The Boxtrolls

An adaptation of Alan Snow’s novel Here Be Monsters!, stop-motion animation The Boxtrolls is a comedic fable set in and under a Victorian-era town whose misguided residents have obsessions concerning wealth, class and cheese. One power-hungry opportunist, pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley, clearly having fun), sees his ticket to high society in eradicating a group of subterranean creatures he promotes as threats to the town. In reality, these Boxtrolls (who wear cardboard boxes like turtle shells) are kind-hearted, harmless scavengers, who’ve actually been raising an orphaned human boy who begins to suspect he’s not quite like his adopted brethren.

The Boxtrolls maintains the prickly charm of the Laika studio’s predecessors (Coraline, ParaNorman) and is a cute exploration of scapegoating, though it often feels like it's been cobbled together from spare parts. Still, when those parts are dashes of Roald Dahl, Monty Python, and LucasArts adventure games it’s not much of a complaint. [Josh Slater-Williams]