Stop-motion animation is one of those mediums that can pull anything from sci-fi to fantasy. Studios like Laika creating unique films using this technology are loved by millions for the hard work they put into the technical and the creative aspects of their creations.
That being said, not everything always goes smoothly with stop-motion animation and there have been mistakes made in the past. Here are Laika Animated Movies, Ranked According To IMDb.
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) - 6.3
Though Laika does not have very many animated feature films in its filmography, they did work on some live-action movies that had stop-motion animation sequences in them. One such is 2011's A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, which is actually much better than the title suggests.
This stoner comedy is the third installment in the Harold & Kumar series with John Cho and Kal Penn playing the main characters. The premise is quite simple: Kumar (played by Kal Penn) accidentally destroys the Christmas tree, so Harold (played by John Cho) and Kumar embark on a journey to find a new one.
King of California (2007) - 6.6
Another live-action movie that Laika created a stop-motion animation sequence for is 2007's King of California starring Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood in its lead roles. The story follows a mentally ill man who believes that he has discovered a buried treasure. Wood plays the man's weary daughter.
The film was labeled by some critics as somewhat of a sequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because of the similarities between the characters from the two movies. Michael Douglas's performance was particularly praised even though the picture got mixed reviews.
Missing Link (2019) - 6.7
The latest release from Laika did not get very much attention from the general public, but it still received praise from critics and award shows (Missing Link won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and was nominated in the same category at the Academy Awards this year).
Some notable cast members include Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, and Zach Galifianakis among others. The story revolves around Sasquatch (also known as Bigfoot) who is aided by an English explorer who helps Sasquatch to get to the Himalayas and meet his Yeti cousins.
The Boxtrolls (2014) - 6.8
2014's The Boxtrolls was also nominated at the Academy Awards back in the day and has a voice cast that is just as impressive: Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg among others.
Just as the weird look of the film, the story is quite strange too. It follows a human boy called Eggs who is raised by trash-collecting trolls who are known as "Boxtrolls". As the story progresses, Eggs has to save the Boxtrolls from a pest exterminator called Archibald Snatcher.
ParaNorman (2012) - 7.0
Also nominated at the Academy Awards and BAFTAs, ParaNorman is a dark fantasy comedy horror film that will likely remind you of Tim Burton's classic style. It is considered the first stop-motion animation film to use that uses a 3D color printer to create character faces and only the second stop-motion animation film that was shot in 3D.
The main protagonist (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a boy named Norman who can communicate with ghosts. He is given the task of ending an old witch's curse that was set on his Massachusetts town 300 years ago. Despite hibernating as his father said, Norman goes on this dangerous adventure.
Corpse Bride (2005) - 7.3
Corpse Bride was not produced solely by Laika but was rather a combined production. Based on characters created by Tim Burton and Carlos Grangel, it was directed by Burton and Mike Johnson with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter voicing the two main characters. A peculiar fact about Corpse Bride is that it lost the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film to another stop-motion animation film that starred Helena Bonham Carter - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The story is set in a fictional Victorian era village in England. A shy young man called Victor unknowingly practices his wedding vows in the presence of a deceased young woman known as Corpse Bride who rises from the grave and assumes that he has married her.
Coraline (2009) - 7.7
With its Tim Burton atmosphere, it is not a surprise that Coraline is based on a novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman and directed and written by Henry Selick (who had previously directed The Nightmare Before Christmas which was conceived and produced by Burton).
Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film both at the Golden Globes and at the Academy Awards, the film follows a girl named Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who moves into a new home with her parents and discovers a strange parallel world that contains a dark secret. Coraline is rightfully considered a cinematic masterpiece and is probably the most well-known Laika stop-motion animation film to this day.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) - 7.8
Kubo and the Two Strings is unlike most of Laika's works because it focuses more on the adventurous part of the story and gives it a greater scale than most stop-motion animation films do. It is one of the only two stop-motion animation films (along with The Nightmare Before Christmas) to be nominated in the Best Visual Effects category at the Academy Awards.
Unfortunately for many stop-motion animation fans, the film was a box office disappointment despite its good critical reviews. The plot follows a young boy named Kubo who wields a magical shamisen, a Japanese stringed instrument. Kubo's left eye was stolen during infancy, but with the help of an anthropomorphic snow monkey and beetle, he must now subdue his mother's corrupted Sisters and his grandfather Raiden the Moon King who is hungry for power and also responsible for stealing Kubo's eye.