"Kubo and the Two Strings" Movie Review

"If you must blink, do it now." 

These are the words that greet the audience before the movie even begins and let me tell you; you should follow that advice. 

Kubo and the Two Strings is the newest stop-motion animation film from Laika; the same powerhouse studio that has created other animated classics such as Coraline,  ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls. All films have been critical successes, and Kubo is joining their ranks as the most ambitious film Laika has created to date. 

Kubo's mother defends her son with her shamisen.
[Found on Google Images]

The story follows Kubo, the son of a famous samurai and a loving mother who has taught him how to use magic. After tragedy befalls his home and loved ones, Kubo must go on a journey with companions Monkey and the cursed samurai Beetle to find his deceased father's armor, as it's the only thing that can protect him from vengeful spirits who are bent on his destruction. 

I honestly don't even know where to start with this film; so I'll start by saying this is the most beautifully animated movie I have seen to date. I've always been a huge fan of stop motion animation- from watching The California Raisins animated movie as a child (yes, that was a thing), to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, all of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, James and the Giant Peach- and the fascination has carried on into adulthood. I loved The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Max and Mary and even movies like Monkeybone which are pretty bad, but still impressive to see with their use of stop-motion. 

Kubo and the Moon King
[Found on Google Images]

When Laika's first film Coraline came out in 2009, I was immediately smitten with not only the story telling and the top-notch voice acting, but the world and characters that were created were astounding. And with every Laika film, the characters and worlds just keep getting better and better. The art in Kubo is very stylized as it draws a lot of inspiration from traditional Japanese art. The animation in this film was probably some of the smoothest stop-motion animation I've seen to date. I was so lost in the art on screen that I kept forgetting that what I was seeing was all done by hand. Each of the characters' movements and facial features were absolutely spot on with the dialog and if you consider the fact that each character must have had hundreds if not thousands of different faces that had to be removed, applied, shaped to fit the emotion and lines- it's just astounding to think of. In every scene I was just blown away but the amount of attention to detail that has become a part of Laika films, and has set them apart from all other animation studios. 

Monkey, Beetle and Kubo
[Found on Google Images]

The voice cast also was impressive- Charlize Theron who plays Monkey was amazing; she added not only a hard, cold and concise attitude for this character but there was so much power, strength and love in her performace as well. Matthew McConaughey was hugely entertaining as Beetle, as he has a bad case of amnesia and is constantly adding humor to his scenes. Art Parkinson (Kubo) gave a great performance, as to be expected from anyone working on Game of Thrones. There are also some big names in the supporting cast, like George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a few of the colorful villagers, and Ralph Fiennes as The Moon King.

While the art is basically flawless and attentive to Japanese art and culture, you can also hear it throughout the soundtrack, which features a lot of traditional Japanese instruments like the koto, taiko drums, fue and of course, the shamisen as a shamisen is an integral part of the story. And can I just say I feel like western culture needs more shamisen music? There's just something so elegant and simple yet so complex about the shamisen- it's really amazing to hear it used so frequently and masterfully in the soundtrack to this film. It's even featured in the title song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Regina Spektor. 

There is constant danger for Kubo on his journey.
[Found on Google Images]

I was blown away by stunning art and beautiful music for sure, but what really impressed me was the story and the emotion put into this film. Kubo's story is one of courage, family, loyalty, as well as loss and grief. While many animated films that attract younger audiences do have themes of death and grief, they do have a tendency to not focus on the grieving, but rather the healing. That is fine, but for anyone who has ever loved and lost you will know how strong and strange grief can be, and how not only does it take strength to move forward from it, but it takes just as much strength if not more to fully feel and accept the pain we all feel with loss. A big theme in Kubo is that memories are the strongest form of magic, and our hero draws from that in order to defend himself from his enemies, which is an important lesson for not only younger viewers, but also adults, as I said.

One of the evil Sisters.
[Found on Google Images]

Kubo and the Two Strings is being promoted and marketed as a main stream animated family feature, when the film as a whole felt like a much more artsy venture. While the film is thoroughly enjoyable, younger children may find some of the more somber and quite moments boring so that should be something to keep in mind if you want to go see this movie with your kids. Other than that though, I'm having a really hard time finding anything in this movie to dislike. This film is definitely one of the better movies I've seen this year- so far it's in my Top 10, as well as other critics as they are giving the movie raving praise. Kubo is a movie well worth the price of a ticket, as well as a copy on Blue Ray (I can only imagine what that movie will look like in high definition). This film has earned it's place among the other great animated masterpieces that Laika has given us, but will also likely be counted in among other animated masterpieces for years to come. 

Kubo and his magic will live on in cinematic history for years to come.
[Found on Google Images]