RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Brainsbell
The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
Michael_Elliott
Dinosaur and the Missing Link, The (1915) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Edison short running five minutes from Willis O'Brien who would later go onto create The Lost World and King Kong. In this film, three cavemen are trying to win the affections of a woman but she will pick the winner from whoever kills a missing link that is terrorizing them. The winner eventually gets the girl but in fact he had some help from a dinosaur. This is a very entertaining and fun short even though it really can't compare to D.W. Griffith's two prehistoric films, Man's Genesis and Brute Force. The claymation effects here are very well done and I really loved the look of the missing link and the cavemen. The highlight of the film is a scene where the missing link is eating the guts out of a dead animal and this is a scene you have to see for yourself just to believe. The dinosaur is actually the weakest thing in the movie but it doesn't take away from any of the fun.
MartinHafer
This is an extremely important animated short because it shows what Willis O'Brien, the special effects genius behind King Kong and many other stop-motion films, was doing early in his career. This film's quality isn't nearly as good as his later work, but you can see how he's learning and improving his craft in this film. You really can't rate it or compare it to later films because it was so crudely done in the very early days of animation.Now just because this is a rather crude stop-motion film does not mean it is bad. In fact, I thought it was pretty cute. It is the story of three suiters during the caveman days--each trying to impress the girl. Exactly what happens and how the wimpy guy gets the girl is actually kind of funny, but I don't want to spoil it.
astigma
Its amazing to see what O'Brien was able to create so early on in the history of film. The motion picture camera was barely new and he made such a groundbreaking piece of work with it. Every stop-motion lover or animator should see this film, its truly fantastic for its time. I had just seen a preview of this on the King Kong DVD and to actually see it is a joy. Its a shame that no video documentation on his techniques could have been made, I guess we just have to figure things out for ourselves. Its kind of surreal to watch with technology today what was shot on such crude and primitive equipment in the early 1900's, but hopefully this means we will be able to enjoy pioneers in stop motion like O'Brien's work for years to come.
GeneralB
This film is a 1910s version of what would today be called Claymation. It features dinosaurs, apes, and caveman. It is worthy of mention as it was one of the first films made by the legendary Willis O'Brien, who would later do the special effects for "The Lost World" and "King Kong". O'Brien's clay animation in "Missing Link" is certainly not as good as his work in later films(which featured far more advanced models). However, as this was one of the first films with stop-motion animation, it was a pioneering work for O'Brien, and for the film industry in general. It was probably not the first film to use stop motion animation, but it may well be the first dinosaur movie to have done so. These historical notes will make it worth seeing for some people, in particular those interested in film history.
