Missing Link Christian Movie Review (2019)

Guidance: Talk Together

This animated adventure is playful and often warmhearted, but it mixes creature peril, guns and chase-style danger with a central evolutionary premise about humanity’s origins. For Christian families, the bigger issue is less the surface content and more the film’s view of human ancestry and belonging.

Why This Guidance Level

Missing Link stays in the family-adventure range for most of its content, with comic peril, chase scenes, and mild language rather than heavy material. The stronger concern for many Christian parents is the film’s repeated “missing link” idea and its framing of human origins through an evolutionary lens, which makes this a better fit for active conversation than passive viewing.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

The film has genuine warmth about friendship, compassion, and the longing to belong. It also critiques pride, social snobbery, and using people to gain status. At the same time, it openly presents humanity’s origins in evolutionary terms, with Sir Lionel arguing for “man’s primitive ancestry” and “the missing link.” That conflicts with the Christian understanding that human beings are uniquely made in the image of God, not merely advanced animals. Parents may want to talk with children about how dignity, identity, and hope are grounded in God’s creation and ultimately in Jesus Christ, not in social acceptance or biological theories.

Truths Reflected

• The story values friendship, loyalty, and care for someone who feels alone or unwanted.
• It exposes pride and the emptiness of building identity on status or public approval.

Tensions to Discuss

• The film treats human origins through an evolutionary “missing link” framework, which may conflict with a biblical view of creation and human uniqueness.
• Belonging is often framed around being accepted by others, while Christian hope points more deeply to being known and loved by God in Christ.

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• Occult material does not stand out here. The story deals with legendary creatures and adventure-movie fantasy rather than magic practice, spiritual rituals, or supernatural teaching. Parents may still want to distinguish fantasy creatures from spiritual truth.

Sexuality & Relationships

• Romantic material is light. Outside the main adventure, there are brief flirtatious touches and a suggestive newspaper headline about Sir Lionel being caught “in flagrante,” but this is not a major focus for the film.

Identity Themes

• Belonging is one of the film’s strongest themes. Sir Lionel wants recognition from the adventuring elite, saying he hopes to “finally take my place where I truly belong,” while the Sasquatch storyline also centers on loneliness and acceptance. This can open a good family talk about finding identity in God’s love rather than in a club, reputation, or peer approval.
• The film’s central idea of a “missing link” ties identity to evolutionary ancestry. Sir Lionel presents Sasquatch as proof that “man’s primate ancestors” are real and speaks of “man’s primitive ancestry” and “the missing link.” This may conflict with a biblical view of human beings as image-bearers created by God, and Christian parents may want to discuss why that matters.

Violence & Intensity

• The opening lake-monster sequence includes creature attacks, roaring, screaming, and comic danger. Mr. Lint cries for help, says “My hands are bleeding!” and later complains, “You were mauled by a prehistoric lake monster.” The tone is adventurous and partly humorous, but younger children may still find it intense.
• The broader adventure includes an assassin, pursuits, a pub brawl, gun threats, falls, and characters in life-threatening situations. The action remains stylized for a family film, but danger is a recurring part of the experience.

Language & Humour

• Language is mostly mild and old-fashioned, including words and phrases like “fiddlesticks,” “oh, bother,” “poppycock,” “sucks,” “bugger,” and “oh God.” There is also an interrupted crude phrase when a character starts to say “this cave smells like sh…” Parents who prefer very clean family viewing may still want to note the occasional coarse line.

Other Content Notes

• The film includes period-era arrogance and colonial-style boasting. At one point, club members speak proudly about having “brought good British table manners to savages the world over.” The movie does not present this as admirable, but it does place children in contact with demeaning language and social prejudice that may be worth discussing.
• A hunter in the club tells a boastful story about killing an opponent with a concealed pistol, ending with “God save the Queen.” The scene reflects the film’s macho adventure culture and casual attitude toward violence.

Notable Moments

• Lake monster attack: The film opens with a comic-but-intense creature encounter involving roaring, panic, and injury.

  “My hands are bleeding!”

• Evolution claim: Sir Lionel publicly argues that Sasquatch would prove humanity’s primitive ancestry.

  “Evidence of man’s primitive ancestry, the missing link!”

• Belonging and status: Sir Lionel reveals how much he wants acceptance from the elite club.

  “I seek to join you.”

• Human origins dispute: A club member rejects ape ancestry, and Sir Lionel directly pushes back.

  “I say we are descended from great men, not great apes… Well, I say you’re wrong.”

Discussion Prompts

• Where do we find belonging?: Why do you think Sir Lionel wants the club’s approval so badly? What changes when we look for our worth in God instead of in other people’s praise?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture teaches that our deepest identity is not earned by status but received from God. In Christ, believers are adopted and loved.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 1:5-6, Galatians 1:10, Psalm 139:13-14
• What makes humans unique?: The movie talks about a “missing link” and human ancestry. How is the Bible’s teaching about people different from the film’s idea?
  • Biblical guidance: Genesis presents men and women as created by God in His image, giving every person dignity that is more than biology.
  • Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 8:4-6, Colossians 1:16
• Friendship and compassion: What did the story get right about caring for someone who is lonely or different? How can Christians show that kind of kindness without losing sight of truth?
  • Biblical guidance: Jesus calls His people to love others with compassion, patience, and truthfulness.
  • Scripture: John 13:34-35, Ephesians 4:15, Romans 12:10
• Pride, boasting, and courage: Which characters act out of pride, and which moments show real courage? What is the difference between proving yourself and serving others humbly?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible warns against self-exalting pride and points to humility as the way of wisdom, especially in Jesus Christ.
  • Scripture: Proverbs 16:18, Philippians 2:3-8, James 4:6