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Director: Chris Butler
Release date: April 7, 2019
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:
Laika’s ‘Missing Link’ is the second of the three animated yeti features of 2018-2019, the other two being Warner Bros.’ ‘Smallfoot’ from 2018 and Dreamworks’ ‘Abominable’ from 2019. ‘Missing Link’ easily is the best of the three. The stop motion animation is much more interesting than the rather generic computer animation of the other two studios, and the story much less predictable.
The originality already starts with the fact that not yetis but a bigfoot, christened ‘Mr. Link’ from Washington state is the central character of the film. We follow him, his ‘discoverer’ Sir Lionel Frost and Frost’s former love interest and widow of a fellow explorer, Adelina Fortnight, on an unusual quest.
The year is 1886 (we know that because we see the Statue of Liberty being under construction), the year before the European powers would divide Africa between them on the Berlin conference , while in North America the once extremely abundant passenger pigeons were being killed in huge numbers to certain extinction.
This age, in which discovery equaled oppression and slaughter, is exemplified by Sir Lionel Frost’s adversary, Lord Piggot-Dunceby, head of a club of explorers Sir Lionel Frost desperately wants to join, despite the fact all members despise him. This club represents the world of white supremacy and male chauvinism, but Sir Lionel Frost shows he’s made from different material, and the whole film sends a message of love and respect for our fellow creatures, being man or animal, man or woman, or whatever.
‘Missing Link’ does not score high on believability. First, we must accept that Sir Lionel Frost is more interested in discovering than in really studying his findings, despite his few tendencies to do so. Second, we must accept that the giant ape-like Mr. Link can wander through the world unnoticed, simply because he has put on some clothes. Third, we must accept the great lengths to which Lord Piggot-Dunceby goes to thwart Sir Lionel Frost’s plans, not only hiring an assassin, but even completely discarding a huge discovery which could have made him famous if he would steal it from Frost. Fourth, there’s an exciting vertigo scene, which unfortunately throws all plausibility out of the window. In this single scene our heroes should have died multiple times. The film makers don’t even show us how our heroes survive their predicament.
But what the film lacks in believability it makes up in characters and story telling. Both Sir Lionel Frost and Mr. Link are interesting characters, with Mr. Link being instantly likeable, while Adelina Fortnight defies the normal love interest cliches, being much more of an independent woman, steering her own course. There isn’t even a breakup scene in sight, that obligatory staple scene of American animation films of the 2010s.
The characters are much helped by great voice acting. Hugh Jackman (Sir Lionel Frost), Zoe Saldana (Adelina Fortnight), Stephen Fry (Lord Piggot-Dunceby), Timothy Olyphant (the assassin Willard Stenk) and Emma Thompson (whose character I won’t reveal here) all do an excellent voice job, but it’s Zach Galifianakis who stands out as Mr. Link, making him both polite, shy, naïve, enthusiastic, gentle, sweet and open at the same time, without forgetting to make him funny, too.
Being a Laika film, the stop-motion animation is, of course, of the highest quality. Especially the character animation should be mentioned as outstanding, but also impressive are the action scenes, highlight being a long chase scene on a rocking boat.
Understandably for a film showing such wide vistas as the Ocean and the forests of Washington State there’s a large dose of computer animation and computer-generated background art involved, which unfortunately make the film’s looks a little more generic than desired. But the film surprises most in its sunny color palette. ‘Missing Link’ is so much more colorful than all former Laika films, perhaps because it has discarded all horror elements, otherwise so omnipresent in their filmography. Thus, the film has very pleasant looks, and is a joy to watch from start to end (yes, even the end titles are lovely). I certainly hope the studio will retain this direction of more colorful tales and sceneries.
Watch the trailer of ‘Missing Link’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Missing Link’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
Directors: Sam Fell & Chris Butler
Release Date: August 3, 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
Laika’s ‘ParaNorman’ is the first of no less than three horror-themed American animated features released in 2012. It was followed in September by Disney’s ‘Frankenweenie’ and Sony’s ‘Hotel Transylvania’. For the Laika Studios this was familiar terrain, as both the earlier ‘Corpse Bride’ (2005) and ‘Coraline’ (2009) had been horror themed.
For a while the studio even seemed to be a sort of one-trick pony in that respect (but this notion was ultimately defied by the very different ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ from 2016 and especially the surprisingly colorful ‘Missing Link’ from 2019).
‘ParaNorman’ plays with horror tropes from the start, beginning with opening credits, rendered in a 1950s horror movie style. And in the first scene we see Norman watching a cheap horror movie on television. We soon learn that Norman shares an ability with Cole from ‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999): he can see dead people. Perhaps this ability explains the boy’s preoccupation with horror and science fiction, which is exemplified by ca. all objects in his room.
But then we learn that the fictional Massachusetts town in which he lives, Blithe Hollow (a clear reference to ‘Sleepy Hollow’ of the early horror story by Washington Irving), has its own preoccupation with witchcraft. Its city slogan is ‘a great place to hang’ and features a stunningly morbid picture of a witch hanging from a gallows pole. It’s this hanging of a witch and the witch’s curse that becomes central to the film’s story.
The film is very well-told and pleasantly concise, taking place over a period of only two days. As soon as some zombies appear that everybody can see the film becomes a rollercoaster ride that remains exciting to the very end. A deadline (no pun intended) adds to the suspense. The only dud is a rather forced break-up scene around 55 minutes of a type that seemed to be almost obligatory in animated studio cinema of the time (see e.g., ‘Up’ from 2009, ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!’ from 2012 or ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ from 2016).
There’s some pretty morbid humor involved (e.g., when Norman tries to retrieve a book from his dead uncle), but the film makers manage to keep the horror light to permeate every scary scene with some goofiness. But the witch is genuinely scary, with help of added computer animation. Despite the horror and the excitement, the film’s message is surprisingly profound and mature, and its finale very moving. It’s very refreshing to watch the whole distinction between good and bad, between heroes and villains, being quite blurred in this movie.
‘ParaNorman’ is by all means a film made at the highest artistic level. The art, the handicraft, the animation, the cinematography – they’re all extremely virtuoso, and awe-inspiring. Most importantly ‘ParaNorman’ can boast the most original art design we’ve seen in ages in an American animated studio feature. Especially Heidi Smith’s character design should be mentioned. The puppets have a very distinct and surprisingly asymmetrical design that is both daring and refreshing, but still communicating and appealing. Especially stunning are the lips, with have a certain watery gloss, and the ears, which are a little translucent, just like real lips and ears. The sets and props, too, are angular and crooked, and are the perfect backgrounds for the idiosyncratic dolls to move in. Especially the family’s car is a delight to watch in that respect. And I’d like to add that even the end credits are very appealing.
‘ParaNorman’ is not the best animated feature of 2012, that distinction must go to Don Hertzfeldt’s ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day’, but of all American studio productions the film is certainly the most satisfying, and must be counted among Laika’s best works, together with ‘Coraline’ (2009) and ‘Missing Link’ (2019).
Watch the trailer for ‘ParaNorman’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘ParaNorman’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
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