The Boxtrolls | Film review - Stop-motion masters Laika's quirky treat

(Image credit: LAIKA)

Delightful animated fantasy The Boxtrolls from stop-motion masters Laika, the studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, is stuffed full of quirky details, bizarre characters and cockeyed humour, not to mention mild thrills and spills, and a cheering message about tolerance. The setting is the comically grotesque Victorian town of Cheesebridge, where social-climbing villain Archibald Snatcher (voiced with Dickensian relish by Ben Kingsley) has persuaded the locals that the weird but harmless underground-dwelling Boxtrolls are dangerous child stealers. Raised by the Boxtrolls, young orphan Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) knows better and strives with his new friend Winnie (Elle Fanning) to foil Snatcher and his ethically confused henchmen’s extermination plan.

Certificate PG. Runtime 90 mins. Director Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi.

Released on Blu-ray & DVD by Universal Pictures UK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2dFVnp5K0o

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.