Missing Link

Timothy Olyphant

Willard Stenk (voice)

After a perilous encounter with "Nessie" and - of course - a consequently broken camera, intrepid explorer "Sir Lionel" encounters a rather curious orange bear deep in the forest. It turns out that "Lint" is actually quite a friendly fellow who dreams of finding his distant cousin, the yeti, in the fabled land of "Shangri-La". Now here is a challenge worthy of our adventurer, so he decides to take up the task. First things first, though: he must change the name of his travelling companion to attract less suspicion. Is "Link" better? Well it fits into the storyline better! Their odds also start to look a bit better when they manage to recruit the services of the resourceful "Adelina" and off they set. No Himalayas, no - they think his long cousin might actually exist in the USA, but having stayed hidden for so long what chance is there that this trio of travellers can succeed? Whilst this isn't the best in terms of characterisation, indeed those are distinctly superficial, it is quite an enjoyable, end-to-end, adventure film that has a few funny moments as it takes it's predicable trip into the snowy wastes. There are some shades of "Indiana Jones" and the tiniest hints of ecological warnings peppered throughout and I have to say, I did think the expressive faces worked engagingly well. As a story, it's hardly innovative, no - but it's quickly paced with a dastardly baddie and is more about the fun of their frosty exploits than anything more deep and meaningful. I quite liked it for that, and though I probably won't bother to watch it again anytime soon, I found it quite a refreshing animation that also benefits from being devoid of that other, not so elusive monster, the power ballad.