Review: 'boxtrolls' Has A Demented Charm

A spooky surrealism has been the specialty of the Oregon-based animation studio Laika, the Pacific Northwest purveyors of 3-D stop-motion. The self-stylized descendants of the Brothers Grimm and Neil Gaiman (whose "Coraline" they adapted for their first of three features), Laika seems to yearn for a little more darkness, a touch of Gothic in our children's films — a laudable and very welcome impulse that makes one inclined to celebrate their fanciful grotesqueries on intentions alone. The film is set in the British village of Cheesebridge where cheese is the most prized currency and the town's aristocracy — a trio of clueless men dubbed "White Hats" for their tall head-ware — spend their time slathering over gouda. The supposed scourge of Cheesebridge are the Boxtrolls, little nocturnal creatures who wear discarded boxes like a turtle shell and scavenge for mechanical parts on nighttime streets. The Boxtrolls," a Focus Features release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "action, some peril and mild rude humor.