For the most part, stop-motion animation
is a medium that’s both admired and underrated. With most major studios sticking
with either hand drawn animation or CGI animation, Aardman was pretty much the
biggest (and practically only) name in town when it came to clay. But this all changed
in 2009, when the studio LAIKA made its grand debut. Since then, LAIKA has released
five films, each of them being acclaimed and adored by thousands. Whether it's
their films’ darker themes, their amazing attention to detail, their incredible animation
techniques or their loveable characters, people just love LAIKA. In honor of this great
studio, we’re going to look at each of their movies and see just which of their
clay-creations are the most pure and which are the
most evil. I’m Brad (with WickedBinge) and
this is LAIKA Movies, Good to Evil. Now, just to make sure everyone is on the
same page, the films we’re going to be looking at are “Coraline”, “Paranorman”,
“Kubo and the Two Strings”, “The BoxTrolls” and “Missing Link”. It should be noted that
while we’ll try to list as many characters as possible, we’re going to be primarily focusing
on the heroes and villains from each film, as well as some side characters that may
have had significant impacts on the main characters. With that said, let’s begin our list. As usual, we’ll be starting with the most
pure and noble characters and working our way down… These characters are The Good. For the Gold Medal of Good, we’d like to
nominate the storyteller, Kubo. Even before he becomes a hero, we see just how kind-hearted
Kubo can be. He takes care of his mother when she’s in a catatonic state, making her
food and tucking her in at night. As for his stories, we can see that he loves making
people happy with these exciting tales, entertaining villagers of all ages and even
making sure to incorporate some of their requests into the story - even if it’s something
as silly as a fire breathing chicken.Though a bit snarky and slightly mischievous at
times, Kubo always tries to do good. When he disobeyed his mother and stayed out after
sunset, it was a genuine accident. He wasn’t trying to rebel, he was just hoping to see the
spirit of his father. When it comes time to go on his grand adventure, we see him grow as
a hero. He only ever kills in self defense, and when it’s time for the final battle, he
ends up using the power of love and memories to defeat his grandfather, the Moon King.
Even after everything the Moon King put him and his family through, Kubo ultimately allows
his grandfather to have a better life as a mortal human. For being merciful, brave,
heroic and kind, we can think of no greater LAIKA hero than Kubo. In second place is Mr. Link - or Susan, as
he eventually names himself. Though not the most heroic, we can easily say that Susan
is the most pure out of all the LAIKA characters. Having been isolated nearly all
his life, all he really wants is friends and a family. Because he’s a peaceful creature, he
doesn’t like hurting people or doing wrong if he can help it. In other words, he’s a
total Gentle Giant. That being said, due to his clumsy nature and not knowing his own
strength, he’ll sometimes cause property damage by accident. It should also be
noted that while he questioned Lionel about certain actions, like breaking into Adelina’s
home, he still followed Lionel’s lead in the end. Even so, we see throughout the film
how brave and loyal Susan can be, believing that Lionel can be the hero and friend that
Susan believes he is, and is always there to help Lionel and Adelina whenever they’re
in trouble. Though some may consider him a monster due to his appearance,
he’s really just a big sweetheart. Just a couple notches below their son,
we’re giving Monkey and Beetle the bronze medal. Originally, these two were known as
Hanzo and Sariatu. When they fell in love and had their son, Kubo, they did all they
could to protect him. Monkey is a total Mama Bear, being extremely protective of Kubo.
Though she may come off as tough and a bit cold, we do see her loosen up eventually.
Considering that she’s trying to keep her son safe from her evil family, we can’t really
blame her for being concerned. As for Beetle, while his occasional forgetfulness and
clumsiness may make him come off as goofy, he’s indeed a strong and skilled warrior
and can be just as protective of Kubo as Monkey. We see him encourage Kubo, and even
try to teach him how to fish with a bow and arrow. We also see both characters
sacrifice themselves for their family - with Hanzo staying behind to try and fight off his
wife’s family, getting cursed in the process, and Sariatu using her magic to protect
her son, even when she knows doing so will cause her to die. Though they both can
sometimes be stubborn, and their moments of absence (both mentally and physically) still
affected Kubo, we still consider them to be great parents and feel they
easily deserve to be this high up. Next on the list is another parental figure,
Grandma Babcock. Although she dies before the events of the movie, Grandma Babcock
is probably the most supportive family member that Norman has. She even refused
to be reunited with her husband in the afterlife because she vowed that she would
look out for her grandson no matter what. Although she isn’t able to do much in terms
of heroic deeds, being dead and all, she’s still a great and loving grandmother. She
and Norman watch movies together, and she’s always there to offer him support and advice
whenever Norman needs it. While the rest of his family may wish that he was a bit
more normal, Grandma Babcock is the only one who accepts Norman for who he is and lets
him know that being different isn’t a bad thing. Adelina Fortnight is next on our list. As the
wife of a well-known adventure, Adelina is pretty adventurous herself. While she shuts
herself off after her husband’s death, she’s willing to leave her home in order to help Susan
find his family - after yelling at Lionel for stealing her husband’s map, that is. While
her skills as an adventurer are noteworthy, what really stands out is her kindness
towards Susan and her patience with Lionel, talking sense into him and encouraging him
to be a better friend to Susan. Though she does have a bit of temper, her moral code
is strong, and though Susan is a bit more innocent, it’s Adelina who’s the
true conscience of the group. Neil plays the role of best friend to our
hero, Norman. Despite being constantly bullied, Neil is nothing but friendly and cheerful
towards Norman, and believes Norman when he tells him that he can see dead people. He
even thinks Norman powers are cool, and he’s the only one - other than Norman’s grandma
- to see it as a good thing. When zombies come to life and start terrorizing the town,
Neil is also right there by Norman’s side despite being scared himself, defending
him whenever he thinks Norman is in danger. He even puts a zombie in a headlock at one
point when one busts through the roof of his brother’s van, which is pretty awesome
for a ten year old. Though maybe not super bright, in a way he does
inspire Norman to be brave, and is all around a good kid and an
even better friend. Although reluctant at first, Norman certainly
grew into his own as a hero. He starts out as a somewhat shy and awkward boy who
mostly keeps to himself, not wanting to get bullied by people who don’t believe him when
he says he can talk to the dead. When his uncle asks him to continue the tradition of
stopping the witch’s curse, Norman originally refuses, and is still reluctant about doing
it even when he’s eventually convinced. But as the movie progresses and things get more
dangerous, Norman is eventually able to become more brave. He shames the zombies
of the seven judges for what they did to Aggie, speaks up in defense of the zombies,
and is eventually able to calm Aggie down and help put her spirit at peace, saving
the town. With how much he grows and how much he’s able to help in the end,
he’s definitely a hero in our eyes. Though a bit awkward, we can easily say
that Wybie is a good kid. He’s also a really good friend to Coraline. Both he and his
‘other’ counterpart help her out when it comes to escaping and warning her about Other
Mother. He’s also the one to save Coraline when she’s attacked by Other Mother’s
severed hand. He’s a bit of a strange and awkward kid, enjoying ‘odd’ things and being
more than a little awkward. He’s also a bit impulsive, saying things without thinking -
like when he briefly made fun of Coraline’s name and immediately regretted it. While he
and Coraline aren’t super close, he is still there for her, and given that Coraline likely
would have been strangled at the end of the movie if not for him, we feel he
deserves a decent spot in the Good tier. Next, is the human raised by BoxTrolls, Eggs.
At ten years old, he’s been raised by the BoxTrolls his whole life. Like the BoxTrolls,
Eggs is a tinkerer. He’s naturally curious, as well as a bit socially awkward, given that
he’s spent so much time around BoxTrolls and so little time around humans. Still, he’s a
sweet kid, if a bit odd. He ends up proving to be braver than his BoxTroll family too, being
willing to stand up to Snatcher when the BoxTrolls are captured and encouraging the
BoxTrolls to do the same. He also doesn’t disregard his adoptive family, even after
learning the truth about himself as a human and meeting his biological father. Finally, in
a pretty big act of mercy, Eggs actually tries to stop Snatcher from eating cheese - an act
that could kill him, due to his allergy. Even after everything Snatcher had put Eggs and
his family through, Eggs still tried to save him. That’s pretty special, and
gets him a couple extra good points. Up next is Coraline Jones. Like a lot of child
protagonists, Coraline is relatable - though that doesn’t always make her the most
moral. She tends to act out, either out of annoyance or boredom, and gets frustrated
by people like her parents and Wybie. She can be pretty snarky and abrasive,
and even gives Wybie the nickname ‘why-were-you-born’ after she hears his full
name. That’s pretty harsh. Over the course of the film, however, she is able to mature
and understand that while her parents may not always be able to pay attention to her,
they still love and care about her. She’s also the one to save the spirits of the other
kids who were imprisoned by Other Mother and rescues her parents. We also can’t blame her
for feeling frustrated at her parents - it’s not always easy when it feels like your
mom and dad are workaholics. Though she has her rough patches, she still does enough
good to keep her out of the Grey Area. Wrapping up the Good area, we have Winnie.
While it’d be easy to file her under the rich girl archetype, Winnie is much more than
that. She’s very outspoken and can be a bit bratty. While many seem to be scared of the
more grisly BoxTroll stories, Winnie almost seems to revel in their macabre nature and
is disappointed when she learns that they don’t eat people or have ‘rivers of blood’ in
their cave. Definitely a bit strange, but it makes sense given how spunky she is and
how much she seems to long for excitement, given that she doesn’t seem to have many
friends and her parents are emotionally distant. As such, you can sort of forgive her
for not always having the most tact or for coming on a bit strong. And, given that
she helps save the BoxTrolls in the end and becomes a good friend to Eggs, we feel she
still deserves to be listed as one of the Good characters.
That’s it for the good characters. Now let’s look at the more neutral and morally
questionable. This is the Grey Area. First up, we have The Boxtrolls. While not nearly as evil as Snatcher claims that they are,
the BoxTrolls mostly just keep to themselves. They steal garbage to tinker with, making
inventions for their own little BoxTroll society underground. Although kind and friendly,
being willing to raise a human baby as one of their own, they’re also pretty cowardly.
Their first instinct when confronted by danger is to hide in their boxes, even during times
when running would be a better option. Also, while they love each other, they also tend
to just kinda shrug it off when one of them is captured, not really being brave enough to
try and rescue them. The only exception to this is Fish, Eggs’ adoptive father, who can
be protective of him and is shown to be willing to try and fight for him, even if he’s not
that great at it. Given how much humans tend to freak out at just the sight of them, we
can’t blame them for being scared. Still, other than being kind to Eggs and eventually
standing up for themselves due to his encouragement, they don’t really do anything that
heroic as a group, making them feel more neutral than anything else.
Next on our list are Mel and Charlie Jones, Coraline’s Parents. These two can easily be
interpreted as workaholics, focusing on their upcoming deadline even while moving to a
new home. Because of this, they often tend to either come off as exhausted - which we
see in Charlie - or kinda crabby - like we see in Mel. They also don’t believe Coraline
when she tries to tell them about the Other World, thinking it’s all just her imagination.
Still, they acknowledge that they could be better as parents and do a better job of
showing how much they care, with Mel especially trying to reach out to Coraline and
even buying her the gloves she wanted in the end. Given that they need to make money for the sake of their family, we can understand
them putting extra focus into their work too, even if we understand
Coraline’s side as well. Courtney, Norman’s big sister, is next. Courtney
starts off as the typical ‘mean big sis’ to Norman. Like their parents, she sees her
brother as somewhat of a freak, insisting that he’s a liar, and gets annoyed whenever she
has to look after him. Even when she goes after him, she’s still partially focused on
getting the attention of the cool jock, Mitch. However, Courtney is still a decent sister,
showing concern whenever Norman is in danger and even calling the townspeople
out when they try to attack Norman. While they still aren’t super close, it’s obvious
that deep down, she really does care about him. When she hears from Norman how much it
hurts that people - including her - don’t believe him, Courtney also becomes a bit
more supportive and kind. Like Coraline’s parents, we can understand her more negative
traits given that she’s just a teenager, so we put her pretty high up in the grey tier.
The adventurous and morally dubious Sir Lionel Frost is next. Out of all of LAIKA’s
protagonists, it can be argued that he’s the least good. Wanting to be known as a great
adventurer, Lionel is very much self-absorbed, has a huge ego and is definitely an ‘ends
justify the means’ type of guy. When we first meet him, we see him care more about
capturing a sea monster than protecting his assistant. We also see that he was willing
to steal from his friend Adelina when she wouldn’t give them her husband’s map. Even
when he agrees to help Susan, it’s because he wants to use Susan to help accomplish
his own dreams of fame. Still, while he does have quite a few negative traits, Lionel is
decently noble. He only fights in self defense, and when Adelina helps him realize just
how awful he’s been towards Susan, he does try to make up for it and become a better
person and friend. He’s so focused on himself that it’s hard for him to even realize how
awful he’s being at times, and though still a bit of an egotist,
he never quite crosses that line and becomes entitled. Though he still
has a lot of improving left to do, we feel confident enough in his good
qualities to put him in the grey tier. From adventurer to ghost, next is Agatha
Prenderghast. For most of ‘Paranorman’, Agatha is seen as an evil spirit of a witch
that’s out for revenge against the town. But, once Norman is able to calm her down, we see
that she’s not evil. Instead, she’s just a little girl. Much like Norman, Aggie had
powers that were seen as dangerous by other people, even though Aggie herself never
really wanted to hurt anyone. Like any other little girl, all she wanted was to play and
be with her mother. But, once she was deemed a witch, she was executed with her death
actually celebrated by the town 300 years later, not knowing the true tragedy behind
the story. Although it was definitely wrong of her to curse the seven judges and unleash
zombies onto innocent people, you can certainly understand how angry and hurt she
felt after everything she went through. And, after being comforted by Norman, she was
able to realize that although she was hurt, that didn’t mean that it was okay for her to
hurt others.Afterwards, Aggie was able to lift the curse and be at peace. While she does
have a bit of a temper, her willingness to admit that she was wrong and take back her
curse truly shows that she was never bad, despite the legends.
Alvin is next on our list. Starting off as a school bully,
he actually becomes an ally for Norman, being part of the team that tries
to defeat the zombies. He even defends Norman from the townsfolk alongside Courtney,
Neil and Mitch, and is actually horrified that the town would even think about hurting
a kid. However, while he has more good moments compared to other bully characters,
Alvin is still pretty awful. He constantly picks on Neil and Norman and threatens to
beat the latter up. However, what keeps him from falling any lower, aside from the
previously mentioned good qualities, is just the fact that Alvin is a bit of a loser. You get the
sense that bullying is all he knows and that, if he was able to go from antagonist to
ally once, maybe he could make a full turnaround one day, once he
becomes a bit more mature. Judge Hopkins is the embodiment of what
fear can make a person do. He, along with the six other judges, were the ones who
sentenced Agatha to death when they believed that she was practicing witchcraft. Given
that Aggie was only eleven years old at the time, in any other film, Hopkins would have
likely been considered a total villain and monster. However, along with the fact that
Hopkins and the judges only ruled how they did because of genuine fear, we learn that
Hopkins deeply regrets what they did. He realizes how wrong they were - that their
fear wasn’t an excuse for killing someone who was ultimately an innocent little girl - and
wanting to do whatever he can to make up for his mistake. It should also be noted that,
even as zombies, he and the other judges never try to harm or hurt anyone, only trying
to get their attention so they can reveal the truth behind the witch’s curse. While we
still can’t completely forgive him, we do acknowledge that, like Aggie herself, he
wasn’t evil but was instead misguided. At the end of our Grey tier, we find Lord
Portley-Rind. Throughout LAIKA, we’ve seen good parents and we’ve seen… questionable
parents. Portley definitely falls into the latter, and depending on who you are, you
can make an argument that he belongs in the Bad. As leader of the White Hats, all Portley
really cares about is cheese. At the start of the movie, when he’s told that the BoxTrolls
have stolen a child and broken into a cheese shop, he's only horrified by the cheese
part. There’s also the fact that he ignores his daughter for the most part, leading to Winnie feeling lonely and neglected. While we
can agree with anyone who wants to call this guy a villain, we feel that for our list, he
does juuuuuust enough to avoid the Bad Tier. For one thing, as oblivious as he can be,
he does care about Winnie, and is even willing to trade his white hat - the only thing he
cares about more than cheese - for her life. Granted, he did try to negotiate first, but he
was willing to trade it in the end so, that’s something at least. We also see him
supporting her at the end of the movie, attending her show and listening to her stories.
Additionally, while characters like Snatcher were flat out malicious, you could make an
argument that Portley is just dumb and oblivious. Not that this excuses his actions, but
it does make him seem less like an actually awful person and more someone who just
makes bad decisions. Considering the rich lifestyle he was raised in, you can also see
how he got to be so oblivious and selfish. Again, this is no excuse, but it’s still good to
acknowledge a person’s circumstances and how that may end up shaping their
morality. Like we said, if it weren’t for the small moments of love he showed for his
daughter, Portley would probably be in the Bad Tier - so, consider him right on the edge
of Grey. Finally, we’ve come to the dark side - the
most cruel and the most heartless. These are the Bad to Evil characters.
At the top of our baddies, we have the trio Mr. Trout, Mr. Pickles & Mr. Gristle. This odd
trio are seen as Snatcher’s henchmen. However, because they believe in Snatcher’s
BoxTroll stories, they view themselves not as hunters but as the good guys who are
doing a service to their town, even if it means killing innocent trolls. Mr. Trout and Mr.
Pickles do eventually start to have doubts about what they’re doing, while Mr. Gristle
seems to actually take delight in the more gruesome parts of the job. Though two out of
three of them are able to make a heel-turn by the end of the movie and see what they
were doing was wrong, we still have to place them in the bad tier given that they’re
always seen as a group, so having Mr. Gristle them definitely pulls them down into the
Bad Tier. Still, we acknowledge that Trout and Pickles at least tried to turn it around and
helped in the end by helping the BoxTrolls disable Snatcher’s deadly machine, so we
won’t place them too far down. Willard Stenk, another sort of hunter, is
next. Stenk is a hired-gun, used by Lord Piggot-Dunceby. While he usually focuses
more on hunting innocent animals, claiming that he’s killed every animal under the sun,
he’s willing to be an assassin for hire as long as the price is right. As such, he’s willing
to chase Lionel, Susan and Adelina to the ends of the Earth, all for the sake of money. The
fact that he also gets excited about getting Susan as a trophy, planning on either skinning
or stuffing him like all his other animal trophies, is also pretty evil. He’s also willing
to still kill our heroes even after his boss dies, now seeing it more as an act of pride
than profit and being unwilling to let a target get away. As far as animated assassins go,
Stenk is a little more on the crazy and bloodthirsty side than most. It’s really no surprise that Lord Piggot-Dunceby
has made it this high up in the Bad tier. Nevertheless, he’s still pretty despicable,
both in what he does and what he represents. Dunceby is the leader of the Optimates' Club,
an exclusive society for so-called ‘great men’. As such, he's a pretty snobbish and
arrogant guy, and is also extremely prideful. He can also be closed-minded and hates
acknowledging progress and certain truths, like the idea that humans might have evolved
from apes. So much so that, when Lionel threatens to reveal that he’s been wrong
about Susan, Dunceby does all he can to stop this from happening, hiring bounty hunters
and even trying to kill Lionel and Susan himself. He even threatens a BABY at one point
just to get information about his targets out of someone. While he may have led a
society of ‘great men’, Dunceby is far from great himself.
Just outside of the podium, we have The Sisters. Though they may claim that all they
want is for their family to be back together again, clearly they care more about
‘correcting’ their sister’s choice to live among mortals than actually being a loving
family. They’re willing to attack and even kill anyone who stands in the way of their
mission to kidnap Kubo and take him to their king, who they are completely loyal to.
They look down on mortals, and call Monkey a fool for ever loving a human. They also
end up eventually killing both her and Beetle, leaving Kubo all alone. Along with being
cruel, they’re also just plain creepy - and seem to enjoy it too. As awful as they are, the
Sisters do claim to have a good side. They argue that they're not hunting down Kubo
because they hate him, but because they actually love him, wanting to blind him to the
mortal world by stealing his other eye and take him up to live with his mother’s side of
the family in the heavens. Of course, this is a pretty forceful and twisted version of ‘love’,
and though they may claim they’re doing what is right, we can’t really give them the
benefit of a doubt. To Kubo and his family, these sisters are about as wicked as they
come. The Moon King takes our Bronze Medal of Evil.
For his entire life, Kubo is warned that if he is ever caught by his grandfather, he’ll
steal his remaining eye and force Kubo to live with him. So, obviously, they aren’t really
close. Viewing himself as above humanity, the Moon King is willing to kill his own daughter
and grandson for disobeying him. As ruler of the night, he considers his word to be law, being both authoritative and cruel as well
as merciless. According to Kubo’s mother, this way of ruling has made Heaven become
a cold and dark place. Like the Sisters, the Moon King has a twisted view of family,
seeing them as more people to control than to love unconditionally. Instead of mourning
their death, he was more concerned about how they failed him. However, once Kubo
realizes that he is blind to humanity’s goodness and uses the power of memories to
make him see what he was missing, not only does the Moon King lose his own
memories, but we also see that as a mortal he has the capacity to be a better and kinder
person. Though this is mostly due to Kubo and the villagers’ influence on him, it’s still
enough to keep him from our top spot. In second place is Archibald Snatcher. He’s
an exterminator who wants to eliminate the BoxTrolls by any means necessary. He’s also
the leader of the Red Hats, though wishes to be one of the White Hats. While he’s
already of high status, he always hungers for even MORE power - as well as cheese,
despite being allergic to it. He’s arrogant, self-centered and EXTREMELY entitled. He’s
willing to resort to blackmail, unlawful imprisonment, abuse and even attempted
murder to get what he wants. He even betrays his friend Herbert, Eggs’ human father, by
throwing Herbert into prison and threatening his son when Herbert refuses to build him
a machine that would kill the Boxtrolls. He also manipulates the townsfolk into thinking
BoxTrolls were mindless and dangerous, and does everything he can to destroy them
once and for all. He even disguises Eggs as a Boxtroll and nearly executes
him in front of the whole town! Snatcher is easily one of
the darkest villains that LAIKA has ever made with just how truly cruel, selfish and
insane he can be. Earning our title of Most Evil, we have Other
Mother. Sometimes, the first baddie your studio creates ends up being the worst. Er,
the best at being the worst, that is. Also known as the Beldam, she’s the ruler of the
Other World. She lures children into her realm by disguising herself as their "Other
Mother". Once lured, she forces these kids to sew buttons in their eyes. As if that weren’t
bad enough, she then consumes their flesh, and keeps their souls as her prisoners.
So, let’s go down the list, shall we? She’s manipulative, controlling, and downright
monstrous. Though she may seem kind and loving at first, it’s clear that it’s all an act
that she puts on to make her victims feel safe and at home - like she did with Coraline. But
of course, once she realizes that her usual tricks aren’t going to work, Other Mother
drops all niceties and her true cruel and authoritarian nature is revealed. She also
uses her love of games to further taunt her victims, only playing when she knows that
she has an advantage. Of course, when Coraline DOES manage to win, Other
Mother twists the rules and refuses to acknowledge that she’s lost, even becoming desperate when Coraline manages to
escape. If there is any good side to her at all, is that - in a weird, twisted, selfish way -
she does quote-unquote ‘love’ each of her victims. While that’s slightly more than what
someone like the Moon King can offer, given that she doesn’t ‘love’ her victims enough
to refrain from consuming and imprisoning them, this doesn’t exactly earn her many
good points. From her creepy personality to her horrifying and evil acts to her willingness to do whatever it takes to win,
we’re more than happy to give Other Mother the Gold Medal of Evil.
But what do you think? Let us know in the comments if you agree with our ranking, and
tell us which series you’d like to see next. Be sure to hit that notification bell so you
don’t miss new episodes of Good-to-Evil featuring your favorite cartoons and
videogames; but most importantly: stay wicked!
