CAN Laika return to its former glory or is the studio a
one hit wonder? you're watching Beyond The Trailer's review of
The Boxtrolls! - I want every boxtroll gone!
Let's go!
- Who are you, boy? - I'm a boxtroll! - Then let's see you fit in your box?
- Please help us... - You need to look like a proper boy!
Yes! Yes! No...
When you meet someone must look them in the eye and shake hands.
What are you doing?!
Back in 2009 Laika made a big splash in the animation industry and with
audiences when they released Coraline
directed by Henry Selick. In fact Coraline was so well received the Disney
who'd ended their relationship with Selick after "the nightmare before
christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" weren't the commercial hits they'd hoped-for
actually wooed him back to the studio!
But Disney and Selick just aren't a good match and after investing $50 million in Selick's
the Shadow King
Disney decided once again to abandon the animator and the project
so now Selick finds himself back at sea trying to stay afloat
so why didn't he just go back to Laika?
no one knows yet no one also knows if like it can succeed without sellick
but they're certainly trying ParaNorman made waves is the follow-up to Coraline
but it also made about 20 million less at the box office
also have you noticed that like his films are getting weirder and weirder
as the CGI competition gets more and more mainstream
perhaps not the best business decision but then like a is a very unique and
interesting business
C Travis Knight wanted to be an animator and lucky for him
his dad cofounded Nike so Phil Knight invested heavily in wilmington studios
which is already producing stop motion animation and Travis was hired
then a few years later Phil bought the studio outright and gave it a new
directive
feature animation Travis is now the president and CEO the newly-named like a
sits on its board of directors and as the lead animator on
all its films then perhaps the reason sell it can't come back to like a or
walled
is because this is the sandbox film I purchased for his son
but if the box roles doesn't get the animation studio headed back in the
right direction what has to change
their creative approach their creative personnel or both
and what about the hard truth there simply doesn't seem to be a lot of money
in stop motion animation
that would be okay if it was are giving like a sort of higher purpose
so are these box trolls a commercial home run a work of art
or a second misfire for like a post sellick yell
think is art it just happens to be our
without so because while I respect the book strolls
pretty much every level intellectually I really respected
I just couldn't connect with the film I wouldn't even really
call it film are at least permanent 30 minutes
standpoint I would say it's more like a really cool
art exhibit and boils down to two problems
the script which we'll get to in a moment and also the stylization
let's start out with the script there's very clover
moments in the film and their laugh out loud moments
but it's not structured I think correctly
for maximum enjoyment or are connecting with the audience in the biggest problem
is that there's no set protagonist who is this story
really about who were we supposed to connect with is it X the boys stolen by
box trolls
fish the book stroller races and Winnie little rich girl that discovers eggs
got the jump back and forth between all these characters and also
well flush out the bill and I think pretty well also buried all concepts
year
I don't give anything away but asked that some things that I was surprised
you're in an all ages
now but you know again at it speaks the artistic qualities
I love the project if you take a I young child to a modern art exhibit
you would have a little bit %um under guard up to begin with because you know
we're dealing with artistic expression I it doesn't quite follow the same rules
as
mainstream entertainment so that was a big problem for me the script
with no separate agonist and also the stylization
it was so stylized are there at some point it was distracting and also I felt
it was often stylized just for the sake of being stylized I would be like why
would you do that
that makes no sense missus and serving the greater purpose of the film overall
it's more just
be funny year court your cool I just couldn't quite get it
but I really do feel urs watertown on the board here
a writer and on display here in this fell voice talent
is amazing of any in particular as winnie is a standout
I've never seen her so animated and live-action work she did a fantastic job
nuances over boys I can be a personality I was really impressed and wished she
would do this
and her live-action work I also think Ben Kingsley was very good as the bill
injured harris's when his father
and then Richard I I O O D
ok I would actually try pronounce his name correctly I'll Audie
I wrote it down Richard II OE is very good he's paired with Nick Frost you're
inside pics at a pic is very small
but he was very very good all of them were great and animations very good
I'm re well done stop motion animation and I
wish like a we consider applying their skills
to a adult or story me like a jack the ripper
project the river type film Victorian or
something like that the target maybe a little bit of an older demographic
would be interested in going to see are a art exhibit that's really cool I think
that could maybe be a commercial for that
but to quote a recent film inside Llewyn Davis
I still continue to see no money here when it comes to
like a output I hope they I mean I think that they should go where I think there
is a
undeniable talent on board here I wish they reached that more business savvy
because it could potentially be the undoing of them as a company
I'm not writing them off just yet but think they're on thin ice
what do you think of the box trolls to you what do you think of it in terms of
are
versus entertainment would you the other boys worked the animation
what do you think should be the future like what would you would you advise the
company to do going forward
I thank you so much for tuning in and you check it's more episodes
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