I spoke to Butler over the phone on the week of the film’s release. With a rival’s widow ( Zoe Saldana) as their escort, the two bumbling travelers find acceptance of each other as well as themselves. He does indeed find Bigfoot ( Zach Galifianakis) traipsing about the woods, but the one discovery leads to a globe-trotting saga spanning North America, the Atlantic, and the Himalayas. When he receives word of a Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest, Frost leaves immediately to prove his worth to England’s noblemen. Sir Lionel Frost ( Hugh Jackman) is desperate for the admiration of his peers despite their total disgust and disbelief of the cryptozoological wonders that he seeks in his expedition. The film began as sketches in his notebook, and from one hairy avocado drawing came Laika’s largest production so far. As we saw in our set-visit last month, no stop-motion affair is the product of one man, but Butler has been processing this particular story for at least fifteen years. Missing Link may leave the child protagonists behind in favor of tryhard explorers and sasquatches, but in exposing the turbulent transition at the end of the Victorian era, writer/director Chris Butler concocts a rewardingly relevant exploit. Each one of their films travels in the tradition of informative folktale offering its audience a guide to the toils we battle along our way to enlightenment. Laika Studios is never satisfied with telling a simple adventure story. Every encounter stacks atop another, and each confrontation carves the path that leads to identity. Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Jaden Smith, Frank Coraci, Zach Galifianakis, Hugh Jackman, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Timothy OlyphantThe quest for self-discovery is populated with many characters. Link’s disarming charm and good-humoured conviction provide the emotional and comedic foundation of this fun-filled family movie. Along the way, our fearless explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril, stalked at every turn by dastardly villains seeking to thwart their mission. Read more.Īlong with the independent and resourceful Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), who possesses the only known map to the group’s secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous rollercoaster ride of a journey.

Together they set out on a daring quest around the world to seek out Link’s distant relatives in the fabled valley of Shangri-La.Īlong with the independent and resourceful Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), who possesses the only known map to the group’s secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous rollercoaster ride of a journey. As species go, he’s as endangered as they get he’s possibly the last of his kind, he’s lonely, and he believes that Sir Lionel is the one man alive who can help him. Link: the slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast who Sir Lionel discovers. A living remnant of Man’s primitive ancestry. He sees a chance to prove himself by traveling to America’s Pacific Northwest to discover the world’s most legendary creature. The trouble is, no one else seems to agree. Hugh Jackman is Sir Lionel frost: a brave and dashing adventurer who considers himself to be the world’s foremost investigator of myths and monsters.

The missing link movie