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The Boxtrolls poster

The Boxtrolls

2014 · 96 min · movie
⭐ 6.8 (65,187 votes)

In 1897, in the hilltop city of Cheesebridge in the European country of Norvenia, rumors spread that Boxtrolls, subterranean trolls who wear cardboard boxes, have kidnapped and killed a baby. When the city's pest exterminator, Archibald Snatcher, tells the city's mayor, Lord Charles Portley-Rind, they strike a deal to allow Snatcher membership in the city's cheese-loving council, the White Hats, if Snatcher can exterminate every Boxtroll. Unbeknownst to Portley-Rind, Snatcher has severe lactose intolerance.

In reality, the Boxtrolls are peaceful and emerge from underground at night to scavenge for discarded items. The Boxtrolls’ leader, Fish, cares for the baby, who he has named Eggs. As Eggs grows up, Snatcher captures several Boxtrolls, leaving him distraught. One night after Lord Portley-Rind's daughter, Winifred, sees Eggs with Fish and another Boxtroll named Shoe, Snatcher captures Fish. Eggs sneaks to the surface to rescue Fish. He emerges in an annual fair to commemorate his disappearance, where he discovers the city's inaccurate portrayal of the Boxtrolls.

He follows Winnie, and she directs him to Snatcher's headquarters, located at an abandoned factory. Eggs rescues Fish, but they are caught while trying to escape. Snatcher recognizes Eggs as the baby and reveals that he is forcing the captured Boxtrolls to build him a machine. Winnie, who covertly followed Eggs, overhears this exchange, helps Fish and Eggs escape from Snatcher and takes shelter with them in the Boxtrolls' caves. Fish explains that Eggs' father was Herbert Trubshaw, a great inventor who discovered that the Boxtrolls were fellow inventors. Snatcher was a close friend of Herbert, but one night, he asked Herbert to build something that could help him kill the Boxtrolls. However, knowing that the Boxtrolls were innocent, Herbert refused, so Snatcher threatened to kidnap Eggs. During the struggle, Herbert gave Eggs to Fish to protect him before seemingly being killed by Snatcher. Winnie agrees to help Eggs tell her father the truth.

At a ball held to commemorate the purchase of a giant cheese wheel called the Briehemoth, Eggs tries to reveal his identity to Portley-Rind, but is confronted by Snatcher, who is disguised as a woman named Madame Frou-Frou. While trying to avoid Snatcher, Eggs inadvertently knocks the cheese wheel into a river. He announces himself as the baby, but Portley-Rind does not believe him.

He tries to persuade the remaining Boxtrolls to flee, but unknowingly demoralizes them. Snatcher digs into their caves with his new exterminating machine and captures them all. Eggs awakens in a cage to discover that Herbert is still alive and imprisoned beside him. He sees the Boxtrolls stacked in a crusher and begs them to stand up for themselves, but they are seemingly killed by the crusher.

Snatcher drives his machine to Lord Portley-Rind's house, shows him the flattened boxes as evidence of the Boxtrolls' extinction, and demands Portley-Rind's white hat in exchange for killing the final Boxtroll, which is actually Eggs disguised. The Boxtrolls, who have escaped from the crusher by leaving their boxes, arrive to free Eggs while Herbert reveals himself, causing Portley-Rind and the citizens to realize that Snatcher had lied to them. Snatcher tries to take Portley-Rind's hat by force while two of his henchmen, Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles, decide to turn against him. Eggs and the Boxtrolls manage to disable the machine, which crushes Snatcher's right-hand man, Mr. Gristle, to death. Eggs and Snatcher are thrown clear and land on the recovered Briehemoth. This causes Snatcher to swell to a grotesque, monstrous size. Snatcher holds Winnie hostage and forces Lord Portley-Rind to give up his hat in exchange for her safety, but eventually explodes after eating a piece of a rare cheese. Now that the townspeople know that Boxtrolls are peaceful, both sides agree to form a peaceful coexistence with each other.

Directed by

Graham Annable
Anthony Stacchi

Starring