Director: Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi, Henry Selick
Screenplay: Irena Brignull, Adam Pava, Henry Selick
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan, Simon Pegg, Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Ian McShane
Country: US
Running Time: 97m/100m
Year: 2014/2009
Before Christmas, Laika released two of their fabulous films on UHD: Boxtrolls and Coraline. They are both well worth seeking out, especially on a physical format. They don’t have Disney’s muscle or Ghibli’s quietly-won, decades-long reputation so can get a little left out. Which is a shame, because they mine a clear third vein of style that complements and challenges the rest of the field.
Coraline (2009) is a dark fable that understands the fairytale at the heart of all the best stories, and treats its young audience like grown-ups. Fisherprice My First Horror Movie, Coraline is challenging. It picks at the relationship and safety net that Coraline has with her parents and it is scary. Coraline finds a space within her house and gets trapped in a mirror-world each night, with terrifying doppelgangers of her mum and dad. And if you don’t suffer from koumpounophobia (fear of buttons) now, you may do after seeing the film.
Henry Selick, the wonderful director who worked with Tim Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas, worked with Japanese artist Tadahiro Uesugi on the concept. The result is deliciously twisted. Pacey but rich with detail and substance. The theme is closer to Spirited Away than Frozen, but it’s entirely unlike either.
In Boxtrolls we find much of the same unique quality of filmmaking, but far more anarchic. It’s amazing that such meticulous work should feel so thrown together; contrived to be so, of course, but you would do well to spot the joins. The story of a young boy raised by misunderstood creatures that wear cardboard boxes for clothes is a weird enough premise before we get to the execution. This is steampunk fantasy with a distinctly British feel, not just down to the usual suspects in the cast. It has more than a hint of Terry Pratchett about it, leans into the absurd and disgusting in equal measure, and never loses focus on the central plot. In fact, it has an embarrassment of layers that directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi pile on, gleefully aware that the plot can take the weight.
Of the two films, I can’t pick a favourite. Both are rated PG but Coraline is a stronger PG than Boxtrolls which is the one I showed to my daughter. 8-years old, well-versed in Disney and a chunk of Ghibli and she loved it. A bit scary (especially the grotesque villain and his fate), but the bit with the bums made her laugh. Well, so it should.
VIDEO
Animation is an odd one when it comes to UHD. It remains an underappreciated medium in cinema and yet is the most capable at producing everything we consider to be cinema. On physical formats though, I tend to find Blu-ray sufficient at rendering hand-drawn and CGI work. There certainly isn’t enough of an upgrade to match the one in price.
That’s not the case for Coraline or Boxtrolls, or I expect their other faithfully transferred stop-motion. Laika’s films are so tactile, the objects feel so real. Coraline is an occasionally dark film with a lovely contrast, but her plasticky yellow coat and blue-tinted hair really pop with vibrancy. And don’t get me started on how shiny some of those buttons are.
In comparison, Boxtrolls is a wonderful mess. Detail and texture have an almost 3D feel to them and the sumptuous image pulls you in. The palette is muted which just emphasises the colours. Metal positively gleams. The animation is a mix of styles which responds brilliantly in UHD.
EXTRA FEATURES
Extra features were not available to review as they are on the Blu-Ray discs included with the retail copies. But both films include commentaries, making of featurettes and concept art. Paranorman and Kubo and the Two Strings have also been released in what are surely similarly impressive packages.
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