Daily Archives: April 8, 2015

The BoxTrolls

Movies

Boxtrolls

The joy and insanity of stop motion animation! Possibly the ultimate culmination of craft and technology. The folks at Laika Animation Studios (Coraline, Paranorman) have made a stunning looking piece of art.

The Boxtrolls is the tale of a boy raised by underground creatures that people call, you guessed it, BoxTrolls. They’re considered to be like vultures, monsters who come out only at night to scavenge and steal babies to eat. The whole town is terrified of them and Archibald Snatcher has taken it upon himself to exterminate the whole lot of them…for a price. He wants a white hat, the signifying accessory of the ultra elite. With that he’ll be a real class act, able to join the town leaders in the cheese tasting room in Lord Portley-Rind’s mansion.

The BoxTrolls are far from monsters though. Rumors and lies have painted them as such. They’re actually very smart and caring creatures. When Eggs is orphaned as an infant (named after the writing on the box he was left in), they take him in and raise him. With Snatcher trapping every BoxTroll he can, the already small population of BoxTrolls gets smaller and smaller. Soon Eggs must stand up for them all, with the help of Lord Portley-Rind’s daughter, Winnie.

The BoxTrolls reminded me of a Ronald Dahl story a bit. It is a kid’s story/movie but there’s a lot of grown up themes and scary imagery (it’s rated PG for good reason). The cast of characters is great, most notably the character design.

My main adoration for this movie is how amazing it looks. It’s the highest quality stop motion animation around the just dazzles at every turn. The backgrounds don’t look like their props on elevated tables, but full scale stages. The lighting and effects are incredible. One of the first scenes where Snatcher first shows up with his cronies in his extermination vehicle is mind boggling. The depth added by the lighting and shadows from the headlights coupled with the fantastic character animation is unparalleled. There’s many scenes like this. The set pieces are gorgeous and varied, the town of Cheesebridge is greatly realized.

With a large cast of humans and various BoxTrolls (who all have distinct designs and personalities with animation to match so you can easily tell them apart), the stand out is Archibald Snatcher. He stands up there along side of Disney’s greatest villains. He looks like the living, breathing relative of Cruella de Ville. His long, skinny legs, rotund gut, gaunt face, busted smile and stringy hair make him an imposing figure. His spindly fingers and ultra detailed costume (look at his boots!) make him pop in every single frame he’s in. He’s just a rotten SOB, bad news down to the marrow of his bones. The perfect antagonist if there ever was one, I love him.

On the other side, Eggs is a great protagonist. Really likable kid, heart of gold and many of his interactions with Winnie bring much needed laughs to the movie  (her interrogation of him being a boy, not a BoxTroll and teaching him how to shake hands when greeting people in particular).

I’m a sucker for stop motion animation (among a few other types of movies) and I liked The BoxTrolls more than I thought I would. Had everything I wanted, I recommend it.

Justified S6E12

TV

Collateral 

The chase is on to get to Ava first. Everyone knows she dropped Boyd and left him for dead for the cash. She’s appropriately panicked all episode as she’s more or less trapped in the mountains with Zachariah. He wants to take a “hold up and kill” while she thinks that’s just a suicide plan. When she finds out Boyd is alive and out over the police scanner, she did my idea and took off with as much money as she could carry. A lot of people get mixed up inadvertently as Raylan runs rogue to stop this once and for all.

Raylan runs into Cope, a rather rustic man we haven’t seen in quite some time. With his help (and more evidence that Raylan is desperate to end this and get out) Raylan finds the cabin Zachariah and Ava are hiding in. Zachariah has also had enough and let’s Raylan know what he thinks of him after all these years, but Raylan could care less as he wants to find Ava before anyone else.

With Avery down to just himself and Boon now, he swings by to terrorize Loretta himself this time. Her ex gets dropped in cold blood, but she managed to talk herself into a rather good proposition with Avery. Always the shrewd business woman.

Constable Bob to the rescue! He had a string of good luck there, but collateral damage fits him too I’m afraid.

A plan to simply run is not much of a plan as Ava found out. She’s in some serious peril now, should make for a hell of a climax next week.

It goes without saying that Boyd and Rayland’s scene is the best. I can’t describe how good these scenes are, they have to be watched to be appreciated. The prowling around in the woods back and forth is so fitting and well done.

Zachariah and  Boyd meet for the last time! They both have an ax to grind and try to get the drop on each other again. Zachariah’s seething hate and contingency plan make for great TV!

Series Finale next week! All the pieces are about to come crashing together, it’s going to be a doozy.