A different way of telling a story

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I did not catch Boxtrolls when it was in theaters, but I did rent it without any expectations and enjoyed it. Stop motion animation and clever characters, plus relatable themes all combined for a neat little package. And a lot of good voices too, some from old TV shows. It may be a little scary for the youngsters but I got over my fears of movie monsters years ago and I still liked the movie. It didn't scare me at all. It's like one of those paintings with weird and unusual creatures dominating center stage. Now that it's 2018 I don't know if I remember a lot. But it was fun!

In the town of Cheesebridge to citizens live in fear of the sewer-dwelling Boxtrolls who emerge at night and reportedly took and devoured a baby! Archibald Snatcher offers to catch and exterminate the monsters in exchange for a place on the town council so he can eat fine cheese and converse with the upper echelons of Cheesebridge society. It turns out that the stories about the Boxtrolls are untrue; far from eating the baby they raised him as one of their own; now known as Eggs he thinks he is a Boxtroll. One night he is seen Winnie, the daughter of city leader Lord Portley-Rind, who is fascinated with the Boxtrolls and the horrible things they are rumoured to do. After Egg's friend, Fish, is captured he returns to the surface and is shocked to learn what the people think about the Boxtrolls; he approaches Winnie to ask where Snatcher takes the captured trolls. He manages to rescue Fish and learns a shocking truth about Snatcher; if he is to save his friends he will have to work with Winnie and the Boxtrolls to defeat Snatcher.As with other films from Laika this film has some delightfully dark moments… Winnie's theories about what Boxtrolls do to people are particularly gruesome and there are some scary moments might scare younger children. Older children and adult viewers should really enjoy it though. The Boxtrolls are strangely endearing and the villain is delightfully grotesque… and gets worse when he eats the cheese he so desperately craves. There are times when it looks as if something bad happens to characters we are meant to like but in each case we later learn they are okay. Not surprisingly the stop-go animation is very good and the setting is beautifully realised with a really grungy look and some nice steampunk features. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Laika's other films or of animated features in general.

I am rarely amazed by animated movies. Most of the ones my kids begged me to watch with them I slept through. But this one kept me up well past my bedtime. Imagine every metaphor done to perfection - every cliché exposed, every cultural norm questioned - all in a way that most people won't even be perceptive enough to notice. It's hard to talk about this film without giving spoilers or falling into the traps laid by those who don't want you (or especially your kids!) to watch it. I can only assure you it is that rare combination of great entertainment and great art. I hope a few will believe me before falling victim to the real "trolls". And nothing is subversive - unless you think the truth of being human is subversive.

Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi direct this fun-filled animated film based on the novel Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow. In the Victorian era village of Cheesebridge, a young orphan boy Eggs(Isacc Hempstead Wright)is raised by a fun-loving group of Boxtrolls that are underground cave-dwelling trash collectors. Above is a community that is obsessed with class, wealth and above all else...stinky cheese! The young orphan finds out that he is a real flesh and blood boy from a little girl named Winnie(Elle Fanning). With her help, Eggs will try his best to save the Boxtrolls from an evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher(Ben Kingsley).Smaller children may have bad dreams, although there is a likable hero and a nasty villain and of course a happy ending. This should be fun for all age of viewers. Other stars lending their voices to this enchanting movie: Dee Bradley Baker, Jared Harris, Tracy Morgan, Steve Blum, Richard Ayoade and Nick Frost.