Monsieur Link

The premise, animation and storyline were the strongest points of the film. Unfortunately, the titular creature is the weakest link (pun intended) as his ramblings and antics got a bit tiresome rather than funny. Considering that he is the star of the show, this dragged down the experience for me, though it is not a bad film overall.

I think this movie is a mixed bag.

The animation is well made.

The big names are there.

On paper the story is funny.

.....but

For me the characters never become likeable, at all.

'Mister Link' himself has his moments, sure, but Hugh's en Zoe's characters feel unpleasant, cold and shallow.

I don't know what causes this for me, but my best bet is a combination of the way they look (their faces just look unpleasant, emotionless) and the bad dialogue (no character depth, no charm).

Even when these characters show their so called soft side it doesn't feel right somehow.

To be honest, I thought Hugh was portraying a bad guy the first part of the movie.

Not bad, but not great.

.....but that's of course my personal opinion ;-)

Oh, how utterly delightful!! The animation is interesting, different, and simply beautiful. What a wonderful story and great script! The film had so many hilarious (subtle) one-liners. Most of the humor was just naturally funny. I absolutely loved the characters and Hugh Jackman voiced Sir Lionel Frost to perfection.

This is a great action adventure for young and old. Director Chris Butler's directorial debut 'ParaNorman' (2012) is one of my favorite animated films. Now, with only his second film as director, 'Missing Link' will be added to my list of favorite animated films. This was sensational. I loved it!

The ending leaves the door wide open for a sequel, and personally, I can't wait!!

An original and heterogeneous trio goes on an expedition in search of Shangri-La, during the Victorian era: 1) Sir Lionel Frost is a British adventurer who might be considered as the perfect mix of the professor Otto Lidenbrock from Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Vernes, 1864) and Indiana Jones (Steven Spielberg, 1981-2008), 2) Adelina Fortnight is a wonderful widow with character and 3) Mr. Link, a caveman as ingenuous as touching, a kind of missing link between us and our ancestors, is desperately looking for a soul mate.

The drawings are remarkably successful and the story is riddled with madcap plot twists. Given the kinship with the exquisite Kubo et l'Armure magique (2016) and the excellent Coraline (2009), I probably hoped for better. Nevertheless, this zany story of adventurers addressing such important topics as friendship, trust or recognition, is overall a success that I really appreciated. I was obviously not the only one to laugh, in the movie theater.

The first thing that has to be said when talking about 'Missing Link' is that it looks absolutely incredible. With each film, Laika's stop motion animation has improved and this is no exception. While the world might not be as visually interesting as some of their previous creations, what's there looks phenomenal and the characters are animated even better. The movements and facial expressions are so fluid, to the point where it genuinely looks computer generated. The care and craft it must have taken to create this is extraordinary. Where Laika's latest is not up to par, however, is in its narrative and characters. The characters themselves are fun and have entertaining interactions, but nobody really has any arcs or development, and they're all pretty much bottled down to having one trait. Sure, Lionel Frost changes by the end of the narrative, but it feels completely forced, unrealistic and unearned, which is something that can't be said about any of the protagonists in Laika's previous works. The actual story itself is very simple and quite generic, but luckily the globe-trotting adventure includes several locations and scenarios for the characters to be in, which are all entertaining. The relationship between Frost and Mr. Link leads to some entertaining interactions, and the situations they find themselves in are all fairly humorous, too. So, while it's not all that original and there aren't really any arcs, it is entertaining throughout. Surprisingly, the action sequences are well done and actually quite thrilling, while still retaining the fun 'adventure feel'. It's also, like the rest of Laika's works, not afraid of pulling its punches and is more mature than the average animated feature. Overall, it's arguably the worst film that Laika has produced thus far, but it is still very entertaining and has great animation. 7/10