Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings

Starring Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes

Directed by Travis Knight

The Story:
When he was born, Kubo (Art Parkinson) was a target of his evil grandfather, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes), who wanted his eyes.  After taking one, his mother (Charlize Theron) spirits Kubo away with her magic, and the two live a life of exile.  As Kubo grows up, he must take care of his often comatose mother, as well as remain indoors at night, for that's when the Moon King and Kubo's aunts (Rooney Mara) can find him.

Kubo goes to the town everyday to tell tales of heroism and bravery through living origami he brings to life by strumming his magical shamisen (a traditional three-stringed Japanese instrument) that delights old and young alike.  He's told that, at night, the townspeople remember and talk to those who passed on, and Kubo wants to stay to talk to his deceased father, Hanzo, who was a brave samurai warrior.  Kubo stays out past daylight, and his Aunts find him.  To protect him, his mother arrives and uses the last of her magic to get him to safety.

When he comes to, Kubo is now with Monkey, formerly a small wooden charm, but now brought to life thanks to his mother's magic.  Monkey is destined to protect Kubo as the two go in search for three items once belonging to Hanzo - The Sword Unbreakable, The Armor Impenetrable and The Helmet Invulnerable.  With these items Kubo can once and for all destroy the Moon King, but as with any journey, it's not an easy one.  They meet up with Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), a forgetful half-man, half-beetle who was once one of Hanzo's valiant soldiers.  As the three make their journey, we learn their story, and share in their victories and suffering.

The Synopsis:
There is an animation studio in Oregon known as Laika, who specializes in stop-motion animation.  Their previous films - "Coraline," "ParaNorman" and "The Boxtrolls" - blended stunning visuals with compelling stories.  With "Kubo and the Two Strings," Laika (and its CEO, Travis Knight, who directed this film) outdoes themselves in leaps and bounds, resulting in a beautiful masterpiece of animated cinema, one that treats its viewers with the utmost respect and intelligence. 

"If you must blink, do it now."  The breathless words of our hero echo through the blank screen, preparing us for the epic journey we're about to share.  Indeed, if you do blink during the film, you miss out on seconds of awe-inspiring animation and gut-wrenching drama, and never before has it been more important to find one of those machines from "A Clockwork Orange" that keeps your eyelids open.

(I would've gladly endured the pain in order to not miss a single frame of this film.)

The first scene is an epic visual of baby Kubo and his mother sailing through the relentless waters, with his mother using the magical shamisen to part the waters in a way that would make Moses proud.  You already see that the two of them have been through hell, as Kubo is missing his left eye, and you're immediately drawn into the story that's about to unfold.

Years pass, and Kubo has to care for his now mostly-comatose mother, who only comes to life when she's talking about her husband.  You feel Kubo's loneliness and yet you also feel his steely resolve, his tactful storytelling and even hints of pure childlike innocence. As he hears tales of his brave father who passed, Kubo wishes nothing more than to talk with him, so he disobeys his mothers' wishes and stays in town after dark in hopes of communicating with his spirit, resulting in the arrival of his mother's evil Sisters, and the real adventure begins.

"Kubo" isn't afraid to tackle the most adult situations, especially involving dealing with death and loss at such an early age, as well as the value of true family and yet also showing that not all family is good.  These are deep themes for such a vibrant film, and manages to tell this tale with a perfect blend of action, humor, drama, heart, loss, determination, strength and pain.  For one hundred minutes we're taken on the adventure of a lifetime, one that we don't want to end.  The film focuses on the subject of storytelling, as not only Kubo tells his fantastic tales, but his journey himself is a story.  There's mention of story throughout, with fears of a story's end, to which we're reminded that no story truly ends as long as there's others to tell it.

The epic undertaking the company took to produce such a treasure isn't one to be taken lightly.  The film took over five years to make, on average they filmed 4.3 seconds of film each week, with Kubo alone having over 48 million possible facial expressions and a total of 23,187 prototype faces. One of the monsters in the film is the biggest stop-motion creations ever made, and you can tell that those behind the scenes made this film as a labor of love.  The result is a beautiful (I tend to use that word a lot here, and even that word doesn't remotely do the film justice) creation that demands attention and receives it.

Typically actors have a lot of work themselves to make a film great, but with an animated film they sometimes phone it in since all they have to do is speak lines into a microphone.  Not so with "Kubo," as each voice actor also pours their hearts and souls into their performances.  Young "Game of Thrones" star Art Parkinson tackles Kubo's tale, and performs with brilliance and an ability far beyond his young years.  He perfectly encapsulates Kubo's essence with his determined voice, and the story he tells as amazing as any storyteller four times his age.  Charlize Theron takes on the voice of Monkey, who was an enchanted charm brought to life by Kubo's mother before her death, assigned with protecting him.  She is the new mother of Kubo, and as such gives a vocal performance as that of any doting mother (stern yet sensitive, demanding yet caring).  In his first animated role, Matthew McConaughey delights as the bumbling - yet very heroic - Beetle, and the banter between him and Monkey is something you'd see any parents get involved with.  As the voice of both Sisters, Rooney Mara gives an eerie ethereal performance that only adds to the fear of the Sisters' appearances themselves.

So is "Kubo" a kid's tale?  Yes, in the fact that it treats the children as intelligent as adults, and doesn't pander to them.  They'll see some truly scary images and deal with some real serious stuff, but the result is something not only children will enjoy, but adults as well, resulting in a story that will never die as it will be told for generations to come by those who watch it.

The Summary:
"Kubo" is a harrowing tale of survival, loss, family and adventure that brilliantly blends so many different aspects into a cohesive whole, with beautiful visuals and a tale that will pluck your heartstrings as Kubo plucks his shamisen.

The Score: A+