For those not in the know, 'The Boxtrolls' is a 2014 3D stop motion animated fantasy-comedy film based on the novel Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow.

The quirky creatures known as the BoxTrolls spend their nights dumpster-diving on the streets of Cheesebridge to salvage thrown out or broken materials which they then employ to build and fix things in their fantastical underground community.

Produced by Laika, it was directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi and was released to very positive reviews. 'The Boxtrolls' follows the adventures of Eggs, a human boy raised by trash-collecting trolls, as he attempts to save them from Archibald Snatcher, a pest exterminator.

The film stars Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade and Tracy Morgan.

A film quite like now other, it is also the very first animated feature film that Oscar winner Dario Marianelli has scored! And, unlike other composers who come in at the last moment, when all the animation is done, Dario actually began his work notably early in the production process to get a handle on who these BoxTrolls really were.

Dario started work when most of the movie was still in the storyboard phase and so was able to ask for a few more seconds here and there to let his score "breathe." And that slight breathing room is evident, in all its glory on tracks such as 'Egg's Music box,' 'Rooftop Chase,' 'Snatcher And His Stooges,' and both 'What's A Father' and 'Look What You Did.'

Featured on one of the original songs, 'The BoxTrolls Song,' is comedy icon Eric Idle, of the Monty Python troupe fame. Contributing words and music to the track, it's humorous nature is an incredible coup for this soundtrack.

Indeed, this 25 song soundtrack features three distinctive pieces that, while differentiated, hold the movie together: music for the BoxTrolls' wonderful world in their cavern, music for the White Hats' high-society world in Chessebridge, and music for the BoxTrolls-snatching Red Hats gang.

Reviewed by: Russell A. Trunk