- Kubo and the Two Strings

We live in the future, and it is incredible. I’ve found stop-motion animation to be a fascinating medium, not only for its “dirtiness” when compared to CGI, but also because of the painstaking care it takes to produce a full-length feature with this process. Animation studios like Aardman and Laika are really starting to take advantage of all the tools at their disposal to create some awesome stop-motion movies. We’ve come a long way since the films of Henry Selick, the most famous one being The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Through Selick, we now have a handful of fantastic films through the Laika brand. While their previous work, The Boxtrolls (2014) had started the trend away from more morbid themes and plots, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) shows just how capable the stop-motion medium is to tell a fantastic story. With an origami motif existing throughout, Kubo and the Two Strings is a fantastic example of what 3-D Printing can do for the stop-motion animation industry. In fact, the almost transparent qualities of the characters allowed the light to more realistically interact with their bodies, immersing the viewer even further into the story. People who haven’t had much interaction with 3-D printing probably didn’t notice it, but I certainly did. Even though the plot may have been a bit “video game”-ish at times, the structure was almost faithfully that of a classic fairy tale. The themes of love, loss, family, duty, and honor are all present in this Japanese setting, thus hammering home the emotional impact of the characters’ actions with each turn. I was certainly in tears during several segments because of how touching they were. With this plot, the style of animation, and the technical achievements to make it a reality, I would be shocked if Laika does not win their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature next year because of this film. A visually stunning, modern fairy tale that shows off the amazing talents of the Laika team, I give Kubo and the Two Strings 4.5 stars out of 5.

This animated feature is an excellent movie and fully enjoyable and satisfying for both kids AND adults. This movie doesn't have any of the adult TV show/movie or new references that animation movie makers seem to have to put into an animated movie to get adults to watch with their kids and it doesn't need them! This movie may look like a completely CGI animated movie, but it is NOT! The majority of this movie is done "Old School" with different types of clay and mechanical puppets in a more modern style of Ray Harryhausen OR Nick Park/Aardman (Wallace & Grommit) stop motion animation! This movie amazes on sooo many levels! The modern and old style Asian soundtrack is another really imprressive part of this movie that really helps to propel this feature to another level of interest as another element and plot supporting device! The attention to the tiniest of details and a very well thought out plot is what helps keep your interest in this movie, as highly fictional and fantastical as this animated feature is. I never saw this movie in the theaters (I really wished I had), but watching this movie with my wife on our 50 inch screen TV gave us a real great sense of what this movie was like in the theaters. Our interest in this movie was piqued when we seen excerpts of this movie in commercials for "Save our Forrests" ! This movie is an impressive feat that you should either rent to watch or own! If you are a big fan of animated feature films, this is a must have to own feature worthy of being added to your animated movie collection! This IS an excellent and wonderful movie to watch and experience!

This is a great animated film telling an epic story in an unusual, but accessible way. It's all about stories and how we tell them and how they shape us. It's probably better for middle school aged kids up through adult though. I tried showing it to a friend's 8 and 6 year old daughters and they couldn't keep up with the story and lost interest. Still, for a bit older kids, it's a great imaginative and artistic film that I highly recommend!

Wow, this is Laika's best film yet. What an amazing and talented studio. I'm nearly envious of their creation here! That should tell you just how technical and intricate this stop-motion/cgi picture is. Not only is it culturally arresting with the Japanese influence, it's also a natural and satisfyingly human trip through a boy's adventure in life and death with his family. It has all the tones and emotions one expects from a great picture, and I am stricken with heartache that this one is not more popular than it is. But this is a mass of people that will take a random and terrible comic book film to 500m easily. Whatever. While the script here isn't quite as funny or clever as say Moana, the soul that went into this is perfectly clear for anybody with an artist's heart and mind. Kubo rings true at every angle for me. And wow what a beautiful interpretation of Japanese fantasy. One thing everyone needs to do is watch all the documentary videos. It is entirely fascinating how they put these films together. It takes a lot of work. On a busy day they were doing almost 20 frames. ALMOST. The large and complex puppets have rarely been used in this type of animation, and the team wholly succeeded with infusing the story with a perfectly molded visual style that captures so many moving details you will want to watch it twice to take in everything. The 3D bluray has a nice lenticular cover and comes with a normal bluray as well. I enjoyed this film in both formats. What a great film. It didn't do quite as well at the box office, but to me marketing for this was extremely poor. I hope for their next film they find a better service to get the word out. Laika is an extremely talented studio ever since their first release with Coraline. You got to see this one too. It's an even better film.

Una de las mejores películas del estudio de animación Laika, el exterior, un steelbook precioso en su diseño, el interior, una joya de la animación que todo el mundo debería de ver. El remasterizado a 4K Dolby Vision es sublime, colores sobrios y definición superlativa, lo malo es que esta remasterización es exclusiva de Shout! Factory, por lo que es exclusiva del mercado americano, es decir que no lleva castellano, viene una pista en español, pero es, evidentemente latino, yo las películas las veo en su inmensa mayoría en en V.O. por lo que en lo personal no me afecta, aunque he de decir que, el doblaje latino, es excelente, y además es 5.1, por lo que es muy disfrutable. En definitiva, nos encontramos antes un UHD de una enorme calidad en todos sus apartados, y cuya única pega, es que no viene doblada al castellano, si no os importa en demasía este aspecto, es una compra muy recomendable, hay que tener en cuenta que una versión UHD con castellano ni existe, ni se la espera.

A new stop motion movie from Laika Studios. Who also brought us 'Coraline.' 'Paranorman.' And 'The Boxtrolls.' This is a wholly original story, with an oriental setting. The main character is Kubo. A boy who starts the film washed up on a shore with his mother. They come to live on the edge of a village. Where he grows up entertaining the locals with his storytelling, music, and amazing origami skills. But his mother can only tell him so much about his past. And he would love to know who his father was. When the village is attacked, it's the start of a remarkable journey that will change his life forever... The stop motion in here is simply stunningly well done, and gorgeous to look at. It even manages scenes set at water that look convincing. The score is also superb, fitting the setting of the tale perfectly. It's a film of sections. The opening has a lot to set up and is a bit of a slow burner. But once the action gets going it's initially unclear as to certain things that are going on. But then Kubo is on a quest with two special beings, Monkey [Charlize Theron] and Beetle [Matthew Mcconaughey]. The three form an excellent grouping giving some very funny bickering and character moments. Matthew Mcconaughey in particular is superb at playing his character for intended laughs. The final quarter of the film does change direction slightly to go a little darker, but it does deliver memorable action and good answers. And has a brilliant emotional depth to it. Leading to an ending you won't forget in a hurry. Through the narrative Kubo has an excellent character journey, and you can really feel for him and relate to him all the way. Its a great journey to take. The film might be a bit dark at points for some of the very young, hence the PG certificate. But ultimately it's a charming fable and a great watch and well worth five stars. The disc has the following language and subtitle options: Languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic. Subtitles: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic. It also has English audio description. The disc begins with some trailers and ads, that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote. It contains the usual flyer with code to use to download a copy of the film to a digital device. Extras: Kubo's Journey. A making of documentary, which is split into six parts. Which can be watched individually or all in a row. If doing the latter it runs for twenty seven minutes in total. This is a good and in depth look at the production and an excellent watch. There's also Corner of the Earth, a three minute look at some of the settings in the film. Which is a bit too short to have much impact.

Little Kubo sets out to solve the mystery of his samurai father. A magical adventure with stunning visuals make this wonderful film a pleasure to watch.

Très bon film j'adore

Back in 2015, Mark Kermode, one of Britain's top film critics, asked an interesting question to fans of cinema - Are we in a new golden age of animation cinema? Besides Disney and even DreamWorks, there have been other studios (not just in the US, but all over the world) that have been producing some truly great animated films. And even if they don't match the box-office grosses of those produced by Disney and DreamWorks, they certainly make up for in quality of the material. Last year was no exception. Disney delivered a double-whammy with ZOOTROPOLIS and MOANA, while a new anime movie, not produced by Studio Ghibli (who are currently in hiatus), has taken Japan by storm, YOUR NAME. Another animated film that came out in 2016 was KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, the fourth feature from the stop-motion animators of Laika, who came into the spotlight with their excellent adaptation of Neil Gaiman's CORALINE (2009). KUBO follows the story of the titular character, a young boy who's eye went missing as a baby. When the evil Sisters appear and wreck havoc on the village where he lives nearby, Kubo must flee and embark on a journey to find the missing armour that his mysterious father once wore if he is to defeat the sinister Moon King, Raiden. But he is not alone - accompanying Kubo are Monkey (Imperator Furiosa herself, Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey, who has truly had a career comeback over the past five years). What I really like about KUBO is that it doesn't follow the same trends that some animated films are doing to death - no dated pop-culture references, no romantic subplots, no Oscar-bait songs and no obvious comedy sidekicks (there is some humour, but it's handle rather well). It's also a strong example of you don't have to do just CG animation in order to make a great animated film. The Skeleton Demon is the largest stop-motion puppet to be built (sixteen feet tall!), while the boat sequence took 19 months to shoot. But all the effort was worth it, because the animators cared about the story and the characters. It's a shame that KUBO only did marginal business at the box-office ($70 million worldwide to it's $60 million budget). It should have been one of the highest-grossing animated films of the year alongside ZOOTROPOLIS, MOANA and YOUR NAME. But with it gaining several awards and a possible nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at this year's Oscars, maybe more people will become aware of this wonderful and beautiful gem. If the legendary Ray Harryhausen was still alive and he decided to do a Japanese-themed animated film, then I'm pretty sure KUBO would be that type of film. It deserves to be regarded as one of the highlights in this new golden age of animation cinema. Reviewer: Ben David W