Missing Link Review

Laika is one of the biggest animated studios in the world who have made celebrated animated films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. Their latest film, Missing Link is set to join them.

Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) is an adventurer who seeks to join the exclusive explorers club. When he receives a letter about the legendary Sasquatch he sees it is an opportunity to join the club. The Sasquatch (Zach Galifianakis) was the one who sent the letter and asked for Lionel if he can find the Yetis. Lionel agrees in exchange for evidence of the Sasquatch’s existence.

Laika films are often themed around the ideas of family, friendship, belonging, and focuses on outsiders. Missing Link is no exception because it’s was about two outsiders looking for belonging. Lionel was an eccentric who pushes everyone away and wants to be accepted by the club. And the Sasquatch is the last of his kind and as he states he’s lonely.

One of the basic tenants of screenwriting is that characters have something they want and something they really need. Missing Link takes this heart and spells it out straight away. Lionel wants to join a snobby club, be remembered and be seen as a great man but what he really needs is friendship and show there is more to the world. Whilst this method of screenwriting is ham-fisted it gets the message across.

As well as the character journeys Missing Link the film has a theme about modernisation. Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry), the leader of the explorer group is a regressive figure who bemoans the evils of electricity and female suffrage. He is archetypical imperialist who sees his mission is to ‘civilise’ the world and plant Union Jacks everywhere.

There was also a dark side to his modernisation because civilisation is growing. Humans are encroaching on the Sasquatch’s habitat leading to the disappearance of his species. Other factions fear the coming of Western nations and do everything they can to protect themselves. It works as a criticism of imperialism and has a message about conservation.

Missing Link‘s greatest strength is its humour. It is strong from out the outset when Lionel tries to catch the Loch Ness Monster and continues from there. The film was a dialogue-heavy and Jackman and Galifianakis had a fantastic back-and-forth. I was laughing constantly because of these two. There was also plenty of visual and physical humour that’s expected from an animated film. One of the best sequences being when Lionel and the sasquatch try and break into a house. Because the film was aimed for the whole family there were some jokes for younger kids, often involving poop and nut shots whilst other jokes are aimed for adults (i.e. seductive waving).

Being a Laika film the animation for Missing Link is fantastic. There is great craftsmanship involved for any stop-motion and there is a great amount detail in the world. It enriches the world and allows for visual jokes, like with Aardman films.  Laika is not afraid to make some of their characters ugly and this was the case for the one of the villains, Willard Stenk (Timothy Olyphant) who’s short, squat, has scars on his head and bad teeth.

Missing Link is similar to Aardman’s 2012 film The Pirates! In an Adventures with Scientists! Both films are set in the Victorian era where characters must search for an elusive creature and finding out the powers that be aren’t very nice. When the action moves to America the film becomes a Western by featuring frontier towns, desert train stations and bar fight. There were also elements of the Indiana Jones films because the characters look for a legendary location and they even travel by map. The travel by map was cleverly implemented in the film because the rail lines and shipping routes are shown before the red line is drawn above it.

Missing Link is a delightful and hilarious animated adventure. It is a shame the film has performed badly in the UK which doesn’t bode for the international box-office.