Missing Link (Blu-ray) (2019)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Featurette Interviews-Cast
Rating
Year Of Production	2019
Running Time	94:15
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Laika Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    As my children are getting older, I have been seeing less children's animated films of late. This one, Missing Link came through for review from Roadshow so I decided to give it a spin. Artistically this is a marvelous production being a seamless mix of stop-motion and computer generated animation which looks fantastic on-screen. Unfortunately the story and writing although decent do not offer enough to take this film into the pantheon of great animated films. It is fun, entertaining, charming and cute but does not have the emotional resonance of the greatest films in the genre.

    Sir Lionel Frost (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is a British adventurer in the grand age of adventure (late 1800s, I assume) who is quite self-involved and desperate to gain admittance to a stuffy adventurer's club led by the odious and devious Sir Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry). Piggot-Dunceby sees Frost as an upstart who will never really be a successful adventurer. The film kicks off with possibly its best sequence of Frost and his offsider, Lemuel Lint (David Walliams) trying to get photographic evidence of the Loch Ness Monster. They fail to provide evidence therefore invoking even more derision from Piggot-Dunceby. Soon, however, Sir Lionel receives an intriguing letter telling him how he can find the last surviving Sasquatch in the USA. He quickly finds the sasquatch as the instructions lead him straight there. He dubs the sasquatch Mr Link, who he soon discovers wrote the letter himself and has learnt to read and write. Mr Link (Zach Galifianakis) offers Sir Lionel a deal, he gets proof that he has discovered the last sasquatch but in return he must help Mr Link get to the Himalayas to live with his only surviving relatives, the Yetis. When Piggot-Dunceby finds out what is going on he sends a hired killer, Willard Stenk to kill Sir Lionel. Meanwhile in order to find the Yetis, Sir Lionel realises he needs a map made by an old friend which is now in the possession of his widow, Adelina (Zoe Saldana) with whom Sir Lionel had a brief fling. Through a variety of misadventures, Sir Lionel, Mr Link and Adelina end up travelling together to the Himalayas, in search of the lost city of Shangri-la. Will any of them get what they really want or even what they think they want?

    As I mentioned above this film is cute and fun to watch with Zach Galifianakis as Mr Link the highlight of the voice cast. Emma Thompson is also a highlight in her role toward the end of the film. The expressions on the faces of the clay stop-motion characters are quite amazing as are the intricate real sets built for the animation. Over 100 sets were built by hand for this production and you can certainly see the work and time that goes into these productions. This is then combined with some marvelous CGI with water and snow looking quite amazing. On the basis of this wonderful artistry it is a shame that the film only took $25 million at the global box office which I am sure means it lost quite a lot of money considering the 5 year production timeline. One challenge I had with the film was that the story jumps quite quickly from thing to thing and feels rushed at 90 minutes including credits. I realise it is a children's film but it makes the story seem a little choppy and perhaps explains the lack of emotional resonance as you don't really get time to fully understand the characters.

    This is a film that is worth seeing for the artistry alone but it will not grace anyone's list of the greatest animated films of all time, unfortunately.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 1080p. The film was shot digitally and looks great, with excellent colour and loads of detail (for a Blu-ray). There are no issues to report and some items of CGI really popped like the water or snow.

    There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1 and a descriptive audio track in DTS HD-MA 2.0. From the opening sequence the sound is surprisingly good considering it is only a standard lossless track (despite being available in Atmos in the cinemas and on the US Blu-ray release). The opening sequence shows good bass and some great surround effects which continue at various times during the film. There is good dynamic range and the dialogue is always clear and easy to understand.

    Overall, its just a shame that we miss out on the Atmos track.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu is still and silent.

The Magic of Laika (2:44)

    A very short featurette on the animation approach and style of the studio, Laika. This would have been really interesting if it had been significantly longer.

Mr Link (1:40)

Sir Lionel Frost (0:58)

Adelina Fortnight (1:43)

Interview - Zach Galiafinakis (4:58)

    The US release of this film includes the Dolby Atmos track, plus a commentary by the director and a load of extra featurettes. Region A is the best available.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall