Anyone who owns a copy of Coraline or ParaNorman will know that LAIKA provides plenty of special features to satisfy fans, and The Boxtrolls is no different. The specials features will include:
Bonus Features on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD:
- DARE TO BE SQUARE: BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE BOXTROLLS
- VOICING THE BOXTROLLS – The tremendously talented cast members of The Boxtrolls discuss what it’s like to voice an animated puppet, what each actor brought to his/her role, whether their personalities were similar to their characters, and more.
- INSIDE THE BOX – The directors, producers, and creative supervisor of character fabrication Georgina Hayns share the challenges of crafting characters who are inside a box.
- THE BIG CHEESE: ALLERGY SNATCHER – The directors and producers are joined by Brian McLean, director of Rapid Prototyping, to discuss how the animation studio LAIKA creates the faces for their puppets. The big story here – literally! – is how Snatcher’s face changes shape due to his cheese allergy.
- DECONSTRUCTING THE DANCE – Discover how LAIKA combined traditional stop-motion animation with visual effects in order to create the beautiful ballroom dance sequence and how costume designer Deborah Cook met the challenge of creating costumes that could flow during a dance scene.
- THINK BIG: THE MECHA DRILL – Standing 5 feet tall and weighing over 75 pounds, the Mecha-Drill is the largest stop motion puppet/prop ever created by LAIKA. Follow its creation from design to completion.
FEATURETTES
- THE NATURE OF CREATION
- TROLLS RIGHT OFF THE TONGUE
- ALLERGIC TO EASY
- LET’S DANCE
- ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
Bonus Features Exclusive to Blu-ray & Blu-ray 3D:
- Preliminary Animatic Sequences
- Play with Commentary by Directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable
- Baby In The Trash
- Eggs In The Underworld
- Man On A Horse
- Trubshaw’s Inventorium
- Cheese Shop
- Tea And Cheese
It will be fascinating to see how they create such detailed and practical costumes for such small puppets, and I like how we’ll be able to see how they managed the animation mechanics of putting trolls in boxes. But I have to say, I’m most looking forward to ‘The Big Cheese’ feature to find out how they animated Snatcher’s face as it swelled due to his cheese allergy.
Special features aside, the film itself will be a great addition to an animated movie collection. I’m personally looking forward to re-watching and taking note of the intricate animation and background designs again.
For those who don’t know, The Boxtrolls is a stop-motion film from the animation studio LAIKA, which gave us Coraline and ParaNorman. The story is centered around a young orphan named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) who is picked up by the feared underground-dwelling trolls who live and sleep in individual boxes. Eggs soon finds his place amongst the bug-eating and trash-collecting world of the ‘boxtrolls’ but when evil Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) threatens the life he knows, Eggs, with the help of his new friend Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning) has to find the courage to save the boxtrolls from extermination.
The artwork is yet to be announced but you can pre-order your copy from Rotoscopers Amazon affiliate link now! And if you’re a new fan of LAIKA or have yet to own their other movies, a three film collection (above) which includes, Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls will also be available on DVD, Digital HD and Blu-ray.