Missing Link

Rated: PGMissing Link

Directed by: Chris Butler.

Screenplay by: Chris Butler

Produced by: Arianne Sutner, p.g.a., Travis Knight, p.g.a.

Voices by: Hugh Jackman, David Walliams, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Zach Galifianakis, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Amrita Acharia, Ching Valdes-Aran, Emma Thompson.

Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) is a seeker of mythical beasts.  All he wants in life is to be accepted into the Optimates Club – a society where he feels he belongs, working alongside those who discover and shape the world.

But really, it’s the ‘world that shapes us,’ Sir Lionel discovers, going on to say, ‘Someone should write that down.’  Ha-ha, I laugh, while writing the quote in my trusty notebook.

This is an amusing tale, from a giant footprint to a man-sized shoeprint, Sir Frost’s quest takes him on a journey to find the one who made that giant footprint, making a wager with Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Stephen Fry) that he’ll prove the existence of the sasquatch (Zach Galifianakis), to find the missing link of the evolution of ape to man.

If Sir Frost wins the wager and can prove the existence of the sasquatch, Lord Piggot-Dunceby agrees to apologise for his disbelief and Sir Frost would finally be accepted into the club of Most Notable Men.

The film is made using stop-animation, explained in the production notes as, ‘The manipulation of physical objects in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they appear to exhibit independent motion when played back in sequence. In practice, the animator moves the object, takes a picture, moves the object, takes a picture, and so on.’

The characters, puppets made from 3D printers and foam and any number of techniques, are exaggerated to give the puppets’ faces personality like the hooked nose of villain, Stenk (Timothy Olyphant) hired to take Sir Frost out of the exploring game and the apelike countenance of Mr Link used to off-set the human characteristics of being able to write and speak English.

The LAIKA animators photographed the stop-motion puppets 24 frames per second, turning the inanimate into characters with emotion – the exasperation of side-kick Mr. Lemuel Lint (David Walliams) shown in the half-lidded blink of an eye before getting, ‘mauled by a lake-monster’; Nessie coaxed out of hiding by a blast of bagpipes.

The humour of the taking-everything-literally, Mr Link didn’t always hit the mark for me.  But as the film continued, the story and setting of the journey of Mr Link and Sir Frost, seeking others of the sasquatch kind – like the Yeti – evolved (ha-ha) with the addition of widow and once close acquaintance of Sir Frost, the fiery Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana).

On the journey to Tibet to find Mr. Link’s distant cousins (the Yetis) we get Mr. Link naming himself Susan and mimicking a chicken who cannot be acknowledged, tickling as a granny Tibetan gesticulates with the demented chook perched on her head: hilarious.

Being a family film, I took my nephew along to enjoy together and to see if he liked the film – my nephew claiming the film deserved a 4.1/5.

Watching as an adult, I found plenty of humour to enjoy as well, thinking more 3.5, so I’m a splitting the difference and giving Missing Link, 3.7/5.

Bumblebee

Rated: MBumblebee

Directed by: Travis Knight

Screenplay by: Christina Hodson

Story by: Christina Hodson

Produced by: Michael Bay, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Justin Theroux, Dylan O’Brian, Angela Bassett, Peter Cullen, Pamela Adlon, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Jason Drucker, Stephen Schneider.

A spin-off from the Transformers series (1-5 directed by Michael Bay, here as producer), Bumblebee introduces new director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson.  And the franchise just keeps getting better.

Bumblebee opens on the war raging on Cybertron.

With the Decepticons on the brink of annihilating the Autobot resistance, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) sends B-127 (Dylan O’Brian) to Earth in the hope to rebuild and fight again.

On Earth, circa 1987 (this is a prequel to the original Transformers (2007)), Charlie’s (Hailee Steinfeld) about to turn eighteen.  She spends her days listening to music (The Smiths, of course) and fixing an old Corvette in memory of her deceased Dad.  It’s zits (Hailee Steinfeld has that teen-angst down to an art), her annoying martial-arts yellow-belt younger brother, Otis (Jason Drucker) and humiliation while working at the fair in what looks like a clown costume while serving divas who have number plates that read: UWish.

It’s painful to the extent new stepdad, Ron (Stephen Schneider) decides it’s a good idea to give Charlie a book about the magic of smiling… For her birthday.

Charlie doesn’t notice Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr) trying to get her attention.  What Charlie does notice is a yellow VW Bug, just asking for some love, AKA Bumblebee.

With the army chasing an alien they don’t understand and the Decepticons fighting to extinguish the last of the resistance, human and transformer fight together while forming an unlikely friendship.

Even in the previous instalments of Transformers Bumblebee was a favourite.  And writer Christina Hodson has built on a winning character, explaining quirks like his lost voice and how Charlie gives it back to him.

And the expression given to this Autobot, with pupils that dilate to show emotion, the kicking of legs while being examined like a kid who trusts a carer, all add to that adorable, bull-in-a-china-shop appeal.

We get funny and adorable from all the characters, really.  Even the annoying younger brother gets his time to shine, all mixed with explosive action and sudden flash forwards of focus to keep up the pace.

The writing here is really entertaining; the timing of jokes just right so even a cheesy moment is backed-up with a laugh.

And director Travis Knight adds detail after detail to get the most out of the action and drama of the story, adding layers like a reflection of lights a shadow of the Decepticons onto the army men with evil intentions – a transference instead of a transformance.

So, there’s more to the film if you’re looking for it.

Mostly, I was entertained by the antics of Bumblebee.

A lot of fun, Bumblebee was better than expected with good humour, explosive action and heart-warming moments that manages to humanise a mass of moving metal parts: like us, playing music makes a car feel better.  Loved it.

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