TRAILER: Laika Reveals First Look At ‘Missing Link’

Laika has released the trailer for its fifth feature, Missing Link.

Watch it below:

The official studio synopsis:

Meet Mr. Link: 8 feet tall, 630 lbs, and covered in fur, but don’t let his appearance fool you… he is funny, sweet, and adorably literal, making him the world’s most lovable legend. Tired of living a solitary life in the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Link recruits fearless explorer Sir Lionel Frost to guide him on a journey to find his long-lost relatives in the fabled valley of Shangri-La. Along with adventurer Adelina Fortnight, our fearless trio of explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril as they travel to the far reaches of the world to help their new friend.

Uniquely, this is the first of Laika’s five films that doesn’t star a child, instead focusing on adult characters. But no different from the studio’s earlier films, it looks visually stunning and technically impeccable. It’s become a common refrain to describe each new Laika production as its most ambitious, and Missing Link doesn’t appear to buck the trend.

The way that Laika combines stop-motion craftsmanship with digital technology continues to be unique within the industry. While stop-motion purists sometimes gripe that the studio’s work eliminates the handmade touch that is central to the technique’s charm, the type of experimentation that Laika does also keeps the craft fresh and forward-looking. Few studios have added so much to the possibilities of stop-motion filmmaking in so short a time as Laika has done over the past decade, and for that, they deserve a ton of credit.

Missing Link is written and directed by Chris Butler, who also wrote and co-directed the studio’s earlier film, Paranorman. Arianne Sutner and Knight are producing.

In addition to Jackman, Saldana and Galifianakis, the voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, and Amrita Acharia.

Missing Link opens April 12, 2019 through Annapurna Pictures.