{"id":18161,"date":"2019-04-09T17:45:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T00:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18161"},"modified":"2019-04-09T17:45:45","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T00:45:45","slug":"missing-link-takes-viewers-on-a-beautifully-realized-animated-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18161","title":{"rendered":"MISSING LINK Takes Viewers on a Beautifully Realized Animated Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Laika is an animation studio that has produced consistently\nimpressive features over the years, including Kubo and the Two Strings<\/em>, The\nBoxtrolls<\/em>, ParaNorman<\/em> and Coraline<\/em>. Their latest continues\nwith the trend of intersecting family entertainment thrills with darker,\nsupernatural and monster-related subject matter. Thankfully, Missing Link<\/em>\nis another big winner, blending amusing characters, a sweet message and some\nstaggeringly beautiful visuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins with Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman), a\nself-described adventurer seeking to prove the existence of mythical creatures\nand impress a stuffy club of explorers led by Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry).\nAfter receiving a note telling him where to find the elusive Sasquatch, Frost\nheads out to the Pacific Northwest, where he comes into\ncontact with the beast, whom he names Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis). The\nprotagonist is not only shocked to learn that the bigfoot can talk, but that\nhe’s quite modest. In fact, Mr. Link tells Frost that he is desperately lonely\nand needs a guide to find his Yeti cousins in the Himalayas.\nThe two come to an agreement and head out on the quest. Along the way, the team\nare pursued by a nasty bounty hunter (Timothy Olyphant) as well as Frost’s old flame,\nAdelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie itself doesn’t go for broad jokes and is\nsurprisingly low-key. Instead, it examines and introduces the fantastic with a\nsense of wonder, and even allows its exaggerated characters an innocent charm.\nMr. Link is extremely likable and pleasant, contrasting the notion of a\nsasquatch being a potential threat to others. Frost and the bigfoot featured are\na perfect comic pairing, with the former trying to exude a sense of nobility\nand importance, and the latter possessing a naive sweetness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the film progresses, there’s plenty of humor derived from\nMr. Link misinterpreting his new friend’s turns of phase and taking remarks\nquite literally, leading to several mishaps. The explorer also concocts an\namusing disguise for his discovery, dressing him in a loud suit to try and pass\nhim off as nothing more than a… well… large and hairy man. There’s also an\namusing turn from The Elder (Emma Thompson), a character who appears late in\nthe feature. She has some very strong opinions, but unintentionally points out\nmany of the flaws in her beliefs as she barks orders to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the animation is superb in every respect. In fact,\nit is almost like a kid’s book travelogue as Frost moves from Loch Ness to the Pacific\n Northwest, heads down through the Southwest US,\nacross Europe, India,\nand eventually Nepal\n(and the fabled Shangri-La). Not only do the environments presented look\nincredible, but there are some fun visual ideas interspersed along the way\nduring action scenes. Such sequences include a confrontation between the heroes\nand the bounty hunter on a ship being rocked through enormous waves; the leads\nmust deal with spinning hallways as they escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the movie has a welcome message as the protagonists finally\nreach their icy destination and Mr. Link attempts to make new bonds with his\ncousins. As it happens, the two begin to wonder if their constant efforts to\nmake their peers like and respect them is really worth all of the trouble…\nespecially when the pair realize they have far more in common than members of\ntheir respected cliques.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the story is straight-forward and simple (and\nparents of very small children should be made aware that some of the villains\nmeet an unfortunate end). However, when the characters and visuals are this\ndistinctive, it’s impossible not to be charmed. While it may be early in the\nyear, this reviewer can safely say that Missing Link<\/em> is his favorite\nanimated family film thus far. This is an entertaining and beautifully drawn\nadventure that is well worth taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laika is an animation studio that has produced consistently impressive features over the years, including Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman and Coraline. Their latest continues with the trend of intersecting family entertainment thrills with darker, supernatural and monster-related subject matter. Thankfully, Missing Link is another big winner, blending amusing characters, a sweet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,785,1455,1467,2713,4660,7283,9464,12030,12459,14065,14066,14067,14068,14202,14533,17683,19041,22924,24716,24783],"class_list":["post-18161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-adventure","tag-animated","tag-animation","tag-bigfoot","tag-comedy","tag-family","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-laika","tag-link","tag-missing-link","tag-missing-link-film-review","tag-missing-link-movie-review","tag-missing-link-review","tag-monsters","tag-myth","tag-sasquatch","tag-stephen-fry","tag-timothy-olyphant","tag-zach-galifianakis","tag-zoe-saldana"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}