Laika Studios is the studio proudly carrying the stop motion animation method of animated filmmaking. For years of middling films, they finally hit a creative peak last year with Kubo and the Two Strings, a movie that was more than beautiful to see: it was beautiful to experience as well. I was hoping Missing Link would build upon Kubo, but it appears they’ve fallen back to their comfort zone of a beautiful film with so-so storytelling.
British adventurer Lionel Frost (almost as good a name as the guy doing his voice, Hugh Jackman), craves to be accepted into the society of other British explorers. His latest mission is to find the sasquatch in America. Amazingly, he does, calling the creature Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis), who has the ability to read and write. The 2 make a deal: Frost will help Link get to his cousins in the Himalayas, the Yeti, and Link will give Frost proof that he exists so he can get accepted into Adventurer High Society.
What’s most frustrating about Laika films, most of the time, is it’s clear that several smart people are involved. The set up here is smarter than you’d expect. Yes, Lionel is kind of a twat, but he clearly is a forward thinking man; conversely, Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry) and the British Adventurer Society is more backwards in their thinking. That way, when Mr. Link comes into the picture, and the movie becomes a buddy road trip, the story seems bigger than just a journey where Lionel learns to believe in himself without the society. With the society as the bad guys, Lionel and Mr. Link get developed into a couple fascinating characters to understand and get behind. Enter Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), who adds her own motivations into the journey and you now have an adventure serving multiple different purposes that could go in a bunch of awesome directions.
So when we eventually end up in Shangri La, you’re hoping for something really interesting to pay off this cool set up the writers have put together. But the plot mechanics swallow the movie whole, pushing (the correct theme, if you had to choose just one) the kid friendly “believe in yourself” theme, effectively abandoning the more complex parts of the story. We get some beautiful and exciting moments, like a perilous and acrobatic joust over, under, and through an ice bridge. And Laika had done enough that I was rooting for the heroes to come out in the end and be happy, but I was still a little disappointed, because I knew Missing Link was just going to end up as another amusing forgettable animated film, when it put so much cleverness and effort into trying to not make that the case.
This review is sounding more mean than I intended it to be. Missing Link will be great fun for the whole family. It’s just not going to be a memorable film watched decades over for how brilliant it is. Except for one thing: EVERY British show should hire the name consultants on Missing Link. Lionel Frost. Lemuel Lint. Lord Piggot-Dunceby. Willard Stenk. Adelina Fortnight. Ama Lhamu. Lord Scrivener. Lord Ramsbottom. Whoever this person is might be a genius…