Missing Link (2019) directed by Chris Butler

Firstly - WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE MOVIE GOING PUBLIC?
Budget 100 Million $
Box Office 24.7 Million $

Laika is one of the most innovative and high quality animation studios out there. They have not yet fallen into the sequel trap or remaking old ideas that other studios have these days. Original stories are hard to come by, animated films with original stories even harder. I have seem all their films to date and they are all beautiful, intelligent and well worth watching, buying and throwing your support behind.

Rant over. For now.

A hunter of mythical beasts, Sir Lionel Frost has not had much luck convincing the "Society of Great Men" to accept him into their club. Not because he isn't finding what is looking for, but more because he keeps messing up on the bringing back proof part. His latest subject is the Sasquatch - who has sent him a letter asking him to help him find his "cousins" the abominable snowmen in the Himalayas. This sets off the leader of the club who absolutely rejects any suggestion that evolution is a thing and makes a bet, one he is sure Frost will loose, of allowing entrance to the club on proof the creature exists. When he is told it does... he does everything in his power, including trying to kill Frost to make sure the news never gets out.

The characters, the animation and story are charming. The sasquatch is really funny, adorable and relatable. The set pieces are amazing, like in all Laika films, beautiful executed and they bring you into the world created. The romantic interest turns out to be less interested in romance than in having her own adventures and the creature brings out a side of Frost he never knew he had. The villains are pretty nasty, one is a crazy killer killer and the main one will stop at nothing to keep his worldview intact.  Well children will like parts of this, it's squarely aimed at teenagers and adults I would say.

This is not a perfect film to be sure but it's amazing, fun and wonderful and certainly worthy of your attention and support. If we want to get original films and not cookie cutter remakes, supporting this sort of movie is essential simply because it's a good movie, if for nothing else,.

The Little Prince (2015) directed by Mark Osborne

The many representations of the Little Prince

A few have taken up the challenge to adapt Antoine De Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince over the years with varying degrees of success. It has been everything from a musical to a TV show. In 2015 Mark Osborne took on the story in a novel way that is very much worth watching even if it's not entirely successful in every aspect. 

This film is not about telling the story in the book, it is the story of a young girl with an overly driven mother who learns and is inspired by the prince's story through her eccentric neighbour who has written up and illustrated his experiences with the title character. Her mother does not approve, of course, and throws the pages of the story and the toy fox the old man has given her in the trash. When the man is hospitalized, the young girl goes on an adventure to find the little prince so he can be reunited with his old friend. 

This is an animated film, mostly CGI for the main storyline but also in stop motion to represent scenes taken directly from the book. Both work, but the stop motion, done with paper puppets is beyond exceptional. In fact, it might be too good as it overshadows the "real world" to the point I wanted to only see the original story from start to end and lost interest in the little girl’s part of the film. I also found the part where she searches for the little price to be a distraction, well done and as amusing as it was. There is just no competing with  Saint-Exupéry’s children’s book and I felt the lessons of his story got forgotten and lost by the end of the movie. I will not spoil it completely as this is still something really worth seeing, but the script leads up to a very real emotional moment which it throws away for something more family friendly and happy. The mother also has a change of heart about the old neighbour, but its hard to know why except that it was important to put her and daughter in the same page before the end titles rolled. It was nice they didn’t make the mother into a monster, you do feel she want the best for her little girl but has lost touch with what makes childhood magical to many. 

In both the stop motion and CGI worlds, the fox shines as easily the most endearing character. It hard to imagine a more charming and lovable creature and the CGI version steal every scene its in. I WANT ONE! 

So, despite some areas I have issues with, The Little Prince has far too many positives to do anything but recommend seeing it. The stop motion and fox alone make it a must see and it is the sort of project we need more of. It takes risks with the source material and animation techniques and promotes a book everyone should read - in my opinion. I have read it in German, English and French, in fact. So while I would have preferred to see a faithful animated adaption, this was by no means a disappointing way to tell the tale. 

The Mascot

Classic animation short by Wladyslaw Starewicz.

Street of Crocodiles

I hope you enjoy this animated short by Brothers Quay, uploaded to YouTube in two parts by jonbeinart.