'Missing Link' Clips Highlight More Enchanting Stop-Motion Magic From Laika

Laika movies may not break the box office, but they sure are lovely to look at. The stop-motion studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings are back with Missing Link, and based on the series of clips below, it looks like another delightful entry in the Laika cannon.

In Missing Link, "myths and monsters investigator, Sir Lionel Frost sets off on an adventure to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature—Mr. Link. Frost, who's also looking to gain acceptance by his small-minded explorer peers, is accompanied on his journey by Adelina Fortnight, a free-spirited, independent adventurer who just so happens to possess the only known map to their secret destination of trying to find Link." Featuring the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, David Walliams, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, Amrita Acharia, and Zach Galifianakis, the film looks pretty darn charming. Don't believe me? Just watch these quirky clips, featuring chickens, human tossing, elephants, and potential drowning. There's something for everyone!

Our own Hoai-Tran Bui had a chance to visit the Missing Link set recently, and came back with plenty of promising details:

"Everything we've tried a new technology, we've essentially had to rip out the engine in our racecar and replace it with something else," director of rapid prototyping Brian Mclean told a group of visiting journalists at Laika's studio in Portland, Oregon. "And the reason why we do that is normally, if not always, [we're] driven by some creative demand."

Laika's upcoming Missing Link is no exception. The latest film from the animation studio behind visionary stop-motion films like Coraline, Box Trolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings is pushing the envelope toward a naturalistic style never before achieved in stop-motion animation. "Every shot is like a visual effect," producer Arianne Sutner said of the film's jaw-dropping realism. "We want to see our characters breathing." But it's more than just innovation on a microscopic scale — Missing Link is a globe-trotting adventure that has the most epic scale out of any Laika film yet.

Missing Link opens in theaters next week, April 12, 2019.