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Of the five films nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscar ceremony, The Boxtrolls is undoubtedly the weakest of the lot. Shame, as normally Laika produces my favorite nominee in the given year. No, I’m not quite over the failure of both Coraline and ParaNorman to win in their respective years.
The main problem with The Boxtrolls is that its disparate parts never weld together as well as Laika’s other feature films managed. There are elements of class struggles, racism, family structures and dynamics, and two villainous sidekicks who continually have existential moments of doubt of whether what they are doing is good or bad. That’s a lot for any film to carry, and it doesn’t always carry it evenly towards its finish line.
Not to mention the strange diversion in which we learn that a main character is essentially a drag queen and loves it, with little explanation as to why they’re doing this and what they hope to achieve with it. Or the lone major female character who is a concoction of entitled brat, snide, smart, and exceedingly bossy. She mostly hovers around shrilly, but every so often, they’ll color her character with more depth by revealing a morbid streak as deep and wide as her privileged entitlement.
This isn’t Laika’s first dud by any means, but it is a strangely convoluted film. Doesn’t mean it isn’t without Laika’s typical attention to warm textures, colors, and highly detailed worlds. This one more asymmetrical, creating a colorful underground where the boxtrolls reside filled with mechanical gizmos and a quirky sense of construction. It’s always a pleasure to sit back and absorb the beauty of their hand-crafted worlds and unique character designs. The Boxtrolls assigns each of the titular trolls with a separate identity by outfitting their boxes with a specific design, much like the seven dwarfs were named after their dominant trait.
There’s plenty to admire and warmly greet in this film, and maybe my more muted reaction to the film is more emblematic of my out-sized expectations on a Laika product than the product itself. What’s here is fine quality, but it’s not a patch on their previous works.
