All 6 LAIKA Studios Movies Ranked (Including Wildwood)

It's been seven long years, but we're finally getting a brand-new LAIKA movie with the release of "Wildwood." It's the most challenging project the cult animation studio has released so far, and it's the result of 15 years of behind-the-scenes work. Adapted from the 2011 YA novel of the same name, this dark fantasy is also notable for pushing its scares into the PG-13 territory, with a relatively epic (for American studio animation) 131-minute running time to boot. It's a massive gamble, and we now know whether it has paid off. You'll have to keep reading if you want to know where we think it ranks in the studio's total catalogue.

For this list, we've ranked only the six feature-length, theatrically released titles bearing the studio's name, with short films, music videos and other third-party collaborations excluded, because their contributions to "A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas" hardly make that a full-blown LAIKA effort. The studio reportedly has several more movies in development, so this ranking could be shaken up in the coming years. This is where it all stands, now "Wildwood" has finally been seen.

There are no bad LAIKA movies, but the studio's second feature "ParaNorman" is the only one to feel more like a charming love letter to the classics of the horror genre rather than a bold and bonkers original in its own right. Kodi Smit-McPhee voices the young outcast Norman, bullied by his peers at school who don't believe his claim that he can communicate with ghosts, including that of his own grandmother (Elaine Stritch). However, he can rely on best friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), and his supernatural abilities are soon relied upon to save the town after his eccentric great uncle (John Goodman) arrives to inform him that he must perform an ancient ritual to protect their town.

Although less outwardly haunting than LAIKA's previous production "Coraline," directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler offer a great introduction to horror for young viewers, with the spooky story complemented by themes evocative of the Salem Witch Trials. It's commendable for being the rare big-budget studio animation to be made solely with outcast kids in mind, with Norman's visions designed to emphasize his alienation as much as they are to draw parallels with historic witch hunts. 

The idea for the plot of "Paranorman" originated from Butler seeing how the most beloved zombie movies use their genre to push social commentary, with his love letter to all things undead grounded in a relatable allegory for the pains of adolescence. This isn't a unique idea, and this might be why it's one of the more overlooked movies in the LAIKA back catalogue, but the filmmakers' love of horror is sincere and infectious. It still makes for a great Halloween watch for older kids.

It may boast the gorgeous stop-motion animation we've come to expect from LAIKA, but you'd be forgiven for not realizing "Missing Link" was hand-crafted by the Oregon studio. The poster alone reveals a stylistic departure from their gothic comfort zone, with bright and colorful backdrops, more eccentric creature designs, and the promise of a globe-trotting story that harkens back to the adventure novels of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. 

Surprisingly, this proved less accessible than their previous efforts. It was the most expensive stop-motion movie of all time (at $100 million) and one of the biggest animated box office bombs too, losing the studio a reported $101 million. Award nominations including a Golden Globe win for best animation couldn't soothe the blow, even if they were rightfully deserved accolades for a studio beginning to experiment with other genres.

Like a more whimsical "The Lost City of Z," writer/director Chris Butler's movie follows a struggling explorer (Hugh Jackman) who will only be permitted to join a society if he makes a grand discovery. A letter confirming the existence of a sasquatch offers him a chance, and his journey to the Pacific Northwest introduces him to Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis), a creature who sent the letter himself. The sasquatch needs an explorer's help to find his distant yeti family. 

It makes for a more charming, less intense ride than we're used to from LAIKA, although its whimsy might be too grating in places. Your mileage may vary on whether you find the Galifianakis' sasquatch sidekick endearing or insufferable, with many of his gags landing with a thud. Overlook this and you'll be swept away.

It's a classic fantasy horror set up: a creature is vilified by a small town for being a deadly monster, forced into hiding even though they don't pose a threat to anybody. In their only feature for LAIKA, directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi took the fairytale formula to weird and wonderful extremes, using Alan Snow's YA novel "Here Be Monsters!" as the starting point for something even more eccentric. That book features several wacky species, but the screenplay by Irena Brignull and Adam Pava focuses solely on the Boxtrolls, peaceful scavengers long wanted by the townsfolk of Cheesebridge over allegations they murdered a baby. In reality, they've long cared for the abandoned orphan, who they named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright).

After many years hiding underground, their existence is threatened by pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), who has been granted membership of the town's high council on the basis that he kills the Boxtrolls. It doesn't matter that this is a council of cheese lovers, and he's lactose intolerant — he's dead set on completing his mission. 

As you can tell from that description, "The Boxtrolls" is the weirdest movie the studio has produced to date, and very easily the funniest. Body horror visual gags like Archibald's reaction to eating dairy are likelier to give young children nightmares than any overt horror here. The film may possess all the typical narrative beats of a fairytale, but it's a lot stranger than any bedtime story you've ever heard. With a comparatively lighter tone than LAIKA's other gothic efforts, it might be the best entry point for children to the studio's horror work.

The studio's best-known film, as well as the answer any Gen-Z will give to the question "what movie scared you the most as a child," director Henry Selick's grand return to stop-motion instantly established the blend of gothic fantasy and dark comedy which would distinguish LAIKA from other animation houses. Adapted from the young adult fantasy novella by Neil Gaiman, Selick expanded upon its twisted fairytale premise to create a living nightmare that resonated with lonely kids around the world. 

Dakota Fanning voiced the 11-year-old protagonist, left to her own devices by parents up to their necks in work, who seem completely uninterested in just how rundown their new home is. After discovering a portal to an alternate reality hidden behind a small door in the living room, she finds the family she's always dreamed of, who overwhelm her with attention and affection; doppelgängers for her own parents, aside from their button eyes.

LAIKA's best-loved movies all feature tween protagonists caught in the difficult years between childhood and teenage growing pains, and with "Coraline" (and its adult themes) they created what might be their most resonant story, a haunting what-if tale about the evolution of a parent-child relationship in a neglectful home. It has all the empowering themes of bravery and resilience that a child might expect from a Disney Princess story, but dragged kicking and screaming into a raincloud covered reality — a mystical tale for the kids who have stopped believing in magic, and that isn't afraid to be scary or admit just how much childhood can suck. The core themes behind the best LAIKA movies were fully formed from the beginning.

No time is wasted before "Wildwood" is revealed to be LAIKA's darkest movie so far, opening with a young boy appearing to commit suicide, only to rip out his insides and reveal he was an automaton. If that visceral cold open doesn't make families run to the exits, then they'll be treated to one of the richest animated fantasy movies in years. 

Teenager Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) ignores the advice of her parents to take her baby brother away from home to the playground, but he's picked up and taken away by a murder of crows, forcing her and nerdy classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) to follow them into the wild, untamed forests that surround their hometown of Portland. It's a fairytale kingdom hidden by magic, where anthropomorphic animals and humans co-exist, outsiders are looked down upon, and tensions between different clans are at their highest as exiled ruler Alexandra (Carey Mulligan) intends to use dark magic to rule once more — and bring her son back to life.

On a sheer animation level, this is LAIKA's most breathtaking effort to date, with more hyper-realistic creature designs, expansive sets, and stunningly realized action sequences that could rival many a live-action epic (the final battle could pass for a "Lord of the Rings" set piece). Director Travis Knight never loses sight of emotion amidst the spectacle, with the quest being of equal importance to two opposing coming-of-age stories that find new ways to explore the hardships of growing up. It feels like a future classic in the making and could rise to number one by the time we revisit this list.

LAIKA studio's most ambitious movie is also their best, inching ever-so-slightly away from horror into the realm of epic fantasy with this coming-of-age adventure set in feudal Japan. The directorial debut of the studio's CEO Travis Knight, "Kubo and the Two Strings" tackled some of the weightiest ideas in any LAIKA film yet, proving that their greatest asset might be the faith they put in the intelligence of their young audience. 

12-year-old Kubo, voiced by Art Parkinson, makes a living telling stories about his long missing samurai father Hanzo (Matthew McConaughey) using origami, but no tale has an ending, as he doesn't know what's coming next. Forever warned by his mother (Charlize Theron) not to stay out late due to grandparents who want to steal his one remaining eye, a failed attempt to speak to Hanzo's spirit forces him on the run; he wakes up miles from home with his village destroyed, tasked with finding his dad's armor.

Many children's films tackle grief, but few have handled the theme as explicitly as "Kubo," which trusts that its viewers are emotionally mature enough to handle a story which doesn't sugarcoat its darkness. This is a period piece set in a time of unprecedented violence towards children, with some of the gravest life-or-death stakes the lead character in a major studio animation has had to face. It's also absolutely enchanting, with some of LAIKA's most gorgeously realized character designs and immaculately crafted period sets. This is the work of an animation empire at the peak of its powers.