Sir Lionel Frost explores the world looking for legendary creatures that are believed to not exist. A sasquatch sends Frost a letter asking for help. Frost is surprised to see a sasquatch that is intelligent and can talk. The sasquatch has been alone too long and he wants to be with the Yetis because he feels they are the same as him. Frost and the sasquacth travel across the world together to find the Yeti culture.
Blaine: Chris Butler loved movies like “Indiana Jones” and “Around the World in 80 Days” and they also were an inspiration to him. In 2006, Chris had an idea of writing his own adventure involving a sasquatch. Chris also had a passion for stop motion and he wanted “Missing Link” to be a stop motion feature. Chris would write down everything that came to his head. The more Chris worked on the script the more he thought this would be impossible to make into a stop motion feature. It wouldn’t be possible to make “Missing Link” thirteen years ago. For more than a decade, Laika animation has been taking stop motion to a whole other level. Stop-motion requires a lot, but the films Laika have made require more. For example, their first feature, “Coraline”, had thousands of blossoms growing fast and what they had to do was animate one blossom in front of green screen and multiple mirrors so they could get each angle and then duplicate it using a computer because it would take a hundred years to animate a blossom rising out of the ground and spread out. “Kubo and the Two Strings” showed boats going over seas, which had never been done before. They used mechanical effects for ships and those giant eye creatures. One of the other monsters was this gigantic and heavy puppet that took a lot of physical work to animate. So much goes into stop motion just to bring it to life. Everything Laika has done helped make it possible for Chris Butler to bring his vision of “Missing Link” to life. But he couldn’t have done it alone. He had a team of artists who devoted themselves to the project even though it took years.
The animators use a camera the size of a Nikon camera and the puppet movement is one click at a time. The camera work in “Missing Link” is amazing. The characters will be using different transportations to get to their destination, like a ship going over seas, a horse wagon crossing the desert, a train traveling through and all those are overhead shots. Frost visits an old friend of his, Adelina, who joins him and the sasquatch later on their adventure. The shot I like the most in “Missing Link” is when Frost visits Adelina at her house and she is on the other side of the room drinking tea by this colorful window and she is a silhouette. There's one scene that deals with two threats happening at the same time. The ship is going through a heavy storm and gigantic waves, while an assassin is trying to kill Frost. The sasquatch is trying to save Adelina from falling into the sea. There's one shot where the sasquatch is running down to the last floor of the ship to get to Adelina. It's like the camera is following him and trying to catch up as he is running through the halls of that ship. It probably took a month to do that shot because twenty four frames would take three and a half weeks.
Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana and Zach Galifianakis have provided their voices to animated characters before, but they were all computer animation. To be apart of a stop motion feature done by Laika was something completely different and breathtaking because all the stuff is hand crafted. Frost looking for the sasquatch is part of a bet and the man he makes a bet with, Lord Piggot-Dunceby, wants Frost dead because Piggot-Dunceby hates him so much. If Frost is right, Piggot-Denceby has to admit it Frost was right and he was wrong. Piggot-Dunceby hires an assassin to go after him, which is cheating. Adelina and Frost could have had something once, but Frost always devoted himself to work. Adelina was married to someone who was an adventurer like Frost, but more caring. Frost just wants to be a legend and his name to be everywhere. Frost is sort of using the sasquatch so he can make a name for himself. Adelina pushes Frost to bring out the side of him that cares, instead of thinking of himself all the time. She knows it's in there and Frost does have it, he just needs help finding it.
The stories Laika have told always have some sort of twist. Like it's different from what you were expecting, but that’s one of the things that makes their films original. Like "Kubo and the Two Strings" I thought was going to be about a boy who loses his parents but finds a new family in the monkey and man beetle who go on a quest with him. Turns out the monkey and beetle were the parents all along and they sacrifice their lives twice to protect Kubo. In “Missing Link”, after the three explorers find the yeti tribe, the yetis won't allow the sasquatch in. He isn't welcomed there at all. So apparently the yetis aren't the answer, but the adventure hasn't been a complete waste. The sasquatch has developed a friendship with both Frost and Adelina, so he's not alone. Another thing is Frost and Adelina don't end up together. Her heart still belongs to her late husband I would say. Adelina is going to go back to exploring the world and after having an exciting adventure with Frost and the sasquatch. Frost has changed his ways, but that doesn't mean he's a completely changed man. If Frost wants to be with Adelina, he’s gonna have to take a few more steps in order to become that perfect man she wants. Adelina goes for the sweet type. The sasquatch can go all over the world because Frost makes him his partner. They are completely different from each other on the inside and out, but they make a great team. Plus the sasquatch can handle things better compared to the last guy who assisted Frost.
My rating on “Missing Link” is five out of five stars
