Kubo and the Two Strings tells the story of a one-eyed boy named
Kubo (Art Parkinson) who has the ability to magically animate origami through
the music of his shamisen. He lives with and
takes care of his neurotic mother, and earns money by being a
street performer in his village. One
day, the Moon King’s malevolent twin daughters (Rooney Mara), who have long been hunting for Kubo and his mother, attack his village.
With her last ounce of magic, Kubo’s mother sends him safely away,
tasking him to look for his father’s magical sword, armor, and helmet. On the run from the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes)
and his daughters, Kubo meets Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew
McConaughey), who pledge to be his guardians in his quest.
This movie is co-produced by stop-motion
animated studio Laika. Stop-motion is a
timeless, elegant animation medium (it’s rare to find a bad stop-motion
animated movie), and Laika is arguably the best studio doing it in the past
years, as what Coraline and ParaNorman, and to a lesser extent, The Boxtrolls (it’s fine but not as
awesome as the other two), had proven. With Kubo and the Two Strings, they succeeded in adding another masterpiece to their portfolio, and I wish they’ll be able to eventually flourish like Pixar – they deserve it.
Aside from having fantastic
animation, Kubo and the Two Strings also has an endearing, original adventure plot. The story emphatically brings the feels, and
emits both a sense of triumph and tragedy.
It has excellent twists (though somewhat predictable), well-paced storytelling
(though the ending is a bit abrupt), and beautiful themes on humanity and
family.
As of now, Kubo and the Two Strings ties Zootopia
as my choice for best animated movie of the year. Of course, there’s always the possibility that I will be able to watch
something superior before the year is over – still around two months left in 2016. Moana is just around the corner, and I’ve yet to see the anime
movie Your Name (Kimi no Na wa), which I’ve heard is pretty awesome, and The Red Turtle, which was co-produced by
Studio Ghibli (thought it’s quite possible it’ll be next year before I can finally watch it). Nevertheless, Kubo and the Two Strings is one of my favorite movies of the year.
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