Summary
A young boy, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, can talk to dead people and needs to use his gift in order to save the town.
I think Laika is one of the best animation studios, mainly this is because they are not soulless CGI studios owned by massive studios like Disney, or Universal. Laika along with places like Aardman and Ghibli are some of the few truly original studios left and I think that is incredibly important. The studios talents are on full display here as we see a very gothic inspired world that also has a lot of call backs to classic Americana and the creature features of the 50s and 60s.
There is also something beautiful and timeless about the message of people hating things that scare them even if they pose no real threat to them. It makes the weak and confused message of a contemporary release like Inside Out 2 look so much worse by comparison. In my opinion that is what a lot of recent animated films are missing good central messages.
Overall, a sweet and seasonally appropriate film that is beautifully animated.
4/5
Pros.
The message
The animation
The characters
The world
Cons.
A few pacing issues
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