The Boxtrolls
2014movie
While “The Boxtrolls” does follow kiddie-action genre conventions in its big, noisy climax — a hectic brawl of explosions, collisions and oversize machines — it also finds an impressive number of quiet, eccentric and haunting moments along the way. The formal ball at which Eggs makes his clumsy debut in human society is a wonderful set piece, as is the open-air vaudeville re-enactment of his mythical abduction, performed by a chanteuse named Madame Frou-Frou.
A graphic novelist, a concept artist, film directors and others collaborated to visualize a German Expressionist-tinged fantasy world for “The Boxtrolls.”Adapted from Alan Snow’s novel “Here Be Monsters!,” “The Boxtrolls” follows miniature beings who wear boxes and live beneath the towering town of Cheesebridge. That split makes for two distinct visual worlds in the movie, directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable, who moved away from the book’s illustrations. “We loved the tone of the book, and we loved its core story,” Mr. Stacchi said. “But we needed to find our own tone.”
