Reviewed by: Arclas
Kubo and the Two Strings is a visually appealing movie depicting a coming of age story where Kubo is forced to grow up quickly in order to save himself and his immediate family. The movie essentially begins with Kubo describing a story of his late father to find armour to defeat the moon king with the use of magic origami. Due to various foolish acts, Kubo himself has to embark on the quest to find the three pieces of golden armour.
This movie was shot using stop motion Claymation which is a method of making clay sculptures and taking large amounts of photos to create the movie as the statues move. With Kubo, the artistry is visually stunning and you can see the care that was placed into it. From a technical standpoint this movie was fantastic.
As a whole, the storyline was good but familiar in the sense that it is similar to other movies where the child has to dawn the quest of their guardians. From beginning to end, it entertained with its dialogue and emotion to feel for Kubo’s journey. There was quick humour to keep us laughing and along with the music, the movie reached to keep the audience interested.
Overall I would say 7.5 out of 10 because the movie was visually appealing and kept me interested with its own charms however, besides a few twists, the movie was a little predictable to the ending and familiar to others in its genre. Would watch again and I recommend to any interested in arts movies and as a cute family movie.
Studio: Laika Films
Distributed by: Focus Features
Running Time: 102 minutes
TIDBITS:
- The film is the directorial debut of Laika President and CEO Travis Knight, son of Nike co-founder and chairman/ Laika owner and chairman Phil Knight.
- According to Box Office Mojo, all Laika films to date which include The Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and Coraline have been budgeted at 60 million.
- Art Parkinson voices the lead Kubo, previously Isaac Hempstead Wright voiced the lead in Laika’s previous film The Boxtrolls. Both play Stark brothers Bran and Rickon on Game of Thrones.
FilmGamer 