In an attempt to save his friends from the evil extermination he prepares to do, in order to get rid of their cave, Eggs, a young teenager orphan boy who has been adopted by the trash collectors, the thing that makes him grateful for them, does his best, in order to destroy his plans, by receiving help from his friend.
It's a world that runs in a parallel universe akin to that of Charles Dickens, with creatively named characters involved in seemingly outlandish adventures in a Victorian-era city where a moral or two plays out in the end.
In a weak year for feature-length animated films, "The Boxtrolls" was clearly the best in my estimation. That doesn't sound like much of a recommendation, but it truly is.
It's a felt, funny, bracingly sincere kids' movie. And even more refreshing, it takes as a theme our social fixation with waste, salvage and repackaging.
Without being didactic, "The Boxtrolls" presents the dangers of a hierarchical society, separated out into high-status and low, and also has some very interesting and moving things to say about identity, family, and morality.
