good back-story, and good acting

Don't Believe the Hype

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

'The Missing Link' - sometimes known as 'B.C. Rock' and 'Le Chaînon Manquant' - this is a daringly different sort of animated comedy no matter the title, focusing on the world's very first homo sapien, who eventually teaches his people how to walk, talk and make fire after many adventures with dinosaur friends. The humour varies in effectiveness with lame moments as the prehistoric humans repeatedly fail to copulate and attempt to walk in the strangest possible ways. There is a lot of ingenuity to the film too though with the protagonist inadvertently inventing the wheel and accidentally inventing the skipping rope. There are also fun references to movies such as '2001: A Space Odyssey' and stories such as 'Gulliver's Travels'. Some of the prehistoric beasts that appear in the film are wonderfully imaginative too, such as a species of feminine felines with long red tails and one-legged creatures that hop back and forth. And on the subject of beasts, the protagonist also manages to teach a confused dragon how to breathe fire! The characters here are not much to write home about, and bits and pieces of the film feel terribly juvenile, but the movie's tenacity to twist conventional theories of evolution, even bringing religion into the equation at one point (!) is no small feat, plus the film is genuinely touching at times with the protagonist's attempts to locate others of his own species.

There is something charming about Picha's, 'The Missing Link' and perhaps it lies in it's quaint production values. The sound is patchy, the animation uneven and performances somewhat forgettable but somehow it lingers like a guilty pleasure that draws snickers rather than belly laughs. There are some genuinely funny moments and some fabulous characters such as the fast talking, wise-guy, Pterodactyl and a fire breathing Dragon voiced by Bill Murray that is certain to get a laugh. The comedy largely depends on cartoon violence and sexual suggestion and is not at all confronting by today's standards and somehow seems naive and cute. Whilst 'The Missing Link' it is not Disney or even Hanna-Barbera, it reminds us of how important it is to admire these largely forgotten films that somehow get made through dedication and love and slip through the cracks in defiance of all that is mainstream.F. Drebin

When I went to see this film after its release in the Netherlands in 1980, some misguided creationists were picketing outside the cinema, protesting against the film's alleged pro-evolution message?!? I mean, really, to protest against a animated satire of how humankind became the dominant species on this world, how silly can you get? The film has no evolutionist stance at all, to show (grunting) cartoon humans living as vermin next to (talking) cartoon dinosaurs is not really a scientific statement, is it? What it does offer is lots of hilarious scenes describing the learning process of the outcast human O who with the help of a dinosaur and a pterodactyl discovers how to make fire and make love (among other things). There is a good 80's musical score and lots of references to other films from the era (like Star Wars and King Kong). It is real must-see for cartoon lovers.

Definitely one of the best adult animated films ever made. I just don't understand why it is not available to buy on DVD OR VHS. We used to rent this film quite often back in the late 80's, but I have never seen it available for purchase ANYWHERE. Why is this? I found Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards" on VHS after years of searching. I have "Heavy Metal" on DVD. Why won't they make this available to us???????? This film is hilariously funny. The animation is awesome, and the story line is just too good! Complete senseless fun, and I would LOVE to show it to my kids now that they're grown. It sure would be nice to have even a limited re-release of this film so a whole new generation would be able to enjoy it.