Storytelling is an age-old tradition, passed down from generation to generation. Throughout time, it has taken many different forms , from oral tradition to puppetry to moving pictures to animation. Storytelling and its myriad of manifestations have come a long way—studios like Laika are of the few that challenge contemporary storytelling and its limits.
Laika’s medium of choice is stop-motion animation, which in essence is a combined mastery of puppetry and cinematography (which Laika skillfully makes use of). It’s a slow and tedious process of moving a doll’s limbs and capturing each one of its movements. It’s hard work and it would be much easier to produce with computer images, but as Travis Knight states in an interview with CNN, it’s a “labor of love”. And you can feel that love in the stories this studio brings to life.
So far, Laika’s stories have centered around misfits, kids (and in one case, adults) that stand out in a “normal” crowd. The wonderful thing is that these characters don’t have to mold themselves into tropes; instead, they thrive in their otherness. That otherness manifests itself very broadlyーfrom a strange little girl that looks for extraordinary things in the mundane in Coraline, to a boy that can talk to ghosts in ParaNorman.
Laika’s movies have encouraged viewers to embrace what sets them apart. It also shows their audience worlds where they can live as they are by not necessarily presenting an inclusive society, if not a world that is relevant to the characters, as displayed in the film Missing Link.
Personally, one of Laika’s more heartfelt projects has been Kubo and the Two Strings. It follows the story of Kubo and his search for the legendary armor once worn by his father, a samurai warrior. While that is the purpose of his journey, the path he takes leads him to a family resembling the one he lost. Even though his mission was important, it never deterred him from enjoying the moment or stopping having fun when the opportunity arose. The storytelling in Kubo and the Two Strings is magical beyond the stop-motion animation, giving us a grand adventure and a heartwarming message about the family we choose.
For all the fantasy and wonder that these movies explore, they give us a very real and human way to understand the main characters and the relationships between them. They make us think outside of the box, and not fit characters into stereotypes. Through all of this, these movies still make us laugh and get excited. Under all of the childlike elements of these films, they still provide a refreshing message for adults. In the same way, they make us reminisce on the impact of these elements during our childhood.
Animation as a medium is complicated enough as a form of entertainment. However, when that effort becomes a labor of love, one can’t help but wonder if that effort is worth listening to. When it comes to Laika and the stories they tell, it really is worth it.