Graham Annable gives strange creatures enough expression to make speech seem optional. We value the macabre invention of his work with Anthony Stacchi on The Boxtrolls, though its underwritten children leave us more interested in the creatures than the adventure.
Fi1m perspective
The creatures in The Boxtrolls (2014) communicate through gesture and expression rather than discernible speech. That suits Graham Annable’s preference for telling a story through what a character does with its body and face. We enjoyed the grotesque detail of these creatures and their surroundings; the willingness to make a family animation look unattractive gave us something to relish. There is enough invention here to merit a look from anyone interested in stop-motion, though the adventure does not give the craft enough support.
Annable came to feature directing through comics, games and storyboards, with the Grickle comics, animation at LucasArts and creative direction at Telltale Games among his earlier work. He was a storyboard artist on Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012) before making his feature directorial debut alongside Anthony Stacchi on The Boxtrolls. The move into directing brought that preference for wordless communication to characters who depend on it. His taste for dark humour had a place in the film he and Stacchi were making.
Annable and Stacchi’s approach to developing The Boxtrolls welcomed ideas regardless of who proposed them. Their macabre tastes serve the creatures well, but the children at the centre are underwritten and less interesting than the company they keep. That is a substantial weakness when the adventure asks us to care about what happens next. The film keeps supplying things worth looking at without making us especially eager for the next scene, and we would not mistake its visual invention for a satisfying story.
His subsequent story-artist credits include Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), Missing Link (2019) and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022). He has also continued making comics and illustrations, rather than leaving drawing behind after directing a feature. On the evidence of The Boxtrolls, stronger writing for the leads would be worth more than another ingenious creature. Start there for the stop-motion craft, with modest expectations of the adventure.
Biography
Graham Annable is a Canadian cartoonist, animator and film director. Born on 1 June 1970 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, he trained in classical animation at Sheridan College in Toronto.
After ten years at LucasArts as a lead animator, Annable moved to Laika, where he worked as a storyboard artist on Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012). He co-directed the studio's stop-motion feature The Boxtrolls (2014) with Anthony Stacchi. He has also contributed as a story artist to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022).
Annable is the creator of the comic series Grickle and has worked in video games, including as creative director at Telltale Games on titles such as Puzzle Agent.
