Missing Link

Dir: Chris Butler

2019

****

I have to admit I’m a little 50/50 when it comes to Laika animations. I didn’t love Caroline as much as everyone else – although I was blown away by the animation – and although ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings were good, I didn’t care much for The Boxtrolls at all. Truth be told, I thought Missing Link was made by the same folk who made The Pirates! Band of Misfits but that was of course Aardman Animation Studios, they just looked a little similar on first glance. My mistake paid off, I’d seen a poster for Missing Link but dismissed it as something I would eventually see once my little boy was a bit older, but watch it I did and I absolutely loved it. The amazing animators have been severely let down by the marketing department. It wasn’t until the end credits did I realise quite how incredible and meticulous (not to mention arduous) the stop-motion process was. I thought it was largely CGI, it really didn’t matter to the story but to know that almost everything was crafted out of clay and hand animated is incredible. It isn’t craft over content either, the story is sweet, intelligent and original, not to mention funny. Set in 1886, Sir Lionel Frost (Huge Jackman), a struggling investigator of mythical creatures, has continuously searched for different creatures to study and announce their presence in the world, which would allow him to be accepted into the "Society of Great Men", which is led by Frost's rival Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry). After a rather hilarious encounter with the Loch Ness Monster, Frost receives a letter acknowledging the presence of a Sasquatch, making a deal with Piggot-Dunceby that would allow him to join the society if he proved that the creature was real. Frost travels to the Pacific Northwest, eventually stumbling upon the Sasquatch in a forest. After dubbing him "Mr. Link," Frost is told by the Sasquatch (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) that he was in fact the one who sent the letter. Confessing his loneliness as the only one of his kind, Mr. Link requests Frost's help in finding his relatives, the Yetis, in the Himalayas. Frost agrees to help him, but is unaware of the fact that Piggot-Dunceby has hired a bounty hunter named Willard Stenk (Timothy Olyphant) to track Frost and kill him, ensuring that the pro-imperialist conservative views of the society remain unchallenged. Frost's former lover Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana) has a map to the Himalayas locked in a safe that belonged to her late husband, one of Frost's past partners, so the two visit her mansion to acquire it. However, Adelina harbors resentment for Frost missing her husband's funeral and kicks him out when he offers to pay her for the map. Frost and Mr. Link come back later at night and break in, but Mr. Link's noise-making awakens Adelina, and the safe eventually falls out of the top floor window, cracking open in the aftermath. Frost and Mr. Link grab the map and escape, but are discovered the next day by Fortnight who allows them to search for the Yetis as long as she is there to accompany them. Stenk arrives and a shootout ensues, but the trio trick their pursuer into hopping on the train to search for them. The trio make their journey via boat, and Fortnight pressures Frost into reaching out to Mr. Link to prove his sincerity. Frost enjoys a heartwarming talk with Mr. Link on the boat's deck where Mr. Link gives himself the name "Susan", after a friendly prospector he once encountered. However, they are once again ambushed by Stenk. After various scuffles across different parts of the ship, the trio eventually locks Stenk in the boat's boarding rooms while they make another escape. The trio eventually makes their way to the Himalayas and are pointed in the direction of the Yeti temple, and led to their Queen (voiced by Emma Thompson), who reveals their secluded valley to the group. She then reveals their disdain for mankind extends to Susan, who's interacted closely with them. They throw the trio in a pit for them to stay until they die. Susan gives Fortnight a boost and she knocks down a few Yeti guards, allowing them to stack them and escape. They run across the ice bridge, where an armed Piggot-Dunceby and Stenk are waiting at the center of the bridge. Frost denounces his rival's pride and defends Susan as more human than the society could ever be. As a result, the insane Piggot-Dunceby starts firing his rifle at the ice bridge to kill the trio, until Susan stops Piggot-Dunceby from getting any further, still causing it to crack and break. Piggot-Dunceby and his assistant Mr. Collick fall to their deaths while the trio and Stenk make a run for it. They are too late and are left hanging on the edge of the destroyed ice bridge. Stenk, who has made it all the way across, taunts Frost, which leads to the two engaging in a slapping fight while hanging on the bridge. The trio work together to rid themselves of Stenk, who falls to his death after an icicle breaks and falls on him. Frost appoints Susan as his new partner in investigations, who blows a raspberry at the Yeti leader. After arriving home, Fortnight tells Frost that she will be adventuring on her own for a while and departs, but not before the pair share a brief mutual acceptance of their feelings for each other. Susan and Frost arrive back at the latter's work-space and begin their next case to find Atlantis. After they leave, the end credits reveal maps and souvenirs of their subsequent adventures. The relationship between Jackman’s Frost and Galifianakis Link is brilliant and I love both characters. The story is brilliantly written and I found myself chuckling through the entire film. It’s one of those great animations that is suitable for kids but very much has an adult audience still in mind. I was quite surprised to see the inclusion of guns in a ‘kids’ film and that certain characters died. I loved it. I don’t usually care too much for film sales etc, it’s not my business, but I’m shocked and upset that the film did so miserably at the box office as it means the chances of a sequel are next to none. This could have been the beginning of a wonderful series, the new Wallace & Gromit in fact, but alas no. It's a real gem that seems to have flown under the radar and totally missed by people who I bet would love it. I’m hoping it will find the love it deserves soon.