Kubo
and the Two Strings
Kubo
and the Two Strings is directed by Travis Knight (directorial debut!) and
stars Art Parkinson as Kubo, Charlize Theron as Monkey, Matthew McConaughey as
Beetle, Rooney Mara as The Sisters, Brenda Vaccaro as Kameyo, Ralph Fiennes as Moon
King, George Takei as Hosato, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Hashi.
Our heroes are a monkey, a beetle man thing, and a kid...awesome!
Kubo, an imaginative and spirited boy, accidentally
calls upon the Moon King who, throughout Kubo's life, wants Kubo to join him in
immortality; to basically spit on the humans he has grown to know and love. Now
the world he knows has come to a crashing halt because he is on his own without
his mother, who has protected him from the Moon King, to try and find the armor
of his long lost warrior of a father that can protect him from the evil that's
chasing him. Along the way, Kubo meets strange accomplices that join him on his
mission, but many obstacles, that which no kid should have to witness, stand in
his way.
Laika is the company behind Kubo and the Two Strings, along other
stop motion animation films like ParaNorman,
Coraline, and The Boxtrolls. With these powerhouse films on their resume, Laika
should have no problem continuing this greatness or even exceeding it, right?
RIGHT??? Yes. Kubo and the Two Strings
is really friggin' good. I enjoyed this movie from beginning to end, starting
off with the captivating visuals. Holy moly, is stop motion animation so
satisfying to see in this day and age of film. Of course there are some 3D
aspects to this film, like lighting or even the magic that comes out of the instrument's
strings that Kubo plucks (I don't want to assume it's a guitar, mandolin, or
other strings instrument if I'm not totally positive). However, despite there
being some 3D animation, almost 95% of Kubo
and the Two Strings is done with clay or wood. This looks absolutely
gorgeous. I can't even take a guess as to how many hours the animation department
took to make all the details look this perfect. I'm afraid if I guess, the
number will be too low. Stop motion animation is in my top 5 favorite subgenres
of films, therefore I do give the film some slack if it's not up to standards
with movies like The Godfather or Citizen Kane. Even though Kubo and the Two Strings isn't a perfect
movie, I don't have a problem saying that almost everything about it is fun and
entertaining, especially the animation style.
Even Kubo's amazed at the world surrounding him.
I was on the fence on whether I liked the
incorporation of important mature subject matters in a kid's movie or the
animation more. It was a close call, but I want to put the animation above
that. The thing is, the more I think about it, Kubo and the Two Strings uses the animation to its advantage to get
the mature themes to kids. The action is awesome and it's just what a kid wants
and is used to, but the theme of dealing with death and grieving about it is
blended with it's fantastic form of showmanship. I'm not even joking, this film
is one color change away from becoming a dark fairy tale filled with scary
monsters and death. Luckily, Laika sure knows how to maintain a color palate
suited for children and adults. This keeps the children entertained while subconsciously
wondering about grief and what it means. Yeah, I'm sure you're thinking that
isn't a good idea and it sounds like the opposite of what we should be teaching
kids; to not be depressed, however, it's important to show the youth to be
prepared for life and that not everything is going to be fine and dandy. Good
things come out of bad situations and Kubo
and the Two Strings shows us that. We can celebrate death, we can mourn for
those who have died in our past, we can do whatever we want to deal with a
loss, but in the end, we just have to remember them for the good times and be
happy that we even met those people. That lesson is in a damn kids movie!
I said earlier that this movie isn't
perfect. Well, I abide by that, however the only problem for me is the pacing
of some scenes. Now I'm just nitpicking. I normally don't like to do that. I
mean, the entirety of the Kubo and the Two Strings is fun, it's engaging, it's
heart-warming/heart-wrenching at times, and it's beautiful to look at. There
were just those moments where I had problems following the footsteps of our
heroes. There's are many scenes where someone blacks out or throws something
(to the audience) and it suddenly cuts to black. Fade in and the climax of the
event has just passed and we never get to see the action of the outcome. We
just see the outcome. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but as an example:
there is a scene where Monkey is fighting one of the evil twin sisters that's
hunting Kubo on a boat in the middle of a storm. They fight, Monkey talks smack
or something, she lunges towards the evil sister trying to kill her and then...cut
to black. Kubo and Beetle swim to the surface of the water to the boat, Monkey
is on a broken plank of the boat holding the evil sister's mask. This happens
like 6 times throughout the movie. I understand that this is a kid's movie and
there shouldn't be any blood, but come on. There should be some sort of
continuous fight scene that doesn't cut out any awesome details or dialogue.
Anyways, I'm feeling way too hung up on such a minor thing. Overall, this little
flaw didn't take away any of the fun I had during Kubo and the Two Strings.
Adult thematic material, truly enchanting
stop motion animation, and fun action are what makes Kubo and the Two Strings a marvel. There might be some scary parts
for kids, what with all the monsters and spirits, but most kids should be able
to handle this film. I don't understand how Laika does it. There are way too
many factors as to how magical the experience of Kubo and the Two Strings is. I also quickly want to mention that there
is a great score here. This film is titled after a kid and his two stringed
instrument. Do you think the score is going to be terrible? If it was, I would
be very disappointed, but it wasn't so I am not. YAY! Please don't skip out on, what I think is for
sure, one of the best film of the year.
4.8/5
PRO
- Amazing stop motion animation work
- Adult themes mixed with children's film shell
- Fun and cool action scenes
CON
- Some pacing issues
Kubo and the Two Strings is rated PG for thematic elements, scary
images, action and peril
Click here to watch the trailer
Kubo and the Two Strings is in theaters everywhere now
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