learn or grow it’s a waste of
time and money.
Instead of watching this, check out
Grendel, Grendel, Grendel (1981). It’s an animated movie
directed by Alexander Stitt. In the same way that the play Wicked
takes the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch's perspective,
Grendel, Grendel, Grendel is the retelling of the epic poem
Beowulf from the perspective of the monster Grendel. It’s
such simple late 70's, early 80's style of animation. It reminded me
of The Beatles Yellow Submarine. It is a fascinating movie
that warrants its own post, but, in the mean time, skip The
Boxtrolls and see Grendel, Grendel, Grendel. It’s even
on YouTube. I’ll include a link at the bottom of the page.
I didn't get too too much into the
story or thematic problems with the movie yet, so in the coming
paragraphs mind yourself of spoilers. But wait, if you won't see the
movie if you know what happens...
As is sometimes the case with "family
movies," bad = ugly = evil = death. Recall my summary of
introduction, when Snatcher makes a deal with Lord Portly-Rind.
Snatcher wants to be part of the Aristocracy. It isn't like Snatcher
was doing anything particularly villainous or at least anything more
villainous than Portly-Rind. It's not like he is holding Portly-Rind
hostage. Portly-Rind is acting out of fear of public outcry - not for
the public’s sake but because he may lose his status. What
ultimately happens to Portly-Rind? Nothing. He loses his white hat
but at least he doesn't (literally) explode.
Thus Portly-Rind's character is
established as one obsessed with cheese and power, and treats his
daughter, Winnie (Fanning), as a far third. Even at climatic fight, he acts
this way. Snatcher (because of a cheese allergy) has turned into a
hulking mutant (another reason he should die). He holds Winnie by the
throat saying, "Give me your hat or she gets it!' Portly-Rind
hesitates, not once but twice! Winnie yells at him and he reluctantly
provides the hat. It was a situation built up to be the standard
redemptive situation. To save his daughter, the father gives us what
he thought he held most dear. But because he’s so reluctant to give
it up, it really feels unsatisfying. Maybe it's a failed attempt at
humor, but with ten minutes of movie left, it isn't the time for lame
jokes! We've got loose ends to tie up. And, of course, he goes
unpunished for this.
Now that we're speaking of fathers,
let’s look at Eggs. Eggs’ backstory is that he was the son of an
inventor. One day, Snatcher comes to the inventor and says, "Build
me something evil." Egg Sr. refuses; Snatcher supposedly kills
him but not before Eggs is given to the Boxtrolls for safekeeping. I
was kinda pumped because a father was killed.
The doesn't sound right. I mean that it
was remarkable that the film would do something that bold. It's much
darker than I expected. But, wouldn't ya know it, the father wasn't
killed, he was held captive by Snatcher, in solitary confinement,
held upside down and fed jelly for a decade. When he is
re-introduced, he is a lunatic.
I wasn't sure how the movie would
handle that emotional dilemma. The Boxtrolls raised Eggs, after all,
but now his biological father is back albeit without sanity. Don't
worry about that though! As soon as Snatcher is killed, Eggs Sr. gets
a shave and a haircut and is back to normal. The movie ends with Eggs
and his father in the front seat of a carriage, with the lead
Boxtroll behind them. You see, Eggs Sr. is the biological father and,
more importantly, a human so naturally he supersedes the Boxtrolls.
I could go on but
nah. The Boxtrolls now exists in my memory alongside a
terrible meal. In any case, thank you for reading! I would normally
say, “leave a comment and let me know if you agree or disagree with
my assessment” but I hope you might have persuaded you not to see
it. That said let me know if you've seen any good movies recently.
Have you seen the new Hunger Games or Interstellar?
Oh, I almost forgot to provide a link to Grendel, Grendel, Grendel
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