Laika Made a Great Animated Film in 2019 That Everyone Forgot

Some animated films arrive quietly, get overlooked in the noise of bigger releases, and then slowly find their audience years later. Missing Link, the 2019 stop-motion feature from Laika Studios, is one of the most compelling examples of exactly that — a beautifully crafted, genuinely funny, and surprisingly moving film that deserves far more recognition than it received at the time of its release.

Six years on, it remains one of the most underrated animated movies of its era, and if you haven’t seen it, now is the time to fix that.

What Missing Link Actually Is — And Why It Got Lost

Missing Link is a stop-motion animated adventure film produced by Laika, the studio behind beloved titles like Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings. Released in April 2019, the film follows Sir Lionel Frost, a self-important Victorian-era explorer determined to prove the existence of legendary creatures, who travels to the Pacific Northwest and discovers Mr. Link — a giant, surprisingly articulate Sasquatch who is searching for his own place in the world.

The film has a sharp wit, a genuinely warm emotional core, and the kind of stunning visual craftsmanship that Laika has built its entire reputation on. And yet, despite winning the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, it largely disappeared from the cultural conversation almost immediately after its release.

Part of that is timing. Missing Link opened against strong competition, struggled at the box office, and never quite broke through to mainstream audiences the way Laika’s earlier films had. That commercial disappointment seemed to define how people talked about it — or rather, stopped talking about it.

The Case for Missing Link as a Modern Animated Classic

What makes Missing Link worth revisiting — and worth arguing for — is how much it gets right in ways that aren’t immediately obvious from a surface-level description.

The humor is genuinely clever. Sir Lionel Frost is a wonderfully flawed protagonist: vain, obsessive, and completely oblivious to his own shortcomings in ways that feel real rather than cartoonish. Mr. Link, voiced with warmth and deadpan precision, is one of the most endearing animated characters of recent years — someone who takes everything literally, asks honest questions that expose the absurdity of the world around him, and simply wants to belong somewhere.

Together, they form a buddy-comedy pairing that actually earns its emotional payoff, rather than just gesturing toward one in the final act. The friendship at the heart of the film feels genuinely developed.

Then there’s the animation itself. Laika’s stop-motion work on Missing Link is extraordinary — lush, detailed, and full of tactile texture that no CGI film can fully replicate. Every frame looks handmade because it is handmade, and that craftsmanship gives the film a warmth and personality that’s increasingly rare in mainstream animation.

Key Reasons Missing Link Deserves a Second Look

• Golden Globe winner: Missing Link won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, making it one of the few Laika films to receive major awards recognition.
• Laika’s distinctive stop-motion craft: The studio’s handmade animation style gives the film a visual richness and texture that sets it apart from the majority of modern animated releases.
• A genuinely funny script: The film’s humor works on multiple levels — accessible for younger audiences but sharp enough to genuinely entertain adults.
• Emotional depth beyond its premise: Beneath the adventure-comedy surface is a story about loneliness, belonging, and what it means to find your people.
• An underappreciated protagonist duo: Sir Lionel Frost and Mr. Link are a memorable pairing whose dynamic drives the film in ways that reward attentive viewing.

Why Laika’s Work Matters More Than People Realize

Laika occupies a genuinely unusual position in modern animation. While most major studios have shifted almost entirely to computer-generated imagery, Laika has continued to practice and perfect stop-motion — a painstaking, labor-intensive art form that produces results unlike anything else in the medium.

When Missing Link underperformed commercially, it raised real questions about whether audiences were still willing to seek out stop-motion animation in an era dominated by the visual spectacle of CGI blockbusters. That question still hasn’t been fully answered. But it shouldn’t change the film’s legacy or its quality.

The films that get remembered as classics often aren’t the ones that dominated the box office in their opening weekend. They’re the ones that people return to, share with others, and find new things in on repeat viewings. Missing Link has all the ingredients for exactly that kind of long-tail appreciation.

Where the Film Stands Six Years Later

The passage of time has a way of recalibrating how we see things. Films that felt like disappointments on release sometimes turn out to be exactly the kind of patient, carefully made work that holds up when louder, flashier movies have faded from memory.

Missing Link is that kind of film. Its humor hasn’t dated. Its animation remains stunning. Its story — about an outsider searching for connection in a world that wasn’t built for him — feels, if anything, more resonant now than it did in 2019.

If you wrote it off after hearing about its box office performance, or simply never got around to watching it, the argument here is simple: give it a chance. It earns it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Missing Link?
Missing Link is a 2019 stop-motion animated adventure film produced by Laika Studios, following a Victorian explorer and a Sasquatch on a journey to find the creature’s distant relatives.

Did Missing Link win any awards?
Yes — Missing Link won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, which remains one of the most significant awards recognitions in Laika’s history.

Who made Missing Link?
The film was produced by Laika, the stop-motion animation studio also responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings.

Why did Missing Link underperform at the box office?
The film faced strong competition upon release in April 2019 and never broke through to mainstream audiences the way Laika’s earlier titles had, despite critical praise.

Is Missing Link worth watching today?
Based on its craftsmanship, humor, emotional depth, and award recognition, Missing Link is widely regarded as a significantly underrated film that holds up strongly on viewing.

How does Missing Link compare to other Laika films?
It shares Laika’s signature stop-motion artistry and emotional storytelling with films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, though it has received less ongoing cultural attention than those titles.