The boxtrools is smart,but way too scary for kids

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Commercials for “The Boxtrolls” make it seem as if the animated movie is adorable and silly and family-friendly.

It’s a story about a young boy adopted by bluish, grayish, box-wearing trolls. They live peacefully underground, listening to music, co-sleeping and stealing trinkets from garbage heaps.

Seems great, right? Especially for families starved for PG-rated films lately. But in reality, “The Boxtrolls” is neither adorable nor silly — nor all that family-friendly.

“The Boxtrolls”

Rating: PG

When: Opens today

Where: Wide release

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

★★½

The film comes from Laika, the studio that also released the gorgeous but nightmare-inducing “Coraline” and “ParaNorman.”

The look for its third full-length feature is once again intricate and spectacular — a mix between German Gothic architecture and Steampunk. You can almost feel the hours the animators spent working to perfect every detail.

“The Boxtrolls” is also smart. It doesn’t bother with any kind of origin story or explanation; the audience doesn’t find out why there’s a boy living with these creatures until halfway through the film.

The jokes it does have are on the sophisticated side (Milk Street turns into Curds Way), and overall, the movie treats the audience intelligently. Tim Burton-loving adults and Goth-leaning teens will appreciate the film’s eccentricity and darkness.

In this image released by Focus Features, Eggs, voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright, left, appears in a scene from "The Boxtrolls." (AP Photo/Focus Features) The Associated Press

It’s those younger audiences, the ones being marketed to, that may have trouble with “Boxtrolls.”

The actual story is about Archibald Snatcher, a terrifyingly ugly villain voiced by Ben Kingsley. Snatcher, as he’s called, has a life mission of getting into the White Hat club, an elite group of men with a taste for fancy cheese.

Snatcher is told he can have his own white hat if he rids the town of Boxtrolls. So along with telling the townspeople of Cheesebridge that Boxtrolls steal and eat babies, Snatcher and his crew haul off the monsters each night until there really are just a few left.

As this disturbing plot plays out, you slowly begin to realize that, yes, you are actually watching a movie about genocide.

When they’re not hiding underground, the Boxtrolls are constantly being hunted. The ones who do get snatched up are taken to Snatcher’s mysterious work camp. There are scenes in which people are chanting to kill Boxtrolls. At one point, the creatures are almost burned to death.

While there aren’t many violent images, the idea of trouble and the overall sense of dread is extremely powerful, especially for more sensitive children.

The boy, called Eggs because of the box he wears, tries to get help and inspire the Boxtrolls to stand up for themselves. Up until this point, Eggs didn’t even realize he was human, but he eventually befriends a spunky girl named Winnifred Portley-Rind, voiced by Elle Fanning.

In this image released by Focus Features, characters Winnie, voiced by Elle Fanning, left, and Eggs, voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright, appear in a scene from "The Boxtrolls." (AP Photo/Focus Features) The Associated Press

The friendship between this outspoken girl and Eggs is one of the movie’s only adorable and silly things. The deep, existential thoughts of Snatcher’s henchmen, voiced by Nick Frost and Tracy Morgan, are a close second.

Winnifred shows Eggs how to behave in society and how to embrace his life above ground. But it isn’t quite enough to make “The Boxtrolls” a traditional family favorite.

It may be an animated film, but it has more in common with Franz Kafka than Walt Disney.

sounds creepy.lol

:p the ads are everywhere

I know