Filmsquatch
Two guys from Louisiana watch movies about Bigfoot and review them.
Filmsquatch
Filmsquatch - "Missing Link" (2019)
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On this episode of Filmsquatch, the boys dive into the 2019 animated Bigfoot adventure “Missing Link,” featuring the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, Zoe Saldaña, and more! 🦶🎬
When the lovable Mr. Link recruits explorer Sir Lionel Frost to help him find his long-lost relatives in the legendary valley of Shangri-La, the journey becomes a globe-trotting adventure full of laughs, heart, and discovery. Alongside adventurer Adelina Fortnight, this unlikely trio sets off on an unforgettable expedition.
What did Patrick & Kendall think of this animated Bigfoot tale? Tune in and find out! 🎙️👣
And the gunnery break down for you. Patrick and Kindle. And two days to get up after stuff and go hunt for a stuff and stuff. Let us get back and watch movies about it. Now, let's head over to the film squat screening room, where Patrick and Kendall are ready to discuss their latest film.
SPEAKER_01Hey ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Film Squatch, starring yours truly, Kendall Fontenneau. And with me as always is the mighty man of valor, Patrick Bennett. How are you doing today, Patrick? Good, man. Good. Man, today we're we're going down a little different path from our normal films. Uh, this is still a Bigfoot movie, definitely. We are talking tonight about 2019's Missing Link.
SPEAKER_03Legend tells of a lost species, a link between man and beast. For centuries, he's lived in hiding, but at long last, he's reaching out and ready to be found.
SPEAKER_01Still there. Excuse me. Hi. You can speak. Yes, and um, I write as well.
SPEAKER_03My penmatch isn't great, but uh no opposable thumbs and fingers. You know, it's missing link. Ah! Wait, I don't get it. Up greater of a normal specter. 650 pounds. More like that, you know, 630 pounds. No, it's it's the hair that makes me look heavier, I think. It's it's a it's a little deceptive, it's pretty frustrating. Oh, a connection to our present. Oh, and a bridge to the future. Oh wait a second. I said oh, like I know what you were talking about, but I don't know. On the other side of the world. Oh, he's got it. I'll bring back to the greatest discovery of the century.
SPEAKER_02Um quick quick quicker, what you give for the kids of life.
SPEAKER_03I think it might be a little too heavy. No, give it all you got.
SPEAKER_01It's hard to know whose fault that was. Let's do it again. Which was uh a major motion picture. Uh it was a stop-motion animated film, and it starred Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifanakis, uh Emma Thompson, uh Boy Baldana, and uh Stephen Fry, just a ton of known actors. Um and it was released by I think it's called Leica, L-A-I-K-A. They also released Kubo and a bunch of other uh animated features. Uh this one was actually their most expensive one to make. It took them uh, it was a budget of a hundred million dollars, and it bombed. Um, and honestly, I don't know why it bombed. We'll get into that a little bit later. But uh for now, uh the plot was pretty simple. Uh, there was a uh a gentleman named Lionel, Sir Lionel Frost, who's played by Hugh Jackman. He's an adventurer, he goes looking for cryptids all over the world. Again, you say huge but no Hugh Jackman. He played Wolverine, yeah, yeah. Hugh uh, I'm sure, yeah, Hugh Jackman. Huge. I think our uh I think our our listeners and our viewers probably know him best as Wolverine from the X-Men films, but he was in a he's been in a ton of other movies, especially musicals, but yeah, he's done some musicals, but uh he plays Sir Lionel and he is looking for cryptids, specifically he's looking for the Lightness monster, and he finds it, but he brings back zero proof with him. And in a strange twist, uh a cryptid actually contacts him. Uh um Galatonakus is Mr. Link, who has a funny name later on. We'll talk about that later as well. But uh Mr. Link is a Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest who asks Sir Lionel Frost to help him find the last of his kind, which would be the Yeti up in the Himalayas, and that's pretty much the story. They're going on an adventure to uh to the Himalayas to find the Yeti, and of course, there's some villains in there trying to stop them from doing that, and they run into a bunch of different colorful characters along the way. Well, Patrick, what did you think about this film? Give me a general overview, and then we'll start breaking it down.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll tell you, I like the character of Sir Lionel Frost. Uh I thought uh just the the general adventureness of the whole film, I really enjoyed that. But uh I liked it had a lot of violence in it, you know. There was a lot of brawls and shootings, and there was even some deaths in uh the uh the film, which kind of surprised me. But uh yeah, um, it was different.
SPEAKER_01Yep, they uh to me this movie was it was a children's film, but there was quite a bit of adult things in it. Um, I was surprised by the amount of guns. Now, I'm not saying that as someone who's against guns, but in a movie made within the last decade, a children's film, uh, it seemed to feature a lot of guns. And I'm kind of surprised that it got past the censors. Uh just because people are so uptight these days about you know movies having guns in them. And uh yeah, there were a lot of guns. Uh there was, like you said, a lot of violence. There was there was a barroom brawl. There was uh there was a big old fight on an ice bridge, just all kinds of crazy stuff. And uh I enjoyed this one. Uh you want to jump into the voice acting? Um, I think they all did excellent jobs. I mean, these are professionals, these are professionals. Yeah, big names. Yeah, I was shocked at I was shocked at how well Zach Galifanakis pulled off the squatch. I wasn't expecting much out of him. Um I know him strictly as a comedic actor. And uh when I saw that he was gonna be Link in this film, Mr. Link, I was like, uh I just can't don't know if I can buy him as a Bigfoot. But he he worked, he he did a great job. Um huge actman.
SPEAKER_02He did he did a great job too. Yeah, but uh, okay, I can't think of her name. I always call her Zoe Salamander. What's that girl's name? Zoe Zoe Salvana. Salmana Salana. Uh yeah, I don't know what you're saying there, but I I always tell her Zoe Salamander. I don't know how you say her name, but uh, but yeah, she did a good job too. But it has some big names. I think uh because of that, it had you know such a big budget because they had to pay all those top A-list actors, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. And uh, I mean it definitely shows in the voice acting. Uh, I thought everyone did a great job. Uh no one, I mean, Zoe Saldana, I thought at times was a little bit stiff in her vocal delivery, but maybe that's just me. Um I've never I've never been a big fan of Zoe Saldana. Um she's okay, I I like her, but I I I've never thought that she was a great actress. She seems like a really cool person. I've seen interviews with her in person, and she seems awesome, but uh I didn't care for her work in Avatar. I'll tell you what, her vocal work.
SPEAKER_02I've I've I've enjoyed her like almost every role she's been in, but I'll tell you what, my favorite roles that she's done are those uh phone commercials. I think she nails those. Yeah, if you've seen them, but yeah, the team overcome role of hers is just those phone, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So she's funny in there. She is hilarious in those in those commercials, and like I said, she's a good actress. I just her vocal work, uh, especially in Avatar and in this movie to a lesser degree, it just seems to fall short of everybody else in the film. Um and that's not a knock on her, it's just she's not as good as everybody else. I mean, she did a good job, just not as good as everyone else. And she had some heavy hitters that she was going up against, like Stephen Fry and uh Emma Thompson and Hugh Jackman. So uh, yeah, that was really the only complaint I have as far as voice acting goes. Um, as far as cinematography, I mean it took them five years to make this movie. It's stop motion animation, it looks computer animated. Um, the the motion itself is almost flawless. Uh, it reminds me a little bit of the Wallace and Gromit series, that style and like chicken run, that style of of stop motion animation to a degree. Uh, but I really liked it. The the uh scenes, especially in the Himalayas and in the Pacific Northwest, I thought they were they they were beautiful. The the colors were great. I thought they did a great job with the animation. Um, what'd you think about the animation, Patrick?
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, it it was done well, shot well. I've I've always been a big fan of uh stop motion, and um, but I just didn't like this style of models they use, the design of them. I I just didn't care for the you know the skinny legs and the big bodies and the I don't know, and and yeah, I didn't like the Bigfoot look at all. I mean he had like a pancake head and a fig Newton guy body, you know, and the little tiny bird legs. I I just didn't like that. I didn't care for the the the design at all of any of the characters.
SPEAKER_01I I think of the the Sasquatch and the Yeti, I think the Yeti definitely looked more Sasquatch-like than Mr. Link. Um I I like their design better than his. I agree with you, especially his nose. I wasn't a big fan of Mr. Link's nose at all. Uh it bugged me for some reason. But yeah, I agree with you on the character design. They uh some of the characters have some odd look to him. It was almost I mean, if if if you remember on uh The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Mayor. Oh yeah, a lot of characters were built in that same kind of fashion. Um and from there, I mean the music. The music was good. Um the whole the whole film to me had had a it had a uh a feel almost like a cliffhanger or an adventure type of movie. Yeah, definitely had that adventure. Not quite Indiana Jones, yeah, not quite Indiana Jones, but close. Uh I I and I love I mean you know this. We're both suckers for those kind of movies. And uh I thought this one had had that that feel to it. I think that's why I liked it quite a bit. Um let's see what else you want to talk about. We've talked about the creature design, we've talked about the music. Uh, or do you have anything to add up with about the music?
SPEAKER_02I mean, no, that's about it. I mean, it had a good soundtrack, good voice work from the actors. Uh I mean it was shot well. They did a good job with the uh the the animation, you know, the claymation or whatever it was, stop motion. But uh everything looked great. It's just uh I just didn't care for the style of it. That's the only thing that bugged me that I really couldn't get into it because I was so put off by the style, it just looked weird to me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01This movie was nominated for a ton of awards, uh, even though it was a bomb uh at the movies, uh it received an uh best animated feature nomination from the Academy Awards. And it got a Golden Globe, the Critics Choice Awards. Yeah, it won the Golden Globe for uh best animated feature. And then it also with the visual effects society, it was nominated for four different categories and it won two out of those four. And uh I mean I I completely agree with it getting the awards that it received. It definitely just turned from five. I thought that they did a great job with it. Um overall, I I thought it was a really cool movie. Uh the we we haven't mentioned the poster. Uh what did you think of the poster for this film?
SPEAKER_02I mean, the only one I saw was just uh the ugly Bigfoot's head, man. It looked stupid to me. I did not like that poster.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's one uh there's one that I saw that has um it's got Mr. Link with his hat coming off. He's holding his hat up because uh, for those of you who've never seen this film, he wears clothes once they get him out of the Pacific Northwest, he wears clothes that smuggle himself to to uh not be so uh obviously, you know, not to stick out or anything. But uh it's got uh the Himalayas in the background, and in the foreground, you've got the ship they took across uh from the United States back to Europe. They've got Nessie, they've got uh Mr. Frost, and then they have uh Zoe Saldana's character, um Adelina Fortnite. And uh it's it's a pretty cool poster, but yeah, I know what you're talking about. The one where it's just his head. I think that's on the um one of the DVD releases. Uh that that company, Dyka Lica, they uh released a series of DVDs and possibly Blu-rays, but for sure DVDs. It's like just the main character on the front of the box with like a blue background. They all they were all uniform. It was a series of them that they released. And yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, it's just kind of kind of a bland thing, but uh the the poster that I saw, I I really liked it. I thought it was pretty cool. Um if you've seen the film, then you know that the poster pretty much gives gives away the whole story. It it shows you every major high point, the Loch Ness monster interaction traveling across the United States and the Himalayas. Um yeah, I I really enjoyed this one. Um is there anything else you want to add about this film?
SPEAKER_02I think that pretty much uh covers it. I mean, it's a simple, simple movie, really. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The main thing I want to bring up is it was good, but I just felt like it was more of an adult film than a children's film. I I don't know if as a child I would watch this movie more than once or twice. Unless I was a huge Bigfoot fan. You know, if I was just some you know general kid looking at the film, I'd watch it, oh yeah, that's kind of cool, and then I'd be done with it. Um I think I'm trying to put myself back in like six-year-old Kendall's mind. And uh I would have probably thought it was really cool, but if I was the average kid, I think I'd watch it maybe once or twice and not really care to see it anymore. Um, how about you, Patrick?
SPEAKER_02Oh man, I just uh I really I I wouldn't say I'm divided on this, but I just didn't really like it. I just I just can't uh and and like uh you know I've I've talked to you before about how we met people and one guy in particular, an adult man, said this is his favorite Bigfoot movie of all time, you know. And hey, I mean some people are like that. They they they like this the style and everything, and and I'm not gonna knock it. I mean, it's just everybody's different, everybody has different taste, and uh this just wasn't my taste in the uh Bigfoot movie.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. Uh I think that's the majority based on the uh box office. I mean, it m it cost them a hundred million to make, and they only brought in like twenty-six million on this movie, you know, initial release. I'm sure that they can make a little bit more off of DVD and Blu-ray sales and streaming, but uh it's available on Tubi right now. It's it's available on a number of free streamers.
SPEAKER_02And it it just blows my mind that it took them five years. It's gonna take them a while to recoup five years to make this movie in that much money. I think the Dorfman, like you said, made this in you know, half a day for a budget of 20 bucks. Yeah. And it probably would have been better, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01I think you know, the majority of the the budget probably went to the voice actors. Um if they would have gone with a few uh lesser-known actors, voice actors, I think it would have probably helped the film uh money-wise, but it possibly could have affected the performances. I mean, there are some great voice actors out there who have never been seen on screen. Um and they for for whatever reason, when these major studios release movies, they almost always go with same actors now. I mean, you've got Chris Pratt playing uh Mario, nothing against Chris Pratt. I just I think there are other voice actors out there who strictly do voice work that could have done just as good of a job as he did. Um, but yeah, this film has got like I like I said, Zach Galfinakis, Emma Thompson, Timothy Oliphant. Uh never once in my entire life, and no no disrespect to Timothy Oliphant. I think he's a great actor, but never in my life have I thought, you know what? This animated film needs Timothy Oliphant voicing the villain. And like I said, no disrespect to Timothy Oliphant. I just think there are plenty of voice actors out there who deserve a shot at these jobs as well. Uh with these major studios. Yeah, that's just me though. So I guess with that said, Patrick, we're gonna go ahead. If you're ready, I'm ready to uh yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Chris, I want to hear what you're gonna uh what you rated this film.
SPEAKER_01All right. Okay. As all of you know, our films are based on a scale of one to ten Bigfoot tracks, with one being the worst Bigfoot film ever made, and ten being the greatest Bigfoot film they ever made, which in my opinion is the legend of August Creek. So, with that being said, uh, I'm gonna give my reasoning behind my my uh my rating before I give my actual rating. The acting was amazing. Um with the exception of Zoe Saldana, who was just a few notches below everybody else. Cinematography was great. Uh the character design overall, I wasn't I I I didn't dislike it as much as you did, Patrick, but as far as the Sasquatch is concerned, specifically, I didn't care for his look. Um, I loved the Yeti world whenever they they got to Shangri-La. I love that. Um and I I appreciated the fact that they had a lot of violence in this movie, even though it's a kid's film, it's got a lot of violence in it, especially for a kid's film in the uh you know in the the 2010s, uh, a lot of violence. But overall, the story was nothing special. Um it had high adventure, uh it had a bunch of exciting moments, but the plot was just kind of weak throughout. And because of that, I'm not gonna give it a an extremely high rating. I'm not gonna give it like a nine. I'm gonna sit comfortably with a seven rating on this film. So seven bigfoot tracks. It's a really good film, extremely well made, but the plot's weak. The character development is okay, and the design of the Sasquatch, I don't care. For. Um, and I do wish they would have gotten voice actors who aren't megastars to be in this, but that that's just me. So, yeah, seven out of ten Bigfoot tracks. I recommend it. I recommend it to people, even if you're not a kid. Uh, it's it's definitely worth checking out. Patrick, how about you?
SPEAKER_02Oh, geez, man. I'll tell you, Kendall, um, I didn't like this film. Uh, I mean, uh, it you could tell it was well made, like you were saying, it's got great music, great voice work. Uh, I mean, the style of the shooting of it and everything, you know, was fantastic. It was well made, but I just didn't care for the looks of any of the characters. I just don't like that style of uh animation. I don't like it. I mean, let me rephrase that. I love the style, I love claymation as animation, but I it stop motion. I I just didn't like how they designed these models, the looks of them. Uh just turned me off. And I didn't like, I mean, the story. I think if they would have not had an intellectual Bigfoot that was also a country bumpkin, it just I don't know, it just turned me off completely. I just thought it was dumb. And uh I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, I I give this a two as far as my rating. And uh I think that's a lot that's kind of rating it high for me. It's not one that I would probably ever watch again.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah, this is I think our first animated feature film, and probably one of the biggest divides between us on a movie as far as the rating goes.
SPEAKER_02Um, I think we've had several big divides, like one of them wasn't it called the big divide or something with the butterflies that you absolutely loved.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. But yeah, okay, so there you go, folks. Um we're split on this film. Uh we both like the animation or the the look of the movie. We thought the the the acting was was was was excellent. Didn't care Patrick didn't care for the character design, didn't like the story. But that's that's why we watch movies to because he likes stuff that I don't like and I like stuff that he doesn't like, and uh we're definitely split on this one.
SPEAKER_02But but I will say this if you have a kid, and I'm talking about a young kid, you know, very young, they would probably enjoy this, and I think that would be a good introduction of Bigfoot to them, you know, something fun, yeah. Absolutely bike and they'd giggle and stuff, you know, and they probably like it. But just as an adult watching this, I didn't I didn't care for it.
SPEAKER_01I think you you were probably offended by the Yeti when she called uh Link, Mr. Link, a redneck. I thought that was pretty good. Redneck is a country bumpkin, yeah, country pumpkin. And we didn't mention it, but uh he didn't have a name. And Sir Lima Frost told him to think of someone that had a major impact in his life and take their name, and he chose Susan. Uh, that's all we we we get. He was captivated by a lady named Susan, and he decided to be called Susan Link. So uh I thought that was kind of funny.
SPEAKER_02Uh and there was that Sasquatch named Sue. Uh I saw a Johnny Cash song coming about that.
SPEAKER_01So, with that being said, Patrick, if I wake up one morning and I'm all alone and I realize that I have no one in the world with me, and I call a British adventurer to help me find my family, and we're in the Himalayas, and we hear a strange noise behind us. What should we do?
SPEAKER_02You better watch your back because Susan's out there.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to another episode of Film Squatch. If you like the podcast, please leave us a five-star review and tell your friends about it. Make sure to like us on Facebook and join in on some of our interactive discussions. Remember, Bigfoot is out there. Watch your back.