It’s been far, far too long since we got to go back into the delicately-crafted world of Laika Entertainment. The stop-motion maestros, known for their meticulous sets and filming process, cavalier tone and stories and pitch-perfect vocal casting, haven’t been on the scene since 2016’s masterpiece “Kubo and the Two Strings.” It’s not obtuse to suggest the animation landscape has had a gigantic Laika-shaped hole in it as the company departed from Focus Features and searched for new backing. But as they have in so many cases, Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures (and Lionsgate internationally) stepped up and gave them the studio distribution they needed to crank out a new feature.
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The newest adventure “Missing Link” follows precisely who’d you expect, the incognito Darwinian creature which many explorers of a certain age searched for in the boom of global discovery. Laika has recruited Hugh Jackman to voice Sir Lionel Frost, who will search for the Link, and Zach Galifianakis to voice the titular character. Zoe Saldana will voice Frost’s guide to the Link, adventurer Adelina Fortnight. Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, and David Walliams round out the excellent ensemble the studio has brought to the forefront for this one.
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Chris Butler, the wily mind behind 2012’s beloved “Paranorman,” wrote and directed this one, while Carter Burwell (of the Coen brothers fame) provides the score.
The clips are thoroughly Laika, known for a “how did they do that?” sense of craftsmanship, a patient visual flair, and cut-and-dry humor. It’s also a film set in the Pacific Northwest, which would encompass Oregon, the studio’s birthplace. So you’d imagine this feature would hit particularly close to home to everyone involved and give them a chance to pay tribute to their residential area.
Laika films don’t do the numbers of a Pixar, or Disney Animation release and are expensive to make (the last two films, “Kubo” and “The Boxtrolls,” averaged about $60 million, but both made their money back), but there is thankfully enough of an audience and appeal to keep these hand-crafted gems in production. Not having a big art-minded studio like Focus to back them (and considering Annapurna’s recent choppy waters), it makes Laika’s futures consistently in flux. Though having the great Travis Knight, son of Nike founder Phil Knight, running the show has to help somehow with finances, right?
We don’t exactly know the future of stop-motion, but we do know every single one of the studio’s films is a gift to be cherished and not taken for granted. Here’s to many, many more Laika films. Catch the company’s latest when it hits theaters today, April 5.