The Box Trolls (2014)
Directors: Graham Anabelle, Anthony Stacchi
Voice Actors: Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Tracy
Morgan, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg, Isaac Hempstead Wright
I've always enjoyed the films that the guys at Laika produce because they pride themselves in making children’s films that opposed to
95% of children’s films made these days, actually have something to say. They have
a brain to them. They don’t make empty crap, they actually make films that have substance. Take for example
Coraline (2009), a film about a little girl who is unhappy with her family
life, so she escapes to an alternate universe with alternate versions of mommy
and daddy. They appear to be better, but are they? I’m still finding new themes
every time I watch Coraline. For a children’s film it’s extremely layered, it’s
a film that both parents and children can enjoy. Same can be said for
Paranorman (2012), a film about a little boy who is having a hard time
adjusting to the fact that he is just a little bit different than the rest of
the kids in town; he can talk to the dead! And so, here comes The Boxtrolls;
does it deliver the depth in themes that we've come to expect from Laika films?
Of course it does! This production company’s mission is to
enlighten young minds; and so this time around the film takes place in a
fictional town called Cheesebridge, a town where everybody loves cheese. The
townspeople believe in these creatures called The Boxtrolls and according to
town legend these Boxtrolls are murderous creatures that come out at night to steal and
eat your children. We soon learn that these creatures aren't evil at all; they
simply live on other people’s garbage. Whatever humans throw away, the
Boxtrolls can find a use for. The Boxtrolls have raised a human boy amongst
them whom they call ‘Eggs’ because the box he wears is a box of eggs. When Eggs
grows into a teenager, he wants to see the world above. Will he ever learn that
he is a human and not a Boxtroll? Will he ever meet his real parents? On top of
things, the rich and powerful elite are scheming to eradicate the Boxtrolls
forever! Will they achieve their goal? Or will the Boxtroll’s fight for their
right to exist?
So yes, once again we get a deep, heavy themed movie from
Laika. This time around they've decided to address class issues. You see, in this film the
Boxtrolls represent the poor, the underclass, those struggling to survive in
the world and 'The White Hats' are members of high society whose only
worry in life is eating the finest cheese and wearing finest clothes, the concerns of the people don't really matter to them. These White Hats
see The Boxtrolls as a menace, a plague that should be eliminated. Not so
different from what goes on in the world today, where the rich and powerful see
the masses as a hindrance, as ‘monsters’ so to speak, as people they don’t even
want to associate themselves with. This is why in the film The Boxtrolls are
seen as hideous, but only because this is a myth that is propagated amongst the
people. In reality, The Boxtrolls are harmless, even lovable. They all live
inside their little boxes, which they hide in as soon as they sense danger. The
symbolisms are quite clear when we look at it. The poor live inside “the box”, they
hide from society, looking for their own comfort. But we learn through the film
that what they need to do is think outside the box and fight for their right to
coexist in this world. In this sense the film is extremely similar to Fritz
Lang’s Metropolis (1927), the poor who live in the underworld and the rich who
live above must find a way to understand each other. If I’m to draw comparison’s
to other films, Little Monsters (1989), would be another one, in that one, the
monsters also lived in some kind of underground alternate universe. Another
similar one would be City of Ember (2008), which played with similar ideas.
And this is why I love Laika films. They address themes that
kids should be exposed to and rarely are. I mean, I’m all for “believe in
yourself” and “follow your dreams” (and there is some of that in this film) but
there’s other themes that can be addressed to children, especially when we take
in consideration the kind of complex world we live in, a world in which children deal with more diverse matters than the ones presented in what passes for children's films these days. This is why I always
applaud children’s films that go a little further and don’t take our children
for granted. Films like Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) or Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are (2009), films that don’t treat children like idiots, which I
think is something that modern society tends to do just a little too much. It
is my opinion that children are very capable of grasping and learning concepts
and ideas a whole lot faster than they are given credit for, so I’m all for
children movies with brains, especially
ones that are as artful and as interesting to look at as the films that Laika
is producing.
The cherry on the cake is the amazing stop motion animation which I just
love to look at, to me stop motion animation, when done right, is eye candy. And trust me; these films are a true
wonder! I still bow down to stop motion artist and I am glad this
film making technique refuses to die. It works wonders in films of this kind,
and I honestly hope that the folks at Laika never stop making their films, though I know these films are an endangered species.
Still, I’m happy that every now and again a stop motion animated film pops up and I'm happy that they have not completely disappeared. To me the films that Laika is
producing are as amazing as the films that Studio Ghibli produces, unique because not everybody is making them. Unique because they are old school and that makes them all the more special, true gems.
Rating: 5 out of 5
