The Boxtrolls brings family-friendly steampunk to theatres

The Boxtrolls, the latest family friendlymovie from Oscar-nominated animation studioLaika, hits theatres this weekend, bringingAlan Snows best-selling novelHere Be Monsters to the big screen.

The storystarring the voices of ElleFanning, Simon Peggand BenKingsley follows Egg, a young boy who's adopted by a bizarrecrew of underground creatures.

Laikaestablished a reputation for quirky, yet brilliant, stop-motion and CGI workwith Coralineand ParaNorman.

TheBoxtrolls' director, Canadian animator Graham Annable, says this new story was just made for stop motion.

"There's something about the steampunk Victorian era that utilizes materials like none of the others have,"Annabletold CBC News.

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"You can just feel all the textures in every frame that you look at."

In the videos above,Annable discusses thechallenges of getting a good performance when working in slow motion, and comments on the state of animation in Canada.