Laika returns with their latest in stop-motion animated spectaculars. This time, instead of having a horror element, this movie is a lot more comedic in tone, but is that this movie's downfall?
Laika is a studio that always seems to impress people. While I wasn't a big fan of Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings is definitely one of my favourite animated films, so I know Laika has earned the reputation it has. Missing Link is an interesting addition to their list in that regard because Laika usually adds a horror element to their movies, however, this movie chooses to instead focus on beautiful colours, a sense of adventure and some comedic tones.
I think Missing Link was a movie that one would go in with moderate expectations being met. The trailers didn't make this movie out to be on the same level as Kubo, but I think they knew that while making this movie. Missing Link does not hit the same highs as Kubo, but that isn't a bad thing. This could help Laika in the long run as not simply being a one-trick pony, sure they're known for films like Coraline and ParaNorman, but the question remains, could they do anything else?
Missing Link really does stand out with it's animation. This movie not only as some amazing animation, as to be expected from Laika, honestly Laika does stop-motion so well it's hard to tell that it is stop-motion. However, the movie also makes amazing use of it's cinematography. The one shot that impressed me the most in this movie was when Mr. Link was looking at his reflections, multiple reflections. The scene with context is really great, but the animation work was astounding. I couldn't tell if each reflection was painted on, a separate model, a digital effect or actual reflections, though I'm not betting on that last one.
Being a more comedic movie that the rest of Laika's catalogue, the movie will most live or die based off it's jokes. While this movie does have some dud jokes, and they fall hard, a lot of this movie was decently funny. Never to the point where I was rolling out of my seat, but most of the humour was decent, and had me chuckling more than twice.
If you consider Laika to only make stop-motion movies with a horror touch, I think you're gonna be disappointed. However, if you go into this movie expecting a decently funny movie with beautiful animation, you're gonna get what you go in for. While this may not be the best movie in Laika's line-up, it's still worth seeing at least once. If only just to see the amazing visuals of this movie, but you'll also get some decent emotional scenes, some decent humour and some entertaining action scenes. All in all, it's worth seeing.
And those were my thoughts on Missing Link, see you next time at the odeon.
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