Missing Link

Charming and beautifully animated, LAIKA's buddy Bigfoot adventure is funny and sweet, if not quite as poignant as Kubo or as memorable as Coraline. There's slightly more style than substance here, but the style is amazing. As the end-credits sequence illustrates, LAIKA's combination of elaborate stop-action animation enhanced with computer animation is simply stunning -- no detail is spared, from the texture on the era-appropriate clothes and the fur on Susan and the Yetis to the grand landscapes of snow-capped mountains and the clutter of Victorian-era London's busy streets. LAIKA's films are so intricately made that you can rewatch them and catch something new to focus on each time, particularly backgrounds and secondary characters.

As for the story, it's a fairly straightforward unlikely-friendship adventure. Lionel and Susan learn from each other and become a comical odd-couple duo, with Adelina a much-needed force turning them into a functional trio. Adelina's competence and quick wit (her marksmanship is as notable as her beauty) are matched by her empathy for Susan's plight. Adelina's fast-paced banter with Lionel makes it seem like a romance between them is inevitable, but the movie isn't a love story -- it's about friendship and progress. The villain, Lord Piggot-Dunceb, is a fabulous reminder of what happens when privileged elites scoff at change or at those who challenge authority. Of course, there's no class element, since Lionel and Adelina are both rich, too, but the message is still clear: Pride comes before the fall (quite literally), and empathy and generosity are more important than self-absorption and glory.