This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Universal Pictures, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BoxtrollsFamilyNite http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
I was up at 8am. That passes for sleeping in for this fella, but it was not my intention to enjoy such, ahem, luxury on this Sunday morning. I had work to do and wanted to get in a run at the gym before Snowpocalypse 2015. Gulp.
I took over the task of cooking a Sunday dinner for 30+ at a Philadelphia women’s shelter after the person originally on the books for doing so backed out with 48 hours notice. If this was a condo rental, she would NOT be getting her deposit back.
My wife would be the one serving my grub later on that evening, all I needed to do was assemble and bake five 9×13 casserole dishes full of this outstandingly simple chicken and rice recipe. And, because I fancy playing these kinds of games on Expert level, I decided to also bake 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies and 4 loaves of rustic bread. Double gulp.
That was a two-paragraph way of saying that the Mrs. wasn’t home last night, leaving the girls and I to belly up to a popcorn festival and a snuggled-up screening of The Boxtrolls, and that I was properly pooped. Pooped from cooking. Pooped from baking. And pooped from washing & drying a zillion and a half dishes.
A family movie night with The Boxtrolls and original Pop Secret Popcorn creations was EXACTLY what I needed.
A boxtroll of my very own.
A few days earlier, I ran into Walmart to pick up a DVD copy of The Boxtrolls, the 2014 stop-motion claymation masterpiece from the creators of Coraline and ParaNorman that’s up for an Oscar for best animation feature film, and a big ol’ 10-count box of Pop Secret Home-Style Popcorn (because, frankly, sometimes I don’t want to clean out the freshly popped popper and buttery bowl — I do enough dishes thank you very much) and on Sunday night both were called into action.
We saw The Boxtrolls in the theater and were astonished at the level of craftmanship that went into the animation. This is no shiny CGI-ed flick, this movie was made over a decade with painstaking detail (the bonus features on the DVD are must watch viewing for anyone who loves ‘the process’ of making art) and tells a story about the dangers of group-think, of being too rigid in your beliefs, and too comfortable in your environment.
My daughters and I were excited to spend another 90 minutes with Eggs, Fish, Shoe, Sweets and the rest of the adorable boxtrolls as they rewrite their destiny and become integrated into ‘upper world’ society. To celebrate the joyful combination of all things, like boxtrolls and humans, the girls and I prepared some wicked tasty Pop Secret Popcorn with drizzled Nutella, peanut butter, crumbled hard pretzels, and lots and lots of sugar sprinkles.
Pop Secret Home-Style Popcorn with Nutella, Reece’s Pieces, and lots of candy sprinkles.
Pop Secret Home-Style Popcorn with Peanut Butter, Reece’s Pieces, Pretzels, and candy sprinkles.
I microwaved the hazelnut spread and the pb — but no ‘j’, sorry, I’m not that adventurous 😉 — and elegantly (if I do say so myself) drizzled both over the popped corn I’d unceremoniously poured out onto a piece of parchment paper placed on a cookie sheet (less to clean, ya know) and then I let the girls go wild with candy sprinkles. Let’s just say it got more than a little ridiculous.
More sprinkles, anyone?
Who eats popcorn with a fork??!?
After the credits rolled (keep it on till the very end!), we talked about the bad guys in The Boxtrolls, two of whom spend the entire film questioning their role and their relative goodness as defined by the dastardly tasks they are commanded to perform by the lead antagonist Archibald Snatcher (voiced amazingly by the great Ben Kingsley), and we also discussed the boxtrolls themselves, creatures who eventually need to believe in their ability to remake themselves, to literally shed their cardboard 2nd skin to survive in a new, better world. There is so much material, from the political to the gluttonous to the racial and the fear-mongering, that a college level course could be taught based on the brilliant narrative arc of The Boxtrolls.
Put a movie night with The Boxtrolls and a 10ct box of Pop Secret Movie Theatre Butter or Home-Style (both available from Walmart, while supplies last) on your family’s calendar. Then snuggle up together, relax, munch on mountains of popcorn, and watch the most exquisite animated film of 2014.
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