Cardboard (2025)

I recall my folks telling me that when I was a kid, I always preferred to play in the cardboard box any gifts came in than with the gifts themselves, so I could relate a bit to this amiable adventure. Papa pig and his two kids have recently lost their wife/mum and look to have fallen on hard times, so have to go and live in a trailer park. First impressions aren’t too good, but the youngsters manage to turn this outwardly alien environment into one from their own imagination with monsters galore incorporated into their vivid interpretation of their new surroundings. Dad, meantime, tries to focus on unpacking but maybe, just maybe, the piglets have the right idea? This touches a little on the symptoms of grief and of dealing with it, but in an imaginatively fun fashion that reminded me of one of those 1960s “Outer Limits” editions with bug-eyed aliens and an enjoyable crafted fluidity to the animation as seen through the eyes of a child. Well worth ten minutes.