Kubo and The Two Strings - Review

Who Made Kubo and The Two Strings?

Kubo and The Two Strings is the fourth movie by Laika Studios, who specialise in Stop-Motion animation. It is directed by Travis Knight, with Mark Haimes and Chris Butler writing the screenplay and Shannon Tindle helping to provide the story.

What's It About?

Kubo and the Two Strings tells the story of Kubo (Voiced by Art Parkinson), a one-eyed child who lives in Ancient Japan. In order to raise the money to provide for himself and his ailing mother Sariatu, he puts on street performances where he uses a guitar-like instrument called the Shanisen to bring Origami sculptures to life and tell stories about his father, the heroic samurai Hanzo. Kubo is forbidden from staying outside his home when dark comes, lest the sinister Sisters (Both voiced by Rooney Mara), the servants and daughters of the Moon King (Voiced by Ralph Fiennes) capture him and take his remaining eye. However, one night, Kubo misses his curfew, unleashing the sisters. At the cost of her own life, Sariatu uses her magical powers to transport Kubo away from the village. In order to defeat The Moon King, Kubo needs to find the three pieces of Hanzo's magic armour (a sword, a breastplate and a helmet). He is aided in his quest by Monkey (Voiced by Charlize Theron), a wooden doll brought to life, and Beetle (Voiced by Matthew McConaughey), a half-beetle, half-samurai, both of whom have significant hidden secrets.

My Review

"If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see no matter how unusual it may seem. If you look away, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish."

These are the opening lines to Kubo and the Two Strings, and they do an excellent job of getting the viewers attention. They create an intriguing sense of mystery and highlight one of the central themes of the film - the power and importance of storytelling. An opening narration is not always the best indicator of a film's quality, but Kubo and the Two Strings resoundingly lives up to the promise suggested by Kubo's introductory comments.

The best aspect of the film is the way in which it deals with a number of important themes. The focus on storytelling and its value is the most prominent, but Kubo and the Two Strings also deals with a number of other difficult topics. In addition to storytelling, it tackles the value of family, coming of age, death, bereavement, redemption, and the importance of emotions. Kubo and the Two Strings does justice to these themes. communicating them effectively to both children and adults. The film has numerous sad moments, but also plenty of hopeful ones. and the manner in which the themes and messages are conveyed gives these scenes their power.

Kubo and the Two Strings also has brilliant visuals. These are a must for any animated film, but Kubo's animation is so detailed that it is impossible to tell that it was mostly done in stop motion (Albeit with a good deal of CGI) There are scenes with sheets of origami paper transforming into Samurai, a flock of birds and even a giant chicken. In addition, we get a giant boat made entirely out of leaves, a river full of floating lanterns as beautiful as those depicted in Tangled, and a scene where our heroes have to fight a giant skeleton with hair made out of swords. The end credits include a clip where we see the latter being brought to life by animators, and it says volumes that I forgot about the stop-motion for much of the film and instead paid attention to the story.

Like many of the best children's films and fairy tales, Kubo and the Two Strings has a number of scary elements. In addition to the aforementioned battle with the skeleton, there is a fight against a sea monster with many eyes. The villains are also pretty creepy. The Sisters have porcelain masks (inspired by Japanese Theatre) and a witch-like design, whilst The Moon King is able to transform into a scary and powerful flying monster. However, the film is not without comedy. Beetle's often overconfident behaviour leads to a number of amusing moments, and Monkey's authoritative nature generates some dry humour as well.

The voice cast all succeed bringing the characters to life. As Kubo, Art Parkinson (Game of Thrones) has a number of scenes which would be a test for even an adult actor (as he tells his stories and fights The Moon King), but handles them pretty well. Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Huntsman) conveys Monkey's tough personality effectively, whilst Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar) provides an amusing performance as Beetle, also doing a good job with the more tragic aspects of the character. Rooney Mara (The Social Network), who I've never really associated with villain roles, is impressively menacing as the Sisters. The Moon King himself only appears in the Third Act, but Ralph Fiennes (Who has already worked on animated films such as The Prince of Egypt) makes him into a suitably threatening villain, maintaining his signature icy tone whilst changing his voice enough to fit the character and the setting.

However, Kubo and the Two Strings has been beset by allegations of white-washing, due to the fact that the central roles are played by white actors, and none of the people behind the film are Japanese. The iconic Japanese actor George Takei receives prominent billing, but his role is a mere cameo in a crowd scene. I believe that casting should be based on merit, but it would have been nice if one or two of the main characters were voiced by Japanese actors. Though the film is full of respect towards the culture it depicts, I think that the lack of Japanese personnel involved contrasts unfavourably with films such as the forthcoming Moana, which uses several Oceanic writers and actors in order to make its depiction of Polynesian culture more authentic. However, this does not really affect the quality of Kubo and the Two Strings, which is a very good movie as it is.

I also have an issue with the revelations surrounding Monkey and Beetle. I am going to avoid spoiling them here, but I personally wonder if they feel a little too contrived. These twists are handled well, fitting the films themes and advancing the story, but they feel a little over the top. Nonetheless, it is a testament to the quality of the writing that the revelations end up enhancing the film when they could have easily ruined it.

Conclusion

It's a bit depressing that Kubo and the Two Strings has not made much money at the Box Office, but then, many iconic family films, such as The Wizard of Oz were not successful on initial release. The real indicator of a film's quality is how well it is regarded in the future, and I bet that in about a decade, Kubo and the Two Strings will be remembered as a classic. It is a film bursting with ambitious visuals and interesting ideas, with memorable characters, a strong voice cast and a script that handles even the more conscientious elements of the story in a natural and engaging manner. I resoundingly recommend that you see this film.

Once You've Seen This Movie, See...

Coraline - Laika's best-known and most successful film. This contains most of the studio's signature elements, such as creepiness, humour, and a villain who wants to do something nasty to the protagonist's eyes.

Song Of The Sea - An Irish animated film about Selkies, this also centres around themes of family, and also features an antagonist who regards emotions as a weakness in the same way that the Moon King does in Kubo.

Anything by Studio Ghibli - It goes without saying that Japanese animated films were a significant influence on Kubo and the Two Strings. Although Studio Ghibli tend to set their films in more recent time periods, they have set a high benchmark for depictions of Japanese culture.