'Missing Link' Trailer: Laika's Newest Movie Is An Enchanting Stop-Motion Fantasy

Laika, the studio behind Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, has released the Missing Link trailer for its highly anticipated fifth feature film. The acclaimed animation studio adds its trademark dark whimsy to the stop-motion animated fantasy following an investigator of myths and monsters.

Written and directed by Chris Butler (ParaNorman), Missing Link stars Hugh Jackman as a bullish Sir Lionel Frost, a little-believed mythical investigator who seeks to prove his peers wrong by finding the one legendary creature that has never been found: The Missing Link. Jackman is joined in the magical fantasy-adventure by a star-studded voice cast including  Zoe Saldana, and Zach Galifianakis, with Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.

/Film got a peek at the Missing Link set this summer, of a "gorgeous blue-tinted redwood forest with dozens of pieces of plant life (all able to be bent and manipulated for animation) surrounding a giant redwood tree." It seems like Laika's reputation for attention to detail and impressive stop-motion technology will be sustained by Missing Link, the studio's first feature film since 2016's acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings.

Here is the official synopsis for Missing Link:

The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost (voiced by Hugh Jackman) considers himself to be the world's foremost investigator of myths and monsters. The trouble is none of his small-minded high-society peers seems to recognize this. Sir Lionel's last chance for acceptance by the adventuring; elite rests on traveling to America's Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature. A living remnant of Man's primitive ancestry. The Missing Link.

Zach Galifianakis is Mr. Link: the slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast upon whom Sir Lionel's dreams depend. As species go, he's as endangered as they get; he's the last of his kind, and he's lonely. Proposing a daring quest to seek out his rumored distant relatives, he enlists Sir Lionel's help in an odyssey around the world to find the fabled valley of Shangri-La.

Together with Adelina Fortnight (voiced by Zoe Saldana), an independent and resourceful adventurer who possesses the only known map to the group's secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous rollercoaster of a ride. Along the way, our fearless explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril, stalked at every turn by dastardly villains seeking to thwart their mission. Through it all, Mr. Link's disarming charm and good-humored conviction provide the emotional and comedic foundation of this fun-filled family film.

Missing Link opens in theaters on April 19, 2019.