The Boxtrolls

“Heroes come in all shapes and sizes... even rectangles.”

6.7

2014

1h 37m

AnimationComedyFamilyFantasy

Director: Graham Annable

Overview

An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.

Trailer

10 Years of The Boxtrolls Official

Cast

Snatcher (voice)

Ben Kingsley

Snatcher (voice)

Eggs (voice)

Isaac Hempstead Wright

Eggs (voice)

Winnie Portley-Rind (voice)

Elle Fanning

Winnie Portley-Rind (voice)

Fish / Wheels / Bucket (voice)

Dee Bradley Baker

Fish / Wheels / Bucket (voice)

Lady Cynthia Portley-Rind (voice)

Toni Collette

Lady Cynthia Portley-Rind (voice)

Lord Portley-Rind (voice)

Jared Harris

Lord Portley-Rind (voice)

Mr. Trout (voice)

Nick Frost

Mr. Trout (voice)

Mr. Pickles (voice)

Richard Ayoade

Mr. Pickles (voice)

Mr. Gristle (voice)

Tracy Morgan

Mr. Gristle (voice)

Herbert Trubshaw (voice)

Simon Pegg

Herbert Trubshaw (voice)

Oil Can / Knickers (voice)

Nika Futterman

Oil Can / Knickers (voice)

Fragile / Sweets (voice)

Pat Fraley

Fragile / Sweets (voice)

Reviews

r96sk

<em>'The Boxtrolls'</em> has parts that I like, but overall I found it slow-moving. I enjoyed the Boxtrolls themselves, I like how they look and come across. Archibald (Ben Kingsley) and bodyguards, Messrs Trout (Nick Frost) and Pickles (Richard Ayoade), are good, as is the casting of Jared Harris as Lord Charles Portley-Rind. With that said, I liked them individually rather than as a group. Frost and Ayoade being the key examples, despite being two of the same character I never felt a connection between them. Elsewhere, I rate Isaac Hempstead Wright and Elle Fanning as actors, but I don't feel like their voices suit the respective roles of Eggs and Winnie. The stop-motion animation is strong, but I just feel the plot is brought to life in a sluggish manner; the ending particularly felt dragged out to me. All in all, it's an average film in my eyes.

Read full review

CinemaSerf

"Snatcher" is determined to get himself a white hat! Why? Well that symbolises his membership of the town's elite - and it gets him to the table for the cheese tasting, and boy does he like cheese - even if it doesn't particularly like him! The scornful "Lord Portley-Rind", though, is having none of this - until, that is, he is promised that they will be rid of the evil, menacing, baby-stealing box trolls. OK, he has a deal - and together with his three henchmen starts apprehending these curious nocturnal creatures. Are they really the danger he purports, though? After one raid, we escape with "Eggs" and "Fish" down into the subterranean cavern where they live. They are a community, looking out for one and other and living the lives of box-clad "Wombles" - recycling as they go. It turns out too that "Eggs" isn't really a troll, but maybe he is the now grown-up missing infant (and maybe also a stunt double for Nicholas Hoult, too)? What now ensues is a lively and entertaining battle of wills between the exterminators and the rapidly diminishing number of trolls who have to find a way to fight back and expose "Snatcher" who has a curious doppelgänger. Whilst the story isn't really anything new, the stop-motion animation is intricate and colourful with some really engaging characterisations extolling virtues of loyalty and friendship, a tiny hint of a romance that delivers a steadily paced and scored presentation. Good fun!

Read full review