Movie review: The Boxtrolls (+The Equalizer)

Hello!

First of all, I would like to apologize for not posting much this week. The reason why I did that is because my laptop crashed and it was being repaired for a whole week.  I don’t have a spare one and I could hardly prepare a proper post of my phone. Anyway, let’s get on with this week’s movie review.

On Wednesday, I have finally gone to see The Boxtrolls – newest stop motion animation distributed by Disney. The movie was directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchiand and written by Irena Brignull and Adam Pava.

Summary: Everybody believes that little trolls living underground are monster and that they have stolen a baby a few years ago. An evil man who wants to satisfy his selfish needs tries to eliminate all the boxtrolls from the city but a boy opposes him and even manages to unite 2 different races while destroying the evil – written by myself.

I went to see this film not because I was interested in the story but because stop-motion graphics amaze me. I appreciate all the hard work that is put into this type of animation. My favorite stop motion flick is Coraline (2009) by director Henry Selick produced by LAIKA studios (The Boxtrolls were also made by LAIKA). I also love Coraline because it is an animation for grown ups. It is pretty scary, dark and has a deep meaning.  What is more, I hate the fact that people think that animation movies are only for kids and Coraline helps to shed that myth away.

Having said that, I believe that The Boxtrolls movie was purely for young kids. I really wanted it to be smarter and a bit more serious. The graphics were nice but sometimes ugly and unpleasant to look at, however, interesting at the same time. It almost seemed like a piece of art and not a film for entertainment. I cannot discuss the voice work, because in my country all the voice overs had been done by different people in my own native language.

Although the movie was quite childish, it still had a few subtle undertones. It portrayed society obsessed with consumerism and people with no sentimental values perfectly. The Boxtrolls also showed altered (in a bad way) relationships between parents and kids. However, movie tackled not only sad issues but encouraged confidence and bravery as well. Outside doesn’t matter, you have to look deeper. The film is considered to be one of the contenders for the Oscar nomination in the category of Best Animation. While I think it might be nominated, I definitely don’t think that it’s going to win.

Trailer: The Boxtrolls trailer

Rate 3.5/5

That same day, I also saw The Equalizer (I know I am late to the party) with Denzel Washington in the main role. I’m not going to review it because I don’t have much to say, I quite liked it but I wished they would have explained  Robert’s  background and why he was such a great fighter. Moreover, I believe that they could have made a movie at least half an hour shorter and since I was very tired that day and had and IETLS exam the next, I could not wait for the movie to end and for me to finally be able to go to sleep. Rate 3/5

Photos: Google Images