This movie is somewhat entertaining, but not something that I'd go out of my way to recommend. There is a lot of bad dialogue and plot devices in this thing. The animation is fantastic though, so there's that. Its not enough for me to watch it again.

The undergrounds of Cheesebridge are the Boxtrolls' home. They are tiny odd gray beings with onomatopoeic language, who use grocery boxes as a dress, and live from collecting metal junk at night. They are considered baby snatchers, but they are very loving creatures; in fact, they've raised human baby 'Eggs'. Their life and future existence is threatened by the ugly, nasty, cheese-allergic, drag-queeny Archibald Snatcher and his two wicked assistants Mr Trout & Mr Pickles. Snatcher wants to exterminate the Boxtrolls ASAP to obtain a white hat and become part of the Town Council, as he dreams of respectability and of sharing the Council's cheese tasting sessions and discussions. Winnie, the Major Lord Portley-Rind's neglected daughter, meets Eggs by chance one night and, together, they start an adventure to try to rescue the fast-disappearing Boxtrolls and to expose Snatcher's wickedness and lies to the town.The Boxtrolls is one of my favorite stop-motion animated films of the last years even though it is not that popular, or that well-known, or it wasn't that much of a hit when it first came out. It has everything to please both children and adults and entertain them both. Based upon Alan Snow's 'Here Be Monsters', the film feels like one of those old European tales we all love, mixed with some Burton-ish imagery and a cute sprinkle of the Minions.The film has a great visual style, is utterly funny and entertaining, has a great tempo and, most importantly, has great anti-hero heroes and despicable villains. It is perfect for adults because it has great dialogues and is witty, but it has lots of adventure and charm, and is tender and sweet at times.The production design is incredible, and the micro-expressions of some of the leading characters are amazing, especially Eggs', who feels real as real it can be. The actors are really well cast for their roles, especially Isaac Hempstead Wright as Eggs, Ben Kingsley as Snatcher, Richard Ayoade as Mr Pickles, Nick Frost as Mr Trout, and Jared Harris as Lord Portley-Rind. I thought that they were all brilliant at voicing their characters. The rest of the cast were also very good.Give the Boxtrolls a chance to entertain you.

The Bxtrolls is a great movie with a very well written storyline and a terrific voice cast. It's a very fun story that is original in a way that I feel will appeal to both children and adults, as we follow a young boy struggling the make his town realise that Boxtrolls, a group of monsters that rared him, are not evil and mean no harm. The animation also helps with the originality of the film, it looks absolutely stunning, and you can tell a lot of work went in to making it, clay animation is very rarely used these days so I always appreciated it when it is. It bothered me how little the Boxtrolls were actually in it, for the fact that they're the title characters and the story revolves around them, the villain is practically the main character, which I felt was a mistake, especially when it's a very unlikeable one who isn't really powerful enough to hold the whole movie. The films voice cast is outstanding, they are all well known names but it dosen't feel like they did this animated film just for a pay check, it felt like they genuinely liked the script and wanted to do justice with their voice work, and they did, a lot of them sounded very different, I was particularly impressed with Ben Kingsley and Simon Pegg, who you can tell put loads of energy in to their performances. Stunning animation, outstanding voice cast and a very nice story, I would recommend the Boxtrolls to anyone looking for a good family film. A young boy who was raised by monsters known as Boxtrolls must save them from being taken and killed by an evil exterminator hoping to gain power.

"The Boxtrolls" is the third stellar stop-motion film produced by Laika, the same production company that also made the excellent "Coraline" and the underrated "ParaNorman." It is a superior animated film -- far better than most animated features that see widespread release. It's funny, a little bit "scary," smart, a little profound, and altogether wonderful. Also, its detailed stop-motion animation is a marvel to watch.The story of "Boxtrolls" involves an orphaned boy who is adopted by a race of box-wearing creatures who live under the streets of the towering British hamburg of Cheesebridge. These creatures, the boxtrolls, are gentle, misunderstood tinkerers, who come up out of the manhole-covers at night to scavenge for whatever shiny trinkets and machine-parts they can find lying about. They also fix things, oil squeaky hinges and whatnot. Then they retire to their underground cave, and work on building their fantastical, Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions.The boy, who grows to the cusp of adolescence believing himself to be a boxtroll, is named Eggs. The boxtrolls, being an extremely practical lot, take their names from whatever box they wear. The stencil on the boy's box says "Eggs." So that's what they call him. The trolls have, alas, come under the scorn of the population of Cheesebridge, whose fears are fueled by the colorfully horrific stories of Archibald Snatcher, a pest-exterminator who wants to destroy every last boxtroll, for reasons which are fairly transparent but also kind of hilariously specific. Snatcher spins tales of the boxtrolls sneaking into unlocked rooms at night, kidnapping infant children, devouring them, and picking their teeth with the bones. The boy we know as Eggs, in fact, figures prominently into the mythology Snatcher spins.The boxtrolls, therefore, find their numbers dwindling as Snatcher and his three goons persist in their extermination efforts. Rattling recklessly through the narrow streets at night atop his towering pest- control truck, intoning tales of horror through the truck's public- address system, and encouraging the terrified citizens of Cheesebridge to STAY INSIDE AFTER CURFEW, Snatcher is a nightmarish presence. He is voiced by Ben Kingsley (Ghandi!), who brings a theatrical kind of menace (and humor) to the role. He must have had a lot of fun with this part.Lord Portly-Rind, who is sort of the mayor of Cheesebridge, doesn't quite know what to do with Snatcher. Portly-Rind simply wants to spend as much time as possible in his mansion's "Tasting Room," where he and his upper-crust company don white hats and pretend to make important decisions, but really just spend their time tasting expensive cheeses. And yet, here is Snatcher talking tales of horror, and promising Portly- Rind that he'll make the streets safe again... in exchange for a white hat.Because Snatcher wants, more than anything else, to be accepted amongst the Cheesebridge upper-crust. His wildest ambition is to share the cheese in Portly-Rind's tasting-room, regardless of the fact that cheese does unspeakable things to his body.Meanwhile, Portly-Rind has a daughter, Winnie, who is frustrated by the lack of attention she receives from her dad. So, she acts out in certain ways, and has developed a rather morbid fixation on the boxtrolls and the horror she thinks they represent.The story involves Eggs' efforts to locate Fish -- the troll who has become his surrogate father -- after Fish is abducted by Snatcher's goons. This journey leads Eggs to cross paths with Winnie, who is fascinated by his familiarity with boxtrolls, and who essentially ends up teaming-up with him.The story is quirky and funny, and younger children might find it a little scary, but its scariness is of the sort that children often delight in, portrayed with glee and a ghoulish sense of fun, and never with a cynical or mean-spirited sensibility.My favorite bits of the film involved two of Snatcher's goons, Mr. Pickles and Mr. Trout, who are under the impression that they're the "good guys" in the battle against the boxtrolls."Do you think these boxtrolls understand the duality of good and evil, Mr. Trout?" asks Mr. Pickles as he and his cohorts close-in on a cowering boxtroll in an alleyway."I suppose so," replies Mr. Trout. "They know we're the good guys. That's why they run from us."This amusing and unexpected semi-philosophical banter continues throughout the film, as the two men begin to suspect that perhaps they're not playing on the team they want to be playing on.These asides are kind of brilliant, and refreshing to hear in an animated feature. And it's hard to argue with the film's theme of acceptance, as the citizens of Cheesebridge gradually learn that they have nothing to fear from the boxtrolls. There's another theme, too, wrapped-up in how Archibald Snatcher is revealed to be the film's true villain; it's about how self-interested people can prey on popular ignorance, dividing us out of fear, to serve their own ends.It's fairly heady material for a kids' film, sure. But kids will be entertained by the action-packed adventure elements, and the various funny gross-out moments (like Eggs and the boxtrolls feasting on bugs). The fact that those kid-friendly elements are wrapped-up in a story as smart and original as this is quite special.One more note: If you do watch this film, be sure to stick around during the ending credits. There's a scene involving Mr. Pickles and Mr. Trout about halfway through the credits, which reveals the labor- intensive animation process. It's kind of breathtaking, and rather profound.