History WesternAnimation / TheBoxtrolls

* AnAesop:
** The first teaser trailer includes same-sex couples as well as single parents of both genders as some of the possible "shapes and sizes" that parents and families can come in... and there's [[GoodParents nothing wrong with that]].
** The movie proper's lesson is change comes from within. You can dress or act different, but you'll stay the same until you decide to change. Or as Eggs puts it:
--->'''Eggs:''' Cheese, hats, boxes, they don't make you. ''You'' make you.
** Another moral from the movie is not to judge others based entirely on what you hear.
** A more minor moral from Snatcher, don't ignore your allergies, it can be very unhealthy for your body and even deadly to do so. [[spoiler:Ignoring his cheese allergy in the end is what leads to his death in PopGoesTheHuman.]]

* XRaySparks: Two boxtrolls jam metal implements into a pair of toasters and then activate the toasters. The boxtrolls receive huge jolts of electricity and their clothing and bodies become transparent, allowing their skeletons to be seen.

** A more minor moral from Snatcher, don't ignore your allergies, it can be very unhealthy for your body and even deadly to do so. [[spoiler: Ignoring his cheese allergy in the end is what leads to his death in PopGoesTheHuman]]

* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler:The boxtrolls' boxes are completely devoid of blood and gore once they're crushed...[[SubvertedTrope because they weren't]] ''[[SubvertedTrope in]]'' [[SubvertedTrope the boxes at the time]]. And though it happened offscreen, according to [[NightmareFetishist Winnie]], [[SubvertedTrope Mr. Snatcher's death wasn't exactly clean either]]. Played straight with Mr. Gristle, though.]]
* BookEnds: The story begins with Fish looking around for Eggs. In the end, Eggs is asking around for Fish.

* LineOfSightName: The boxtrolls get their names from whatever words and images are depicted on their box, leading to names like Fish, Shoe, Fragile, and Knickers. The protagonist, a human boy [[RaisedByWolves raised by the Boxtrolls]], gets the name "Eggs".

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: [[spoiler:After Snatcher reveals himself to be Madame Frou-Frou, Lord Portley-Rind has a horrified look on his face and states "I regret so much".]]

** The first teaser trailer includes [[HasTwoMommies same-sex couples]] as well as single parents of both genders as some of the possible "shapes and sizes" that parents and families can come in... and there's [[GoodParents nothing wrong with that]].

* HasTwoDaddies: Eggs has Fish as his primary caretaker and indirectly refers to him as a father later on, but all the boxtrolls probably help out in taking care of him as well. His biological dad [[spoiler:is the missing, presumably dead inventor who was kind to the boxtrolls and sent his child away with them when he was attacked by Snatcher and his men. Eggs rides around in a carriage with both of them at the end of the movie]].

* PlatonicCoParenting: [[spoiler:The film ends with Eggs being reunited with his biological father, but still considers Fish, who raised him to be his father. [[HasTwoMommies So now he has two loving fathers!]]]]

** The movie proper's lesson is that you are defined by yourself more than anything else. Or as Eggs puts it:

* DarkestHour: Eggs and the last of the boxtrolls have all been rounded up, [[spoiler:it appears that all the boxtrolls have been killed, and Snatcher is about to kill off Eggs and get what he wants: a spot on the council and a nice hat. Then Winnie convinces Trout and Pickles [[spoiler: to make a HeelFaceTurn]], and the Boxtrolls return for a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Snatcher's last words: "Aromic, oakey, with an undertone of a mother's--" (''BOOM!'')]]

* PostClimaxConfrontation: Eggs and the boxtrolls have defeated Archibald Snatcher's TripodTerror and exposed his lies about the boxtrolls being baby-eating monsters... when Snatcher emerges from [[ItMakesSenseInContext the remains of a giant cheese wheel]], [[GRatedDrug drunk on one of his]] [[BodyHorror "cheese fits"]], and holds Winnie hostage, blackmailing Lord Portley-Rind into handing over his NiceHat and escorting Snatcher to his exclusive "tasting room". [[spoiler:Fortunately, Snatcher's [[DeathByGluttony cheese obsession]] [[SelfDisposingVillain proves to be his own undoing]].]]

* AuthorityInNameOnly: Lord Portley-Rind and his fellow White Hats. They appear to be the ruling body of Cheesebridge, but are obsessed with cheese and their {{Nice Hat}}s to the point of completely neglecting their duties to the city... and in Lord Portley-Rind's case at least, [[ParentalNeglect their families]].

* TheBadGuyWins: Snatcher succeeds in obtaining [[NiceHat a White Hat]] and gets to sit in the tasting room and sample cheeses with Lord Portley-Rind. Not that it [[MeaninglessVillainVictory actually]] [[PopGoesTheHuman matters in]] [[SelfDisposingVillain the end]].

* DarkestHour: Eggs and the last of the boxtrolls have all been rounded up, [[spoiler:it appears that all the boxtrolls have been killed, and Snatcher is about to kill off Eggs and get what he wants: a spot on the council and a NiceHat. Then Winnie convinces Trout and Pickles [[spoiler: to make a HeelFaceTurn]], and the Boxtrolls return for a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

* NiceHat: The members of the White Hat Council, the ruling body of Cheesebridge, wear very tall white hats as a status symbol; Snatcher and his lackeys wear similar ''red'' hats, and his obsession with moving up in the world includes getting a spot on the council and a hat of his own for wiping out the boxtrolls.

'''Mr. Pickles:''' ''[gulps nervously]'' Uh... then that's what I meant, yes.

* AdaptationDeviation: The movie is a '''very''' loose adaptation of the book ''Here Be Monsters!'' by Alan Snow. The only things the film has in common with it are the boxtrolls themselves, the protagonist being a human boy raised underground, a villain named Snatcher (with a henchman named Gristle) who’s hunting the boxtrolls, and [[spoiler: characters exploding after eating too much cheese]].
* AdaptationNameChange: The setting is called Ratbridge in the book, and Cheesebridge in the movie -- probably because [[ArtifactTitle keeping the old name wouldn’t make any sense]] as there aren’t any rats in the movie.
* AdaptationalWimp: Archibald Snatcher, who in the book was the head of the failing Cheese Guild and an ImpoverishedPatrician, who nonetheless had access to a fortified guildhall, a small army of thugs, and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections powerful friends]]. The movie Snatcher is a SocialClimber 'pest controller' who’s generally regarded as a loser by anyone apart from his three henchmen.

* DarkestHour: Eggs and the last of the boxtrolls have all been rounded up, [[spoiler:it appears that all the boxtrolls have been killed, and Snatcher is about to kill off Eggs and get what he wants: a spot on the council and a NiceHat. Then Winnie convinces Trout and Pickles to make a HeelFaceTurn, and the Boxtrolls return for a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

* TheStinger: [[spoiler:Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles have an existential discussion, wondering if there really is free will and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall if they're just the puppets of some higher beings]]. As they're having this discussion, the camera slowly zooms out to show the tiny set of the street they're standing on, and the scene turns into a time-lapse of them being animated, still discussing the universe.]]

'''Fish:''' [gibberish]\\

* WrongGenreSavvy: Trout and Pickles, two of Snatcher's minions, are convinced they're the good guys fighting the forces of evil, though both of them realize throughout the film, that they are aware they are WrongGenreSavvy.

''The Boxtrolls'' is a 2014 StopMotion animated film from [[Creator/{{Laika}} Laika Animation Studios,]] the makers of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman''. Directed by Creator/GrahamAnnable (of ''Grickle'' and ''VideoGame/NelsonTethersPuzzleAgent'' fame) and Anthony Stacchi, it is loosely based on the novel ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Be_Monsters! Here Be Monsters!]]'' by Alan Snow. It features the vocal talents of Creator/BenKingsley, Creator/IsaacHempsteadWright, Creator/ElleFanning, Creator/SimonPegg, Creator/NickFrost, Creator/ToniCollette, Creator/JaredHarris, Creator/RichardAyoade and Creator/TracyMorgan with Creator/DeeBradleyBaker alongside Creator/SteveBlum as the title characters.

Cheesebridge is a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. The only thing that its residents are more obsessed with than cheese is their [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight fear of the evil, murderous monsters that dwell in the sewers]]. At least, that's the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood quirky and lovable oddballs]] who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. They've even [[RaisedByWolves raised an orphaned human boy]], {{E|veryoneCallsHimBarkeep}}ggs (Hempstead-Wright), since infancy as one of their own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by villainous Boxtroll exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley), who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge high society, the kind-hearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and an adventurous young girl named Winnie (Fanning) to save them all.

* AdultsAreUseless: The entire town really, but a special mention should go to Lord Portley-Rind. If it's not about cheese, he has absolutely no interest.

** The movie proper tells how you are defined by yourself more than anything else. Or as Eggs puts it:

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: The Boxtrolls are short, UglyCute scavengers who wear discarded cardboard boxes (to the point of living in them, like a turtle's shell), live in the AbsurdlySpaciousSewer beneath the town of Cheesebridge, and love to tinker. The citizens of Cheesebridge see them as a menace (mostly thanks to the propaganda spread by [[BigBad Mr. Snatcher]]), but they're NotEvilJustMisunderstood.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: In a non-sexual example, Winnie seems downright upset that the Boxtrolls have no interest in gruesomely devouring her.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Egg’s father was apparently hung upside down for ten years and was only driven insane. In Real Life you’d die after being hung like this after eight to ten hours
* AuthorityInNameOnly: Lord Portley-Rind and his fellow White Hats. They appear to be the ruling body of Cheesebridge but are obsessed with cheese and their {{Nice Hat}}s to the point that they neglect their duties to the city... and in Lord Portley-Rind's case at least, [[ParentalNeglect their families]].
* AxCrazy: Mr. Gristle takes quite a bit of joy in exterminating Boxtrolls, chases after Eggs with a cricket bat and is constantly grinning. And unlike Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles, he never questions whether he's a good guy or a bad guy.
* TheBadGuyWins: Snatcher succeeds in obtaining [[NiceHat a White Hat]] and joins the White hat guild. Not that it [[MeaninglessVillainVictory actually]] [[PopGoesTheHuman mattered in]] [[SelfDisposingVillain the end]].
* BenevolentMonsters: The title characters are kind-hearted creatures that do little more than take trash to their underground lairs to make contraptions. The people above ground, however, fear them because they don't know what they really are, and are goaded along by the film's real Big Bad, who plots to use them to advance his social status.

* BigBad: Archibald Snatcher. Leader of the Boxtroll Exterminators.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The box-trolls]] save Eggs at the end.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Discussed by the henchmen, when declaring that the boxtrolls' "evil-doing" is coming to an end gets Mister Trout wondering out loud if their quarry really understand "the duality of good and evil".
* BlatantLies: Mr. Snatcher, when he and his henchmen sit down to eat cheese:

* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler:The Boxtrolls' boxes are completely devoid of blood and gore once they're crushed...[[SubvertedTrope because they weren't]] ''[[SubvertedTrope in]]'' [[SubvertedTrope the boxes at the time]]. And though it happened offscreen, according to [[NightmareFetishist Winnie]] [[SubvertedTrope Mr. Snatcher's death wasn't exactly clean either]]. Played straight with Mr. Gristle, though.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: A mid-credits sequence has Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles discussing their animated existence and the lives of the animators who make them move. Meanwhile, stop-footage is shown at the same time showing an animator as he animates this particular sequence.
* BrickJoke: "You bit me... with your ''mouth''!"

** The White Hats, who rule Cheesebridge like a fiefdom and hold tastings of the finest cheeses.
** Snatcher and his men wear equally silly-looking red hats.
* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: The Boxtrolls' eyes glow in the dark.

** [[spoiler:Eggs' dad]] will frequently say the word "jelly". By the end of the movie, he's wearing a box with the word "jelly" on it. The Boxtrolls must have thought it was his name.
** To cure Snatcher's allergic reaction to cheese, Mr. Gristle fetches leeches from a barrel. [[spoiler:In the final fight, the boxtrolls toss him into a barrel of leeches before being crushed by the machine.]]

** "You bit me, with your mouth." First said by Winnie after Eggs bites her, [[spoiler:then by Snatcher after Winnie bites him.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The giant cheese wheel. After some men fish it out of the lake, Snatcher falls into it, activating his allergies.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: Attentive viewers will notice and wonder, "Hey, who's that [[spoiler:hairy guy hanging upside down in Snatcher's lab]]?"
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Eggs is one of these, according to [[spoiler:his biological father]] at any rate: he was born a human, but raised by the Boxtrolls after [[spoiler:an attempt on his birth father's life]].
* CreepyCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Snatcher performs as Madame Frou Frou to spread fear of the Boxtrolls.]]
* CrossCulturalHandshake: The Boxtrolls rather adorably slap their hands on their boxes when they're happy.

* DarkestHour: Eggs and the last of the Boxtrolls have all been rounded up, [[spoiler:and it looks like all the Boxtrolls have been killed, and Snatcher is about to kill off Eggs and get what he wants: a spot on the council and a NiceHat. Then Winnie convinces Trout and Pickles to make a HeelFaceTurn, and the Boxtrolls return for a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]
* DisappearedDad: Eggs' biological father is missing, presumed dead, after [[spoiler:Snatcher and his men tried to take Eggs hostage. He turns out to be alive and well, still held hostage by Snatcher]].

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:It seems that Snatcher was successful in crushing the Boxtrolls to death, but it turns out they escaped in the middle of Eggs' speech, and they return in time to save the day.]]
* DistantReactionShot: [[spoiler:Snatcher's DeathByGluttony happens this way, with a cut to a distant shot of Cheesebridge and a huge cloud of orange-yellow mist erupting from the Portley-Rind mansion.]]
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Eggs tries to talk Snatcher out of eating the cheese by sharing the sentiment that the former has learned ("You make you"). Unfortunately for the villain, he misreads that he's talking about reaching ambitions and crossly responds "I ''have'' made me, boy."]]

* DramaticUnmask: Eggs tries to invoke this by [[spoiler:pulling off Madame Frou-Frou's wig to reveal that she's Snatcher.]] Averted when [[spoiler:Snatcher manages to come up with the [[RefugeInAudacity excuse]] that "Frou-Frou" is trying to hide that she's not a real red head.]]
* DrunkOnMilk: Well, milk by-product at least; cheese makes Snatcher act like a surly drunk. Though this could just be his allergic reaction messing with his head, since it also gives him hallucinations.
* EarTrumpet: The oldest White-hat can be seen with one.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While Snatcher sends his henchmen to 'acquire' the boxtrolls, we see each of their different personalities depending on how they engage in the conversation. Mr. Pickle prattles philosophically about whether [[ItMakesSenseInContext a foot can be evil]]. [[SmarterThanYouLook Mr. Trout]] intelligently tries to clarify that Snatcher's "evil is afoot" speech is just an expression for "evil is near". [[{{Sadist}} Mr. Gristle]] just takes simple pleasure in kicking the hiding boxtrolls about.
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: During Snatcher's and Eggs' confrontation during the ball. At one point, Snatcher is clearly shown to be about to ''strangle'' Eggs with a scarf.
* {{Foil}}: Eggs and Winnie are this to each other. Eggs may have been raised by boxtrolls and never had the same luxuries or upbringings as Winnie. Yet, he couldn't be [[HappilyAdopted happier]] living with the boxtrolls who were like [[FamilyOfChoice a true family]] to him, and he's (relatively) [[OnlySaneMan well-adjusted]] compared to everyone else in Cheese Bridge. Winnie, on the other hand, came from a wealthy nuclear family and was brought up in high society. But she's pretty unhappy due to her father's neglect of her, not to mention she's [[NightmareFetishist obsessed with the boxtrolls' man-eating lore]].
* FourFingeredHands: All the Boxtrolls have them, while the other characters have five-fingered hands. It's Winnie pointing out the difference that convinces Eggs that he's a human.
* GiantFood: The film features a giant cheese wheel called the Briehemoth. The White Hats bought it with money meant for building a children's hospital.
* GivingThemTheStrip: For Box trolls, their boxes are like clothes and taking them off is unheard of. Eggs' speech convinces them to overcome their shame and do it nonetheless when Snatcher is about to crush them all, so only their boxes get flattened while the trolls themselves escape naked (see DisneyDeath above).
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: [[spoiler:Mr. Trubshaw has gone more than a little dotty from being chained up and possibly tortured for ten years by Snatcher and his flunkies. He seems to get over it after Snatcher is defeated and he's reunited with his son Eggs.]]
* GoodTimesMontage: In the beginning, there's a lovely montage of Eggs growing up, making music with Fish, and exploring the world. It becomes something of a SadTimesMontage, however, when the pile of sleeping box trolls becomes progressively smaller and smaller, signifying how the Red Hats threaten their way of life.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Snatcher [[spoiler:exploding]].

* HappyCircusMusic: "[[https://youtu.be/hX0wpzaE5O4 Cheesebridge Funfair]]," a short waltz tune on brass and woodwinds. %%If anyone knows where this song plays in the movie, please add this.%%
* HasTwoMommies: Eggs has Fish as his primary caretaker and indirectly refers to him as a father later on, but all the Boxtrolls probably help out in taking care of him as well. His biological dad [[spoiler:is the missing, presumably dead inventor who was kind to the Boxtrolls and sent his child away with them when he was attacked by Snatcher and his men. Eggs rides around in a carriage with both of them at the end of the movie]].
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Snatcher does a version of this. When Winnie discovers that Eggs is the missing child as the Exterminators are trying to catch him, Snatcher asks Winnie if her father is with her. When she says he isn't, he tries to kill her too so as to blame that on the Boxtrolls as well.

* HeroicBSOD: When Fish - the troll who raised Eggs for ten years; his adoptive father - is [[spoiler:finally captured by Snatcher]], Eggs seem to shut down for a little while before ultimately deciding to [[spoiler:rescue him, thus finally taking action against Snatcher for the first time]].
* TheHeroSucksSong: The Boxtrolls song, sung by Madame Frou Frou, about how evil the Boxtrolls are.

* InterspeciesAdoption: Eggs is a human orphan raised since infancy by the eponymous Boxtrolls, to the point that for a long time he thinks he is one.

** When Winnie tries to get her dad's white hat, she is met by Snatcher, who asks how the hat got all the way out on the street. Later, as Winnie [[spoiler:tries to distract Snatcher while the Boxtrolls dismantle his machine,]] she asks him the same question with the same hammy intonation.
* JerkassHasAPoint: During a pseudo-drunken rant, Snatcher gripes about how all Lord Portley-Rind and his fellow White Hats do is sit around and waste taxpayer's time and money on eating fancy cheeses, which is a startlingly accurate description.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Winnie is obsessed with gruesome stories of the boxtrolls eating people, rivers of blood, mountains of baby bones.. but flips out when she finds out that none of it is true. She even acts like a fool with everyone. Later, however, she helps Eggs get to know the human world.
* KeepAway: Snatcher tries to take away Lord Portley-Rind's white hat when Winnie takes it and tosses it back and forth between the other good guys, as a distraction while the Boxtrolls dismantle Snatcher's machine from under him.

* TheLastStraw: [[spoiler:Snatcher is already bloated from falling in the remains of the Briehemoth. Eating one more piece of cheese causes him to explode.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The ending has Mr. Pickles and Mr. Trout discussing how neatly everything has wrapped up, as if it was a story, "Assuming we're in one." The stinger goes on to have the pair debate their existence and whether all their actions are controlled by invisible giants. As the discussion continues, the audience sees the sped up movements of a stop-motion animator flitting about a miniature set, manipulating them both. They finally conclude that such a job would be horribly tedious and that nobody would seriously do that as a primary line of work... just as the credits for the animators roll.
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: When Winnie is directing Eggs to the Boxtroll Exterminators' lair on Curds Way, she points him towards a sign for Milk Street and tells him, "[[{{Pun}} Milk turns into it.]]" This is followed by a {{Rimshot}} caused by the one-man band tripping and dropping his cymbals.
* LineOfSightName: The Boxtrolls get their names from whatever words and images are depicted on their box, leading to names like Fish, Shoe, Fragile, and Knickers. The protagonist, a human boy [[RaisedByWolves raised by the Boxtrolls]], gets the name "Eggs".
* LovableCoward: The entire Boxtroll species. They’re completely unwilling to fight back against Snatcher. [[spoiler:Eggs helps them grow out of it.]]

** A minor one, but when teaching Eggs manners, Winnifred tells him to tell people "It's a pleasure to meet you", even if he doesn't actually mean it. Later, when he leaves after the failed attempt at revealing the truth, he tells her "It was a pleasure to meet you. And I really mean that."
** One of the lyrics in Madame Frou Frou's Boxtroll song is "Trubshaw Sr. loved his kid, the same as regular fathers did." [[spoiler:Later on in the film, Snatcher menacingly sings this lyric to Eggs to confirm the identity of the insane prisoner in front of him.]]
** "Look what you did." [[spoiler:The first time Trubshaw tells Eggs this (right after the Boxtrolls ''seemingly'' get crushed to death), it comes off as the mad ravings of a man whose words [[InnocentlyInsensitive unwittingly remind Eggs of his failure to save them]]. The second time (shortly after learning the boxtrolls are alive by his doing), the words take on a whole new meaning, as Trubshaw's [[SincerityMode lucid]] expression of how [[SoProudOfYou proud]] he is of Egg's success to help them leave their boxes.]]

* NiceHat: The members of the White Hat Council, the ruling body of Cheesebridge, wear very tall white hats as a status symbol; Snatcher and his lackeys wear similar red hats, and his obsession with moving up in the world includes getting a spot on the council and a hat of his own for wiping out the Boxtrolls.
* NightmareFetishist: Winnifred is fascinated by all the gory tales of the Boxtrolls and their rivers of blood, to the point that she nearly throws a tantrum upon finding that none of them are true.
* NoSocialSkills: Eggs, who needs to have simple greetings explained to him.

* ObliviousAdoption: Eggs is convinced he's a Boxtroll, up until Winnie convinces him otherwise.
* ObliviouslyEvil: Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles, who both believe they are the good guys. They waver throughout the movie though.
%%* ObviouslyEvil: Snatcher, and to a lesser extent his henchmen.
* OneGenderRace: The Boxtrolls, though it could be that we don't know the difference between their genders. Several of them are voiced by Creator/NikaFutterman, so perhaps those are the females.
* OneWingedAngel: One of the more bizarre examples of this trope. [[spoiler:After having his machine dismantled by the boxtrolls and being seemingly defeated, Snatcher falls into the remains of the Briehemoth. His violent allergies flair up, causing his entire body to swell up and he successfully kidnaps Winnie and convinces Lord Portley-Rind to trade his white hat for her safety.]]
* OpposeWhatYouSuffered: Subverted by Archibald Snatcher, who, as a "Red-Hat," is of lower social status than the "White-Hats," but is quite willing to step on those who are even lower on the rungs of the social ladder than himself, i.e. the eponymous vilified boxtrolls. Played straight and even lampshaded by the Red-Hats Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles, who have a HeelRealization and, even when faced with failing to obtain a better social status by doing so, decide to aid the oppressed [[spoiler:boxtrolls and their human allies Winifred and Eggs]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Fish, for Eggs. Eggs indirectly calls the Boxtroll his father at one point.

* PlotAllergy: Archibald's severe lactose intolerance (he swells up from a tiny sliver of ''extra mild'' Cheddar) is part of what prevents him from joining the White Hats [[spoiler:and eventually leads to his KarmicDeath]].

* PostClimaxConfrontation: Eggs and the Boxtrolls have defeated Archibald Snatcher's TripodTerror and exposed his lies about the Boxtrolls being baby-eating monsters... when Snatcher emerges from [[ItMakesSenseInContext the remains of a giant cheese wheel]], [[GRatedDrug drunk on one of his]] [[BodyHorror "cheese fits"]], and holds Winnie hostage, blackmailing Lord Portley-Rind into handing over his NiceHat and escorting Snatcher to his exclusive "tasting room". [[spoiler:Fortunately, Snatcher's [[DeathByGluttony cheese obsession]] [[SelfDisposingVillain proves to be his own undoing]].]]

* RedemptionRejection: [[spoiler:This is essentially how Snatcher gets himself killed.]]
* ReluctantGift: Archibald Snatcher brings Lord Portley-Rind's white hat, that he found in the middle of the street, to his owner. However, since he covets the hat (and the position it entails), he only gives it back after lots of procrastination and a prolonged tug-of-war between him and Lord Portley-Rind.
* SceneryCensor: When [[spoiler:the Boxtrolls [[BigDamnHeroes come to Eggs' rescue]], they don't have their boxes to cover them up anymore]], so anything that isn't a butt is covered by scenery, props and other Boxtrolls.
* ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler:During the climax, Snatcher equates himself and Eggs as both being monsters and outcasts of Cheesbridge's society, taunting "You think they'll ever accept ''us?''". Eggs responds with "I'm ''nothing'' like you! ''You're'' the monster!"]]

* SkewedPriorities: The residents live in fear of the Boxtrolls stealing their cheese... ''and their children''.

* SpeciesTitle: About the titular creatures who are trolls that wear boxes and live in the sewers.
* SteamPunk: The setting of the film, Cheesebridge.
* TheStinger: [[spoiler:Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles have an existential discussion, wondering if there really is free will and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall if they're just the puppets of some higher bodies]]. As they're having this discussion, the camera slowly zooms out to show the tiny set and the scene turns into a time-lapse of the animation of Trout and Pickles, still discussing the universe.]]
* StockSoundEffect: Baby Kate Cry: In the flashback story, Baby Eggs did this while he was lowing to the ground in his Eggs box. The thunder booms, the lightning flashes, and rain pours down as Fish bolts through the gate and out of the yard with Baby Eggs still in the Eggs box.

* TapOnTheHead: Giving someone a whack a large heavy object (like a [[WrenchWhack wrench]]) is a great way to cause brain damage or permanently debilitating injury. [[spoiler Eggs' father didn't die when Snatcher hit him, but it definitely [[SanitySlippage knocked a few of his screws loose]].]]

* ThemeNaming: The Boxtrolls take their names from whatever's printed on their boxes.
* TooUnhappyToBeHungry: [[spoiler:After Fish is captured by the Boxtroll Exterminators, we're treated to a scene where Shoe tries to cheer him up by bringing him so food (in the form of bugs). But Eggs is so [[HeroicBSOD despondant]] he doesn't even register them.]]
* TripodTerror: [[spoiler:Snatcher builds one, with the help of captured Boxtrolls, to break into the Boxtroll lair and round up the rest.]]
* TruthInTelevision: In the Cheese-Tasting Room, Lord Portly-Rind presents "the Tastiest Cheese known to Man", made from the milk of "the lactating male fruit bats...". As it turns out, some species of bats have males that lactate.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: Lord Portley-Rind. Let's make a list. He wastes taxpayer's money and time just sitting around eating rare cheese, completely ignores his daughter to focus more on his hat and cheese, spends charity money for a children's hospital on a large wheel of cheese that most likely only he and his other White Hats would have eaten, completely ignores Eggs' public confession, tries to get out of his deal with Snatcher, when it is revealed the [[spoiler:Boxtrolls are alive]] he flat out rubs the fact into Snatcher's face that he will never get what he wants, and even when his daughter was caught by Snatcher and he had to trade his hat to save her he tries to negotiate with him for something else. If Snatcher wasn't such a monster, Lord Portley-Rind could have easily been the villain of this story.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Snatcher has one to ''cheese'', which leads to his death.
* WhamLine: After Eggs learns that [[spoiler:he's not a Boxtroll]]:

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:At one point of his scheme, Snatcher so sadistically uses the crusher to smash the boxtrolls to extinction in order to fulfill his bargain with Lord Portly-Rind and earn a white hat. Later, it's revealed that the boxtrolls escaped their boxes in the nick of time. Still, the fact that he crushed their boxes at all speaks volumes that he's willing to do ''anything'' in the name of getting a white hat.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Trout and Pickles, two of Snatcher's minions, are convinced they're the good guys fighting the forces of evil. Though both of them realize throughout the film, that they are aware they are WrongGenreSavvy.
* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:In a flashback Snatcher apparently killed Eggs' father with a wrench. Subverted since he didn't kill him. However he kept him prisoner for years and drove him insane. FateWorseThanDeath indeed.]]

** "Look what you did." [[spoiler:The first time Trubshaw tells Eggs this (right after the Boxtrolls ''seemingly'' get crushed to death), it comes off as the mad ravings of a man whose words [[InnocentlyInsensitive unwittingly remind Eggs of his failure to save them]]. The second time (shortly after learning the boxtrolls are alive by his doing), the words take on a whole new meaning, as they reflect how [[SoProudOfYou proud]] Trubshaw is of Egg's success to help them leave their boxes.]]