Kirby and the Missing Link

***Kirby and the Missing Link*** is an animated comedy adventure film based on Laika's fifth film, *Missing Link'*, along with elements from Hal Laboratory's *Kirby: Right Back at Ya* and *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light*. Its the fifth installment and chronology the third installment of the *Laika-Verse* and takes place after *Sonic Boom: Raving Boxtrolls* and before *The Loud House: Coraline's New Eyes*. The story follows Sir Lionel Frost who helps two legendary creatures, Kirby and Mr. Link, to find their calling on Earth and to discover a threat that would almost destroy the world. Travis Knight, Chris Butler, Masahiro Sakurai, and David Solieni serves as executive producers of the film. The idea was produced from KirbyStar Studios with collaboration by it's developer from B-Master Animation.

## Story

Based on Laika's light-hearted/Golden Globe awarded film by the creator of *ParaNorman*, the myths and monsters investigator, Sir Lionel Frost, sets off on an adventure to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of the legendary creatures — Mr. Link and, of course, a pink rounded alien named Kirby. Frost, who's also looking to gain acceptance by his small-minded explorer peers, is accompanied on his journey with his rookie companions, Tiff and Tuff, along with Wli, an young adventurer wannabe, and Adelina Fortnight, a free-spirited, independent adventurer who just so happens to possess the only known map to their secret destination of trying to find Link. Unaware, that King Dedede and Escargoon are out to find this amazing creature with the help of Stenk, their bounty hunter, and will do anything to get Dedede to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, before the events, Tai, along with his young blue-haired female companion, Hilda, takes a crossroad trip of their own to find his sister Kari in Cheesebridge while he explains the theory that will happen later on.

## Cast

* Josh Brener as Kirby, a pink puffball creature from another world who crashed in the Pacific Northwest only to befriended the legendary creature, Mr. Link. Born as a little rookie, Kirby was one of the only warriors that survived a major war outside of Earth. However, due to a big space storm wrecking his ship, Kirby crashed into Earth as he became a bit curious about where he's on and how is he gonna go back. Fortunately, Mr. Link will have to guide him carefully along with Tiff and Tuff to look after while Link's away.
	+ Makiko Ohmoto
* Kimiko Glenn as Elizabeth "Eli/Liz", a girl who looks like Tiff, but she has a long dark brown hair, wearing blue trousers, red/purple t-shirts with pink outlines, pink west and red/purple hairband with hearts on. She's the only girl who can understand Kirby than her siblings Tiff and Tuff. Her character is based on the work of DA Artist, Tony Salazar, who made an series called Kirby: Star Warrior of Dreamland. Eli is one year older than Tiff, and she's also smart just like her.
* Zach Galifianakis as Mr. Link, a legendary slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast upon whom Sir Lionel’s dreams depend and is Kirby's only friend. 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.
* Hugh Jackman as Sir Lionel Frost, an famous explorer who determined to get acceptances by finding the legendary creatures with his companions and his bravery skills. He's 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.
* Kerry Williams as Tiff, a older sister of Tuff and one of Frost's companions. She's an smart, and short tempered, young girl who's very high-strung individual who gets angry easily, and is sometimes quick to resort to violence (though she's not always happy to do so). Despite her intelligence, she tends to be very naïve and idealistic, reflecting her youth and inexperience. She can be very stubborn and this leads to her occasionally forcing her ossified values and ideals onto others.
* Kayzie Rogers as Tuff, a younger brother of Tiff and one of Frost's companions. He's a rowdy, and mischievous, young boy has a good heart but not much in the way of intellect to go with it.
* Zoe Saldana as Adelina Fortnight, a free-spirited, independent adventurer who just so happens to possess the only known map to their secret destination of trying to find Kirby and Mr. Link.
* Emma Thompson as the Yeti Elder, leader of the Yetis.
* Timothy Olyphant as Willard Stenk, a bounty hunter.
* Ted Lewis as King Dedede, a blue penguin who out to get Mr. Link and sell him to the highest bidder. His role is similar to his anime role and his game roles—except that he has less of a good side and is much more malicious, petty, and very selfish. He constantly ignores or shrugs off any negative comments from the townsfolk, believing them to be below him. In addition, he has very little respect for anyone in town, treating their safety and desires as secondhand in his goals for whatever greedy thing he wishes.
	+ Lewis also provides as Escargoon, Dedede's only servent. He's most often in the company of King Dedede as his assistant and he tries to ensure the King's well-being and happiness in any way he can, sometimes to the detriment of his own. His duties are numerous, from cooking to cleaning to giving back rubs to being Dedede's personal punching bag when the King is angry. Sometimes Dedede pulls pranks on him and scare him just because he can.
* Damien Laquet and Andrew St. Germain as the Rabbids
	+ St. Germain provies as:
		- Leady Rabbid
		- Goldy Rabbid
		- Dolly Rabbid
	+ Laquet provides as:
		- Witch Rabbid
		- Fancy Rabbid
* Eric Stuart as Sir Meta Knight, a former Star Warrior who is now a companion to Adelina and friend to Tiff and Tuff.
* Stephen Fry as Lord Piggot-Dunceby, the main villain of the tale.
* Matt Lucas as Mr. Collick, Piggot's asstaint.
* David Walliams as Mr. Lemuel Lint, Frost's former partner.
* Ching Valdez-Aran as Gamu
* Amrita Acharia as Ama Lahuma, a Chinese mountain guide whose grandma is Gamu.
* Joshua Seth as Tai Kamiya, an teenage boy who's thinks that all the stories in the Laika-verse are connected and that her sister, Kari, is alive.
* Bella Ramsey as Hilda, Tai's young female companion who rags along on his trip to find Kari and learn more about the universe they leave on. Originally from B-Master Animation, they were gonna have her featured in one of the upcoming Laika films. However, after looking at the film and adding a subplot for Tai, it's decided that Hilda will be in the Laika-Verse as Tai's young partner who helps him get to his sister Kari.
* Humphrey Ker as Doorman and General Pugh
* Adam Godley as Lord Bilge
* Neil Dickson as Mr. Roylott
* Ian Ruskin as Lord Scrivener
* Matthew Wolf as Lord Ramsbottom
* Darren Richardson as Alfie
* Alan Shearman as Lord Entwhistle
* Jack Blessing as McVitie
* Richard Miro as Ricardo
* Jaswant Dev Shrestha as Elderly Villager

## Trivia

* This idea came from KirbyStar Studios CEO, Jose Ramierz, who suggested this next Laika crossover to have Kirby in it.
* To put Eli in the film, Tony give permission to put her in.
* The idea to have Kirby talk in the film was inspired by Pokemon: Detective Pikachu.
* This is the second Laika film being based on writer and director Chris Butler who worked on *ParaNorman* back in 2012.
* Kirby's story is loosely based on Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel and the anime episodes, Kirby Comes to Cappy Town and Dark and Stormy Knight from Kirby of the Stars.
* Like all the Laika crossovers, the stop-motion animation is provided by Laika Studios. The 3d animation is provided by TeamTO and Sony Pictures Imageworks while traditional animation is provided by Titmouse Inc. and Warpstar Inc..