Laika's The Boxtrolls Is Good But Not Great

[MovieBob]

Laika's The Boxtrolls Is Good But Not Great

The Boxtrolls is a visual delight without a lot of substance... and that's okay.

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[Burnouts3s3]

Cool. I'll try to check it out this weekend.

 

[PunkRex]

I feel as betrayed as the time you called How to Train your Dragon okay, I SHANT FORGET THIS BOB!!!

Butt cereal, fair enough, personally I loved the crap out of the film with the ending having me and my sister on the edge of our seats as to whether they would or wouldn't do in the movie's villain like the scene suggested...

Gotta agree with you on the gross out factor, yeesh.

Laika really are my fave animation company at the mo, I hope Box Trolls does well enough to fund what ever they choose to do next.

 

[RA92]

Laika really are my fave animation company at the mo, I hope Box Trolls does well enough to fund what ever they choose to do next.

Laika is insane. I heard that for each walk cycle of their characters, they drill a hole on the set, screw in through the character's foot, shoot a few frames, take the screw out and repeat the process for the other foot.

That's nuts.

 

[Jinjer]

On that twist you're not willing to spoil, you say it's probably not meant with malice. Even if it isn't, subtext means a lot and especially with a young audience it can influence their view on what is "normal" and socially acceptable in these situations.

Spoiler

The reveal that the main villain was cross-dressing as a woman, the romantic target of several men and their subsequent disgust at finding out that they had been hitting on a guy is iffy at best

 

[PunkRex]

On that twist you're not willing to spoil, you say it's probably not meant with malice. Even if it isn't, subtext means a lot and especially with a young audience it can influence their view on what is "normal" and socially acceptable in these situations.

Spoiler

The reveal that the main villain was cross-dressing as a woman, the romantic target of several men and their subsequent disgust at finding out that they had been hitting on a guy is iffy at best

I don't remember that scene all that well as it was 2 weeks ago I saw the film but all I remember of it was Winnie's dad saying 'I regret so much' and him and his fellow cheese eaters being a little tiffed. They were lecherous no doubt, Winnie's dad especially was constantly ignoring his wife's feelings, but their hate seemed more to stem from being lied to as they never brought attention to the matter after the big reveal and subsequent 'I regret so much' gag.

Not to mention, he did it so he could manipulate the higher ups not because he enjoyed it, i'd argue the older kids can discern the difference between a person doing it for nefarious reasons and one who does it for fun/ because it's how they identify themselves. The younger kids are gonna find it weird regardless as young kids find most things different weird or gross and the movie doesn't seem to argue it's something to be shunned.

 

[SnakeTrousers]

Not to mention, he did it so he could manipulate the higher ups not because he enjoyed it, i'd argue the older kids can discern the difference between a person doing it for nefarious reasons and one who does it for fun/ because it's how they identify themselves.

I'd argue that's probably a bit overly-optimistic, given a lot of adults probably couldn't make that distinction.

 

[Darth_Payn]

"child-friendly Monty Python" OK, that's a phrase I thought I'd never read. If I had kids, I would definitely see this with them.

 

[PunkRex]

Not to mention, he did it so he could manipulate the higher ups not because he enjoyed it, i'd argue the older kids can discern the difference between a person doing it for nefarious reasons and one who does it for fun/ because it's how they identify themselves.

I'd argue that's probably a bit overly-optimistic, given a lot of adults probably couldn't make that distinction.

Maybe so but I prefer it over viewing everyone with contempt/ambivalence.