The Boxtrolls Review

It's so frustrating when there is a movie I really want to see in theaters and then miss the opportunity. I really had wanted to see The Boxtrolls (2014) in theaters, but somehow missed it. I'm a big fan of stop motion animation, and even though it seems to be a dying art in the face of high tech digital animation, once in awhile another feature film hits theaters. I'm glad there are studios and talented stop motion animators keeping the medium alive. The Boxtrolls ended up being a charming film featuring some stellar animation.

The Boxtrolls are a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy, whom they named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), in the amazing cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of a city called Cheesebridge. The story is about a young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors who tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator, the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley). When Snatcher comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls. Eggs decides to venture above ground and "into the light," where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnifred (Elle Fanning), the mayor's daughter. Together, they devise a daring plan to save The Boxtrolls family.

The animation in The Boxtrolls is fantastic! This was animated by Laika Studios, who also did Coraline, ParaNorman, and were contracted to do Corpse Bride. There is such beautiful subtlety in the characters' movements, from the subtle little facial expressions and eye movements to the insanely complex gestures and action scenes. Everything moves with marvelous fluidity and nonchalance. Even the bounciness of Winnifred's curly hair and swaying of Snatcher's greasy, ropey hair looks remarkably believable and convincing. The characters still have fascinating structure to them. Unlike most characters designed by Tim Burton, not all of the ones in The Boxtrolls are spindly; some are large and bulky, others are small and compact, and there are a few skinny, spindly ones, too. Some of the characters even change size and dimensions. Often when this happens, we're shown a projection of their shadow on a wall as they transform, but here we actually see the transformation in exquisite detail. Even these shots are done with amazing detail as the character struggles to maintain balance while we watch their weight shift significantly. I simply cannot speak highly enough of the animation here.

A complaint I had about the stop motion animation in ParaNorman was the frequent inclusion of some CGI to garnish a particular shot that simply couldn't be done with stop motion animation alone. While these shots and scenes often looked good, it kind of weakens the magic of stop motion animation when there's too much CGI. There was some CGI added here and there in The Boxtrolls, but it wasn't taking center stage. It took the form of clouds of smoke or dust to accent a shot, not take up the whole background as was done in ParaNorman. Minimal use of CGI was beneficial in the end. Most of its implementation was subtle and wouldn't have looked as good without it.

The story here is cute. We have a boy raised by a family of quirky lovable little creatures who are misunderstood, and worlds collide when the boy tries to interact with the people where he's from. Then we've got a token villain who is selfish and wants to exterminate the cute lovable creatures, and our hero has to straddle the line between both worlds to bring peace to both. The Boxtrolls doesn't really do much in the way of originality as far as story goes, it's a classic Hero's Journey story structure that's been used since ancient Greek myth. It's still a fun little story that anyone of any age could get behind, though, and the characters are remarkably charming, if a bit on the simple side.

The theme here seems to be trying to say something meaningful but it gets murky. It seems to be trying to say something about our nature, or how we were born. We're constantly told that characters behave in such a way that is simply in their nature, and they can't really change their circumstances. For example, it is in the nature of the Boxtrolls, themselves, to be passive and hide when there is danger. Eggs doesn't want them to change, but he tries to get them to run for their own safety but can't seem to get them to do it. When the Boxtrolls actually do flee on occasion, there is much applause for changing their nature. But Snatcher is motivated by climbing the social ladder and is actively trying to change his "nature" or circumstance but can't seem to do it. What's the message we're supposed to get from this? There's not even something to suggest that we have the circumstances we're given and we just have to do the best with what we can sort of manage. The murky theme is amusingly explored by Snatcher's henchmen who are frequently discussing the duality of good and evil and pondering whether they are inherently good or evil, and if they even have a choice in the matter. These same henchmen get a funny mid-credits scene where they speculate about giant omnipotent beings controlling everything they do while we actually see the stop motion animators manipulating the puppets for these characters. I'm really not clear what message I was supposed to get from The Boxtrolls, but I can overlook that since the rest of the movie was pretty good.

The Boxtrolls isn't Lakia's best film, but it's still very much enjoyable, as it is packed with enough offbeat wit and visual splendor to offer a healthy dose of all-ages entertainment. Visually, the film is a feast, stuffed with little jokes and surprises and the kind of black humor that Alfred Hitchcock heartily enjoyed, as well as having some painful, groaner puns. The animation is incredible, but the theme is obtuse and confusing. The Boxtrolls moves forward with revolutionary techniques in filmmaking, but mostly stands still as far as theme and story structure goes. It looks great, but no amount of visual trickery or animation genius can make a mediocre story any better than what it is. That said, I still liked The Boxtrolls a great deal, and I think it's worth seeing even if it is on the simple side. I just can't get over how great everything looked! The Boxtrolls is currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing and it's not a bad way to spend an hour and a half. Though there are parts that might be a bit too scary for younger viewers.

How to Train Your Dragon Review

On a very long flight overseas during the summer of 2010, I got to watch a couple of movies that were no longer in theaters, but not yet on home video. Among these was How to Train Your Dragon (2010). It was such a delightfully fun movie that it made me forget that I was tightly crammed into a flying metal tube with a hundred other people being flung across an ocean. It is easily my favorite Dreamworks movie to date.

Long ago up North on the Island of Berk, the young Viking, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), wants to join his town's fight against the dragons that continually raid their town. However, his stubborn father and village leader, Stoik the Vast (Gerard Butler), will not allow his small, clumsy, but inventive son to do so. Regardless, Hiccup ventures out into battle and downs a mysterious Night Fury dragon with his invention, but can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, Hiccup and the dragon, whom he dubs Toothless, begin a friendship that would open up both their worlds as the observant boy learns that his people have misjudged the species. But even as the two each take flight in their own way, they find that they must fight the destructive ignorance plaguing their world.

After a number of mediocre Dreamworks movies released over the previous couple of years, How to Train Your Dragon was an unexpectedly delightful change of pace. The characters were fantastic, the story was interesting, the theme was wonderful, the animation was stellar. That's quite a step up from titles like Bee Movie and Shrek the Third.

Hiccup is a fish out of water. He's not the big, burly, aggressive type that virtually everyone in village is. He's small, skinny, has a deadpan, sarcastic sense of humor, and tends to be resourceful instead of forceful. He resorts to constructing gizmos to help him achieve the same physical feats his fellow villagers do, but his intuition isn't appreciated. Stoick is a fierce, immensely strong and utterly fearless warrior. He's also very stubborn and seems to think the world should work according to the way he perceives it. He's a character with which we can identify, but not one that is easy to love initially. Needless to say, Hiccup and Stoick don't see eye-to-eye.

Then there is Toothless. Toothless may be a dragon, but he's possibly the most endearing character in the movie. The way he moves is a lot like a playful cat. He has highly expressive yellow eyes that contrast his black color beautifully and help illustrate the many facial expressions Toothless has. The sounds he makes are adorable, but ferocious when they need to be. The sounds used to voice Toothless are a combination of Supervising Sound Designer Randy Thom, elephant Seals, elephants, horses, tigers, and domestic cats. There is a very important quality to the Toothless character that is missing from so many of Hollywood's contemporary animated characters; an air of mystery. This isn't just a funny animal sidekick, he's a major character in the movie who plays a significant part in the plot's development.

The story and theme were delightful. It's a bit fast paced as it is primarily aimed at children with short attention spans. Nevertheless, it features an invigorating coming-of-age story of surprising depth paired with a sweetly poignant tale of friendship between man and animal. It delves into the ideas of empathy and taking the initiative to learn about what you don't understand so as to peacefully coexist. If we take our initial impressions of others as objective fact, it causes us to be shortsighted, intolerant, and even hostile against those we don't understand. Thematically, this is similar to both Frozen and ParaNorman, though How to Train Your Dragon has its own take on interpersonal conflict that should not be overlooked.

The animation is top notch. The texture of skin, clothing, dragon scales, water, and everything else looked amazing. I've already mentioned the charming way Toothless moved, but every character moved in a way that was cartoonish enough to be funny, but not so wacky as to be unrealistic. The camera work was phenomenal as well. How to Train Your Dragon has some of the best action sequences I've seen in a CGI animated film. Everything from the angle of the shot to the speed of the editing projects an end visual that feels like you're either riding on Toothless' back or you get an outsider perspective on just how fast he's flying. It's positively brilliant.

How to Train Your Dragon is easily the best Dreamworks animated feature to date, and possibly one of the best dragon movies ever made. It boasts dazzling animation and a script with a surprising dramatic depth which mixes comedic and touching moments. Instead of relying on dizzying gimmicks, this movie revels in sheer heart-pumping pleasure of watching action unfold and lets us genuinely enjoy some charming characters. It's take on the message about tolerance and realizing your enemy may not be as different as you think puts it in a higher quality bracket than other CGI animated films. I love this movie. I've been telling myself for years to get my own copy; this is absolutely worth having in your own home collection.

What is the best dragon movie you've ever seen? Comment below and tell me why!

Shaun the Sheep Movie Review

I keep saying that Stop-motion animation is a dying art. Yet I keep finding and reviewing stop-motion animated movies, even new releases. Is it making a comeback? Aardman Animations is the British animation studio known for using stop-motion animation and bringing us films like Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, and The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Their latest film, Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) is based off of the television series of the same name, whose titular character was introduced in the Wallace and Gromit short A Close Shave (my favorite). Shaun the Sheep Movie is every bit as delightful and charming as anything we've come to expect from Aardman Animations.

Shaun the sheep is tired of doing the same work at the farm every day. He decides to take a day off. In order to do that, he needs to make sure the farmer doesn't know.  A mix up with the Farmer, a caravan and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City. Shaun and his flock explore the Big City hoping to find their farmer, who is suffering from amnesia. Along the way they buy disguises, dine at fine restaurants and rub elbows with celebrities, all the while attempting to elude an arrogant animal-control officer. It's up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to the green grass of home.

When the Shaun the Sheep television series was started up, Aardman Animations needed to keep the budget down. Manipulating the characters' mouths for stop-motion animation is very time-consuming and gets to be expensive, so the program became dialogue-free and was a huge success. Similarly, Shaun the Sheep Movie doesn't have a single spoken word. It's effectively a silent film the same way The Triplets of Belleville and WALL-E is. There are still sound effects, and characters still make vocal sounds; they just don't say anything. But even without dialogue the meaningful animation is so well done that you can still tell what the characters are thinking or communicating without needing the dialogue. Like most Aardman's films, this one feels both decidedly British and universal. The farmer's Wellington boots and Fair Isle sweater place him squarely in the UK, but the film's dialouge-free format has helped it to appeal to a broad range of counties and ages; there's nothing to dub over or subtitle, so international appeal is inherent.

The humor is largely slapstick and totally silly. I love cartoon physics and slapstick, and this movie is loaded with it! You can easily get a lot of mileage out of a nearsighted farmer and his loyal dog being rescued by a flock of dim-witted sheep. There's also many spoofs inserted here and there that only adults will catch including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Taxi Driver, The Silence of the Lambs, The Shawshank Redemption, and Breaking Bad. The cone-wearing cat who bears a more than striking resemblance to Hannibal Lecter was one of my favorites. I laughed a lot during this movie and got a big kick out of it. The humor is witty and simple enough to appeal to a broad range of audiences of any age.

Stop-motion animation is different from the much more popular computer animation. It has a sense of realism to it. Sure, I've seen some computer animation that looked remarkably realistic, but it was still digital graphics and lacked something that made it actually real. With stop-motion animation, it is actual photographs of actual objects. Even when it is stylized and cartoonish, it still has a realistic quality that computer animation hasn't quite achieved yet. I like stop-motion animation, especially when it is left in its pure state, without stylistic additions of computer animation as was done in ParaNorman. Shaun the Sheep Movie sticks to its guns and holds true to this century-old style of animation and it is animation perfection.

Shaun the Sheep Movie is cute, warm, fuzzy, funny, and remarkably well animated. I loved it! It's good, clean fun that will appeal to a broad range of audiences of all ages. The slapstick is hysterical, the movie references are a hoot, and the characters are highly lovable. There is not a single negative thing I can say about this movie. I want to see Aardman Animations make more movies like this, which is why I have no misgivings over spending money on a movie ticket to see this Shaun the Sheep Movie. Please go see this in theaters; it's the kind of film we want to encourage studios to make.

Do you have a favorite Aardman Animations movie or short? Comment below and tell me all about it!

Frozen Movie Review

Even when it's a new release, there's still something magical and nostalgic about seeing a Disney styled "Princess Movie" every now and then. Beauty and the Beast remains one of my all time favorite animated movies. As a fan of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale The Snow Queen, I was psyched for Frozen (2013), a movie version of the story done by Disney. When I saw the trailer I was still excited, but all I could think afterwards was, "Why the heck is there a talking snowman?"

Anna (Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, sets off on a journey - teamed up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) - to find her sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) the newly coroneted Queen of Arendelle. Elsa has trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in an eternal winter. Anna and Kristoff face Everest-like conditions, trolls, and a talking snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) as they battle the elements in a race to save the Kingdom. From the outside, Elsa looks poised, regal, and reserved, but in reality she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret; she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It's a beautiful ability, but is also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers.  Her mounting emotions trigger the magic and accidently setting off an eternal winter that she can't stop. Elsa fears she's becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister Anna, can help.

Now if you're familiar with the Hans Christian Anderson classic, you'll notice that as per Disney tradition, Frozen has a very loose interpretation of "based on." But as with the case of Mulan, Chicken Little, and others, Disney can still tell a decent story that has practically nothing to do with the tale upon which it claims to be based. While I would enjoy seeing a movie that is a more closely adapted version of The Snow Queen, I still think Frozen stands on its own as a good story with a strong, romantic fairytale vibe.

I loved the characters in Frozen. Anna is a deliriously happy, optimistic, and bubbly young lady. Admittedly, Anna does get slightly obnoxious once in awhile, since nothing seems to phase her. She's still a very cute and lovable princess. Kristoff is awesome. He's like this gruff, unrefined, mountain man; not a prince. He's rather grumpy, selfish, and lazy. Anna and Kristoff bounce off each other beautifully, which creates some hilarious situational comedy between them.

Elsa was easily my favorite character. She was born inherently different, and while her parents had the best of intentions, they kept her locked away to keep her and others safe. Neither Elsa nor her ice powers are bad, but it her powers are dangerous and frightening to people who don't understand it. My favorite scene is when Elsa has run away to the mountains and is letting herself go and exploring her powers a safe distance from everyone around her. Not only is it an amazing bit of character development, it's accompanied by some spectacular animation and my favorite song in the movie. Anyone who has ever been made to feel like an outcast or who has been bullied for being different in any way will find Elsa a particularly endearing character that they can relate to.

Then there's the frig'n Snowman. I was hoping there would be a  good reason for having the silly sidekick, but there wasn't. All the other characters get funny lines, so adding an extra humorous character who does nothing but a few physical comedy bits was redundant. It was faintly insinuated that Olaf might be meaningful at some point during the movie, but it never happens. Olaf did nothing important. Small kids might be amused by him, but the movie would have been stronger overall without him.

The theme in Frozen reminded me a great deal of the theme in ParaNorman. Both are about how people overreact with fear to the unfamiliar and how that often leads to bullying or worse. Whereas ParaNorman took more of the open communication and conflict resolution side, Frozen was more about making sure that ostracized people know that they are loved and that they are important. ParaNorman makes a great case, but I think Frozen's message is even more important.

I cannot express how amazing the animation is in Frozen. There was massive amounts of detail put into the snow. The characters are covered in snow, walking through snow, throwing snowballs, etc. With a complex physics program used to illustrate the snow, it basically looks real. It moves just right, it crumbles just right, everything about the snow in this movie is perfect. That's great since it plays such a significant role in the story. KOTAKU.com has a short article with a discussion of the physics program and animation samples which I highly recommend checking out for more details.

I liked Frozen, even with the stupid snowman character. It's got spectacular animation, some charming and endearing characters, some truly fun musical numbers, and a story that the whole family could get into. It's got a great message about accepting those who are different from you and showing them love just the same. It's got a very satisfying finale that that breaks away from the formulaic fairytale status quo; it doesn't end the way you might expect. Good job, Disney! If you've got small kids this is a perfect movie to catch in theaters together, and it's worth getting a copy of on Blu-Ray once it becomes available.

I think Disney is starting to run out of fairytale stories to make into movies. Is there any that haven't been done yet that you'd like to see? I'd love to see a non-Mickey Mouse version of Jack and the Beanstalk or The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Comment below and tell me what you think!

ParaNorman Movie Review

Stop-motion animation seems to be a vanishing art, but in 2012, we had two Halloween-themed stop-motion movies that were released around the same time. I think Tim Burton is keeping the medium alive. Once in a while someone else will make one as well. ParaNorman (2012) was not done by Tim Burton. Popular as zombies are, I’m almost surprised there wasn’t a zombie movie targeted towards kids before before this one.

In the little town of Blithe Hollow, Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a boy who can see ghosts and speak to the dead. No one besides his eccentric new friend, Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), believes his ability is real. One day the town lunatic, Norman’s estranged eccentric uncle (John Goodman), tells him of an important annual ritual he must take up to protect the town from a curse cast by a witch it condemned centuries ago. Eventually, Norman decides to cooperate, but things don’t go according to plan. Now, a supernatural storm caused by the witch’s curse threatens Blithe Hollow as the accursed dead rise. Together with unexpected new companions, Norman struggles to save his town, only to discover the horrific truth of the curse. With that insight, Norman must resolve the crisis for good.

ParaNorman hit theaters in August, a bit early for a Halloween movie. It has a lot of classic “Halloween” elements in it; ghosts, witches, and zombies and an autumnal setting. I was expecting a silly, light hearted romp with silly monsters and trick or treating that would probably conclude with some sort of wacky villain trying to ruin everyone’s fun. Boy, was I wrong! ParaNorman had a lot of morbidity; ghosts who are unhappy and lingering around, a character actually dies in the movie and becomes a ghost, decaying zombies arise and begin shambling about, and stories of a witch being hanged back in the early Colonial days of America. It seemed kind of dark for a family film. Even though ParaNorman is PG, it had some genuinely scary imagery that would probably scare the pants off some young viewers.

Norman's hair always sticks straight up

The animation in ParaNorman was great. Actual stop-motion animation had lots of detail; the sets and characters really looked good. A lot of props and characters have exaggerated features. It adds an interesting style to the animation that looks unique to the movie; it doesn’t look like a Tim Burton feature with spindly characters who have enormous eyes. There are subtle little things, like Norman’s hair, that add some charm to the movie. Norman tries to style his hair so that it looks nice, and it gets tussled up during his adventure, but no matter what happens to it, it springs straight up again. Hair is very hard to animate in stop-motion; I’ve got to give these animators credit. There is some CGI animation used in the movie, too. I think that detracts from the “magic” of stop-motion animation, but it was well incorporated and looked good for the most part.

What surprised me most about ParaNorman was the theme of the movie. Like I said, I was expecting a light-hearted Halloween romp, but the theme was actually pretty deep and meaningful. It’s about how people will overreact with fear of the unfamiliar, and how that often leads to bullying or worse. It’s also about open, clear communication to ensure that we understand one another and don’t jump to erroneous conclusions which could cause us to harm one another. ParaNorman incorporated this theme remarkably well; we aren’t beat over the head with it, but it’s still beautifully and logically woven into the story. I absolutely loved this theme, and they used it in the context of a zombie movie! It’s amazing!

My only real complaint about ParaNorman was the fact that it is pretty slow paced. I understand that it needed to establish some back story and develop the characters before they can actually delve into the meat of the story. But by the time the story got moving I was teetering on the brink of boredom. I hadn’t lost interest enough to turn it off, and the movie as a whole is pretty good, it just has a slow start. If you can make it through the first fourth, you’re in for a good, solid movie.

ParaNorman is a fun movie that features some good animation, a decent story, a fantastic theme, and features zombies. What’s not to love? There is some scary imagery that might frighten some younger viewers, so I wouldn’t recommend showing this to kids under the age of 8 or so. Beyond that, I highly recommend ParaNorman to anyone, especially to help understand bullying, the reasons it happens, and how to stop it. It’s got a slow start, but it’s worth sticking with it. ParaNorman has been nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this year, it was that good. I would buy ParaNorman on Blu-Ray, but I think it is worth renting at the very least.

I can think of a couple of PG family films that were probably a bit too scary for their target audience. What was a movie or movie character in a kid’s movie that scared you to pieces when you were little? Comment below and tell me why!