THE BOXTROLLS [2014]

Based on Alan Snow's off-kilter children's novel Here Be Monsters!, directors Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi's The Boxtrolls is another stop-motion film that seems to be aimed at shopping mall goth kids who loved A Nightmare Before Christmas.
The story of a boy who was raised underground by a race of trash-collecting trolls only to have their peaceful existence put in peril when a nasty exterminator comes into the mix.  While the film is packed with plenty of visual splendor, a wild imagination and a macabre sense of charming humor it doesn't quite hit the mark.  The film-makers admirably spent so much time on nearly every jaw-dropping aspect of the film but somewhere along the line they forgot to give the leading characters a pulse and that's where it hurts the most.  With that in mind, put the really young ones to bed and you'll still find plenty to enjoy out of this film no matter where it fizzles a bit.

3 fish out of 5