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Ranking Laika Films

Laika is an animation studio that produces stop-motion animated features.  Thus, they are, along with Aardman, a highly valuable part of the animation industry today, and a precious studio that is a rare producer of exclusively stop-motion content. Unfortunately, they continue to suffer when it comes box office and mainstream appeal, but for cinema and animation enthusiasts, they offer valuable gems of the medium. Here is my ranking of all Laika films released so far.

5. The Boxtrolls

The Boxtrolls is undoubtedly the weakest Laika movie, at least so far it certainly is the worst, and thus it gets this last spot. The animation per usual is stupendous, especially the wonderful character designs. The villain is also delightfully cartoony and fun. It’s the type of old-fashioned children’s entertainment that is great for, well, kids. However, it lacks the mature themes of other Laika features and the overall story and also the voice acting aren’t the greatest. But even as the weakest Laika movie, it’s so damn sweet and charming that it’s solid overall.

4. Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings has expectedly gorgeous stop-motion animation, good mythology, very interesting twist in the third act, it works great as an adventure film and most of its plot points are very good, but it isn’t that great as a sum of its parts, the tone is way too comedic and not fitting in with the plot and I just didn’t feel anything mainly because I didn’t connect with the characters and because I found the voice acting to be not that great. It’s by far the most overrated Laika film in my opinion.

3. ParaNorman

Though definitely tonally messy throughout, ParaNorman is still such a good early movie for the studio with a particularly interesting gay twist with the first ever openly gay character in a mainstream animated movie. It features a very moving, psychologically mature third act. It’s also a pretty funny, enjoyable film through and through. It makes zombies sufferable for once, but again it never decides whether it wants to be a teenage comedy or a zombie horror flick. It actually succeeds at both of these, but the tone remains problematic.

2. Missing Link

Missing Link is the kind of adventurous, spirited movie that I simply adore. It’s old-fashioned in that regard as it reminded me of the 19^th century adventure novels. It’s a film about evolution, which is one of my favorite subjects, so of course I was going to love it. It’s definitely leisurely paced and not for everyone, but I did like all of its characters, the animation is again stupendous, the various locations are beautifully utilized and the film is very endearing throughout. It’s the most underrated Laika movie for sure.

1. Coraline

Coraline features impressive world building as it instantly feels lived in and rich. The animation is not only excellent, but actually artistic in some quite impressive sequences. It’s a meticulously detailed film that offers some terrific messages for children. Its characters are also quite memorable as is the film’s score. But the reason why it remains Laika’s greatest achievement and one of the best animations of its period lies in its scariness factor. Yes, this is the creepiest animated horror film ever created as it can be genuinely scary in a couple of sequences. And simply its plot is incredibly original and creative.