Missing Link (2019)

The animation studio Laika has yet to do wrong. While the marketing for Missing Link was underwhelming the film ends up being nothing like how it was sold. It's smarter, more absurd, and by far more spectacular than anything one would expect from the trailers. It may very well be Laika's least project so far, but it still remains so much better than most of the animated fair out there.

Closest to Paranorman than any of the other Laika work, Missing Link is irreverent yet clever plays of its genre's tropes to deliver an entertaining story. I was worried it was going to go for the slapstick a little too heavily, and at times it might cross that line, (there is a poop joke that just falls flat) but the film usually recovers quickly and gets us back on track.

Missing Link is about finding oneself, both literally and figuratively, and in that it's message is probably the simplest and most trite of Laika's work. But none of this makes it bad. The film is laugh out loud funny and with the short running time and incredibly gorgeous artistry the studio is known for, Missing Link remains worth watching.

Missing Link
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zach Galafanakis, Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, Amrita Acharia
Writer/Director: Chris Butler