This movie suffered from lackluster advertising and a story that is just "okay". I love Laika movies, but this one is missing that quirkiness and character of their other work.

@grantmortensonva

Ай бұрын

I thought people just didn't go for it because it looked too different. Instead of movies that could double as a Halloween special (Coraline, ParaNorman, The BoxTrolls, Kubo to a degree), it looked more like a standard movie. Which is downright insulting to say, because not only did this have the most advanced stop motion puppet to date (Susan/Mr. Link himself has many moveable parts), but I am pretty sure this movie has the most environments and set pieces of any LAIKA project. Even places you don't see for very long are full sets. That scene traveling on the elephant had to be repeatedly struck and rebuilt as the scene was shot. And it's barely a minute or two total.

@thegiftedfire3470

Ай бұрын

Fortunately, this film did won a Golden Globe.

I gotta be honest I loved this movie and no one is changing my mind

@LacieAnimations

Ай бұрын

I wholeheartedly agree

@danielheward8372

Ай бұрын

Same bro

@P3achTree

Ай бұрын

Agreed

@thekingofhorrorgameaquare1789

Ай бұрын

Agree

@ChaiCake08

Ай бұрын

Agreed

"You've either seen this movie, or you haven't" Yeah those are kind of the only options bruv

@VitalVampyr

Ай бұрын

Unless it's Schrödinger's movie.

@kristyw89

Ай бұрын

You could have it on in the background while you scroll tiktok so it was subconsciously in your mind but you didn't actually watch it? (I don't even use tiktok, this is a light hearted joke, don't come for me, please)

The animation is too good. Like, my brain can’t even register this as stop motion.

@noahsmith3581

Ай бұрын

To a large degree, it isn’t. A surprising amount of this movie was actually CG as shown here kzread.info/dash/bejne/lGiAysNvo9TAXdI.htmlsi=4r_43WglsUF23hHw

@zanemob1429

Ай бұрын

@@noahsmith3581I could tell but its still incredibly impressive!

Laika is one of those movie studios I'm genuienly shocked still exist given how many of their movies seem to struggle at the box office

@puli_dreadhead

Ай бұрын

The founders are related to a billionaire.

@tubguinace

Ай бұрын

You can thank nepotism, it's one of the few times nepotism has done something good, keeping stop-motion alive is a worthy cause.

@capuchinosofia4771

Ай бұрын

Honestly same, i wish they would have given more time to cook most of their moves, so they wouldnt flop as hard box office wise

@JohnWall-lj1mx

Ай бұрын

Pretty sure one of the founders at laika is related to a big shot at Nike (yes that nike) and these movies are generously funded passion projects which is way more respectable than the typical bratty rich kids the children of billionaires tend to be

@krazykoen6943

Ай бұрын

The founder is the son of Nike's founder. That's why Nike sponsors each of their movies.

yeah, the thing about this movie to me is that by trying to have a broader appeal, it really lost exactly the thing that made Laika stand out in the first place. What makes Laika stand out, IS that their movies have an edge, there's something a little bit darker, a little bit more disturbing in all of their other movies. And that is what makes them stand out so much. This movie is perfectly well made, there's nothing exactly wrong with it, it's very fuzzy and wholesome... And that's it... There's nothing more to it. And everything it does I have already seen other places... I mean it does it well. But it's not anything new at all, it's even so overused that it feels pretty boring. Which again is sad for Laika because all of their other movies feel wholely unique! Even the movies that didn't do so well like BoxTrolls still feel incredibly unique and its own, and there's no other movie really like it. This one though? There's a TON of other movies exactly like it. So... It's just... It's innocent, harmless, well crafted, and... nothing... It's nothing... you watch it and you forget it. because... It's just nothing.

@TheLugiaSong

Ай бұрын

I think you're exactly right. Not only in its story though but its visual presentation, it's too clean to the point I really cannot see it as stop motion, which is super impressive but then by doing that they've removed the charm of stop motion! When you're aware of it, you can see the stop-motion in most of their films, slightly janky and slightly visually off but that's the appeal because their films have that edge in their themes and stories too. Here it just looks like CG, both the visuals and story are a bit too smooth. It's a bit bland.

@krazykoen6943

Ай бұрын

I dunno. I agree that Missing Link is pretty simple and by-the-books compared to other Laika films but it was so well executed that I didn't mind.

@MoonPhantom

Ай бұрын

@@krazykoen6943 I am exactly saying everything it does, it does really well. It's just what it does has zero risks, zero edges, zero darkness. It's all so extremely safe that it's just... nothing. I mean if you want a buddy comedy between a stuck-up adventure who starts as a narcissist, but through this awkward relationship with a down to earth more awkward man learns the value of the small things and to open more up and appreciate those around him. Sure, it does it really really well... But it is just the buddy cop formula with nothing else to it.

this movie won the golden globe that year, beating toy story 4, httyd 3, frozen 2, and the lion king remake. with competition like that, it's not hard to see why

its a shame this flopped because i actually quite liked that movie, i thought it wasn't bad

I actually didn’t mind this movie. Not one of the studios best, but it’s ok in my opinion 👍🏾

Fun fact, the "sponsorship from Nike" is actually why they aren't worried about not making profit. The founder of Nike; Phil Knight, is the father of Travis Knight who runs Laika! So as long as Nike stays in business, Laika will too.

@Tyrany42

Ай бұрын

That is weirdly comforting, and also kind of sad... the only stop motion studio alive only exists because of nepotism, not because there's a big audience for stop motion.

@Ratparty_

Ай бұрын

@@Tyrany42 I agree and disagree. There are other large studios like Aardman making stuff too. The lack of profits mostly comes down to how lengthy to process of stop motion animation is, and not a lack of audience. Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wallace and Gromet, James + the Giant peach etc etc etc have HUGE fanbases. its a shame more animation studios wont invest into stop motion, because it can create wonderful art. But I have a good feeling stop motion is about to see a huge resurgence in popularity

You should really give Kubo a watch, it's genuinely very good - I think it's easy to sort of miss how good it is though if you're not in the right emotional headspace so to speak, it's got a few layers / interpretations that can be missed if you're expecting just an action adventure piece. Frankly I think it hits harder than Coraline because it actually has a resolution at the end for the main character that involves the parents and the overall dynamic changes, whereas in Coraline it feels like more of an inner journey of personal acceptance and less about her interacting with her parents and them changing in any way. Kubo also is visually stunning in a way that feels wholly unique to Kubo, like you've seen Laika but they're at their peak in Kubo IMO. The story is not the most compelling or satisfying so much as realizing how human the actual characters are and how their feelings are real, and the fantastical setting are really more of a set dressing than anything else. It's my favorite Laika film, obviously lol.

"You’ve either seen this movie, or you haven't." That's...That's all movies. You have described every movie

@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel

Ай бұрын

not all movies deserved to be seen

@trishaleealphin

Ай бұрын

@@DeletedDevilDeletedAngelall of laikas movies deserve to be seen

@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel

Ай бұрын

@@trishaleealphin true

@ironfox4990

Ай бұрын

It’s just some are more watched than others.

This is one of those movies where I think: "I don't remember how long ago I watched it, I think there were big names behind it, I don't remember many plot details, but I remember that I loved it"

Kubo and the Two Strings was a gorgeous film. Laika is certainly a studio to keep an eye on.

This was such a beautiful animated film! I am so honored to see The Missing Link in theater!

Laika is making a Wildwood movie?! Like the novel series Wildwood?! I adore those books, Claymation is the perfect medium for an adaptation! I really, truly hope it's good because that series deserves so much more attention

I’m thinking Wildwood could be a box office hit! Similar to Coraline, it’s based it’s on a successful and acclaimed book. It looks interesting and seems to be going back to more dark and serious side of Laika. So I’m hoping for the best next year.

When I saw it I thought “wow this 3D animation looks like stop motion”

The biggest thing I noticed when I watch this movie is how bored I felt, and how often I was checked out. When thinking about it, it was mainly the story. It's been a while so I can't recall all of the story details, but mainly I remember feeling it was lackluster and generic.

@amethyst_cat9532

Ай бұрын

I spent almost the entire movie looking at the costuming and technical details. The writing definitely could've used some polish. The movie feels underbaked; they have so many promising elements and so many good things but they don't work together all that well

I squealed when I saw this video. Missing Link is so underrated even if it's not quite as impactful or complex as the rest of Laika's movies. Sometimes simplicity can be nice.

I love this movie, honestly. The plot is sort of low-stakes, but honestly I thought it was just a fun excuse to vibe with these fin characters.

Budget $100 million Box office $26.6 million DAMN

Not gonna lie if I had known that the company responsible for coraline, paranorman, and kubo made this movie I would have given it more credit. I love all three of those and didn’t know they were made by the same people. Please watch Kubo I love that movie

I seen the movie around 4-5 years ago, I found it nice but yeah, the advertisement for it was non-existent. This is the first video I've seen on the Missing Link, shame really. Should be more well-known.

personally i find the ending a little bit dissapointing but overall i think its quite underrated, as smn who grew up in homeschool i find missing link comforting and wholesome

You finally did a Liaka movie!!!!!!!

I loved this movie! I can’t believe it was a flop! 😭😭

I'll never forget when my mom said it was automatically garbage all because of the susan joke. The movie itself is a solid 7/10 otherwise imo👌

(This is before watching) I remember hearing about this movie, even maybe seeing the poster in theaters, but then after they stopped projecting it, it just.. disappeared. Ive never thought about this until now, but I am very interested to hear what this movie was about.

My biggest problem with _Missing Link_ had always been remembering that it's from Laika! It looks and feels so much like Aardman, and I can't help but think that they deliberately mimicked that studio's style in order to (hopefully) garner some of their popularity.

It was so technically impressive, and the story was so meh, that i spent the whole time just thinking about the production. I loved it but i couldn’t have even remember the basics of the plot until this video reminded me

@vuivraalbastra

Ай бұрын

That's how I felt about Kubo too (unpopular opinion I suppose, judging by the comments). It baffles me when the animation is gorgeous, but it's held back by a story that's... less than impressive. To me nailing the story before spending unfathomable amounts of money and effort into bringing it to life seems like the obvious way to go about it, but I rarely see that actually happening.

I quite liked this when it came out but it's never a movie I went back to. I should really sit down and watch all the Laika films because the love put into them is tangible. I think Paranorman is still my favorite but I haven't seen Boxtrolls... Kubo was beautiful too but another one I haven't gone back to

Nike OWNS LAIKA. The CEO of LAIKA, Travis Knight, is the son of the CEO of Nike, Phil Knight. Travis Knight has also directed "The Boxtrolls", "Kubo and the Two Strings", IS directing LAIKA's new project "Wildwood", and also directed The 2018 "Bumblebee" movie.

Laika gave themselves such a great reputation that a decent outing is a massive downgrade to the public.

Was it a masterful story? No not really but it was gorgeous and fun.

I would like to see you cover the Box Trolls movie first also, great video and have a great day everyone.

I really think it’s underrated. Not my favorite movie of all time but I like it quite a bit

Laika doesn’t make bad movies. There. I said it

@no_Monday420

Ай бұрын

And you said the truth!

Never even heard of this movie: Laika has a huge problem with advertiisng. Paranorman ALMOST slipped by me and that would be a travesty because I think it's their second best movie after Coraline.

honestly better than ai garbage tho

Dazz reviews you should cover the Terrible Chris Rock Saw movie known as Spiral from the book of Saw. And you don’t need to watch the other saw movies, this one is separated from those movies

I loved the animation in this movie

If I remember correctly, I think it's less that Laika has a sponsorship with Nike, and more of a family member of Nike's original family adores stop motion so much, that they wanted to create it. So they use money given to them by Nike, their family, in order to make the movies and keep the company afloat. That's just what I've heard though, so I could be wrong

I actually saw a poster for it in the subway and was happy to find and watch it online. Sadly the plot is fairly weak or to be more precise the character writing. The woman as supposed to be the heart character for the group but she doesn't fill the roll most of the movie, what is sad. Even a rough female protagonist can be a good heart character. I did liked Link and the huntsman though. I do would watch the movie again I think. The animations are wonderfully done.

@tamarlindsay8382

Ай бұрын

I didn't warm up to her at all. The man has a character arc - he begins as a classist snob who only wants to kill something rare so he can join the club, but he develops into someone who cares about rare creatures. It was sad that the Yeti civilization was also rejecting - they would have fit right in with the hunter snobs! It did make one mark that I noticed, though--the character design of the human male lead, especially his nose, showed up in "Nimona". Also, the character design of Nimona herself seems to be a combination of the human female lead and Susan.

I heard somewhere that this movie failed in part because the average viewer who just looks at this can’t tell that it is stop motion. Like, it is such good stop motion that it looks cg to a degree

I love stop motion but I'll be honest, I was interested in finishing this movie but having the protagonist continue to flirt with his deceased friend's widow kind of put me off halfway through.

this movie was SOO GOOD. one of those movies u think about a few days after

I have watched this movie, and i barely remember anything from it. The most stand-out thing about this movie is the character models.

The problem with stop motion getting so smooth is that it doesn't remind us of stop motion anymore so we don't realize or think about how impressive it's meant to be

I do it at home also I’ve watched this film and all of us are really good and this is probably not his best of the films they made but I like it. Keep up the good work.

Coraline and kubo are my favorite

Although Laika makes good animated films, they are not always available to see, none of the theatres in my area typically premieres them. I suspect most Laika films debut in artsy or indie cinemas, which are not my fancy, and sometimes are too pricey for admission, hence my limited experience with Laika films. The only Laika films I have seen are Coraline and Paranorman, and this is because they did premiere in my average cinema, nevertheless, Laika faces fierce competition from Disney, Pixar, Illumination and Dreamworks, who will mostly attract the most viewers, same goes with Cartoon Saloon, which has some amazing animated features too. Box office returns alone does not define a good film, fiscally successful films such as Minions had low ratings, so I say to fans of Laika animated films, be grateful such films were made, and hopefully Laika will continue to make good films in the future.

How come no one's talking about Boxtrolls, its my favorite film of theirs 😁

@RustShyRabbit.

Ай бұрын

Ikr, Boxtrolls was amazing!

The movie that made too little impact is really what this movie is. I saw this movie in theaters alone because i love Liaka's films. Besides me and one other person the room was completely empty. And i don't remember anything beyond surface level things, except for Susan's arch. That was the only part of the movie that left an impact and i think that's part of the reason so few people care about this film. The film is gorgeous but i don't like any of the other characters besides Susan, and even Susan was a bit annoying to watch. I don't hate the film but i just don't have any desire to watch it again :

I loved the animation and saw it around when it came out, but the reason I didn't like it was cause at the time I kept seeing ads for other new movies where the main premise was big foot and it just wore me down personally

Is Laika movies still gonna be in theatres or on streaming forever from now on like Aardman did

I fucking loved this movie

It could’ve been way better in my opinion. Not one of their best but still unique and original non the less

I liked the film despite it flopping

I recently watched this and enjoyed it. It probably didnt sell well because it didn't really have a marketable mascot

They have that sponsorship with Nike because the son of the head of Nike uses Laika as pretty much his Brewsters Millions. Laika is not meant to make profit, it's literally just there to make films that can be sold off in liscencing deals in case his main business endeavour falls through. All the while, Laika's crew essentially have a blank cheque that they can do literally anything they want with. Which is why they just keep doing these weird and wonderful movies. Stop calling them Underdogs. I'm not sure how "Being the pet project of one of the largest clothing manufacturers on the planet" can be considered Underdog.

I mean when your competition is Avengers End Game, this movie had little to no chance to make an impact. Maybe if it came out before and after Avengers was no longer in theaters than it could have been successful.

I wonder when Laika will release their next movie.🤔 Come one, Laika! We miss you!

@tateharrisnerdboi4281

Ай бұрын

Laika are realising their next movie in 2025

@silashurd3597

Ай бұрын

@@tateharrisnerdboi4281oh cool! I hope it goes back to that dark nature lot of their movies have been known for. Y’know, like Coraline, Paranorman and Kubo. But we’ll have to see

@tateharrisnerdboi4281

Ай бұрын

@@silashurd3597 the movie is based on a novel called wild wood wich is a very good book i highly recommended reading it i hope they make a good adaptation

You NEED to watch kubo and the two strings. The story is amazing and heart breaking, and its one of the most beutiful movies i have ever seen. The set pieces, animation, and art direction is all superb.

I think my favorite part is when the missing link names himself Susan, I believe. And the main character stares at him like o_o ok?

Yeah I remember this movie but barely, but 100% watch kubo and the 2 strings, it’s amazing and the behind the scenes for certain scenes is so cool!

MIssing Link had the best ending, I'm glad it's a hidden gem

This was also because they made a new one time distribution pact with Annapurna Pictures (for the US release) and Lionsgate UK (through AGC Studios) among others.

Laika needs to hire Henry Selick to make a movie again

@viddork

Ай бұрын

Just read (on Wiki) that he's interested in coming back to make an adaptation of another Neil Gaiman book, _The Ocean at the End of the Lane._

I wouldn't underestimate the fact that a lot of the movie is tied up in one singular pun that's not translatable in all languages.

Hi just wanted to mention I believe Nike always has collabs with Laika and the reason a loss for them is not going to shut down their animation studio is because one of the Chairmen of Nike (Phil Knight?) is the father of Travis, the CEO of Laika studios.

I remember watching this for the first time years ago and I still love it :>

Dude I love this movie. The stop-motion animation is really good

Kupo and the 2 strings is by far my favorite laika movie so far. If you've not seen it: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was great action-adventure. They made so much good action scenes with PUPPETS, and you felt every gunshot and every punch they did, you felt IMPACT. Too bad they promoted it like quirky british comedy about yeti in suit, while it was such different film. I still think it's so much better than borefest called Kubo.

I remember going to a test screening of this! Not a bad film.

Love this movie! Wish it had more of a chance…

It was a great movie, forgot half of it. but itwas great

I love stop motion and I hope it doesn't die out

I love Laila! ❤ I’ve enjoyed all of their movies.

It's a fine movie but I really do think it is trying to be way too broad appeal, but having an issue of being boring due to having so much happening without a lead up there.

In September, please do an anniversary video for Zack Snyder's first and still as of right now only animated movie "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole".

TIMOTHY OLYPHANT MENTIONED RRRRAGGHHH 💥💥💥💥

Either paranorman, or PIRATES next! Love that movie

It's definitely the film from Laika's that left the least impression on me. Kubo is /gorgeous/ to watch and I recommend it for that at the very least. The other two surprised me, I didn't expect to enjoy them as much as I did. I hope the best for Laika.

Really enjoyed it, there's so much worse than this that was pushed harder

Best Laika Movie, Change my Mind

It’s one of the first stop motion animation movies I ever watched and I enjoyed it back then but I need to watch it again to see if it’s as good as I remember

Not first and proud 🔥🔥🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅

I couldn't escape ads for this, but when it came out i just stopped caring

I stumbled over it by chance on Netflix, and Hugh Jackman was definitely an eye and ear-catcher.

@boop004

Ай бұрын

he was a good casting call :) Same with the woman.

I honestly liked this movie but not gonna lie... I completely forgot it existed.

Boxtrolls. I love that one.

I love LAIKA movies yet I haven't heard of this...

Kubo is the best one. Fight me

I've watched all of the Laika films, and found Missing Link to be the least interesting. I wholeheartedly recommend Paranorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings. I think Kubo is the one I recommend most.

Imagine Laika doing a Peter Jacksonian adaptation of Miyazaki’s Nausicaä or one on the Titanic.

Never herd of this movie

I remember wanting to see this when I saw the trailer years ago but I never sae it.

This guy is just great