Kubo
and the Two Strings (2016): Written by Marc Haimes and Chris
Butler, directed by Travis Knight. Starring: Art Parkinson, Charlize
Theron, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew McConaughey, and Rooney Mara. Running
Time: 102 minutes.
Rating:
4/4
If
you must blink, do it now. For if you
look away for even a second, this review will fail, and it’s writer will surely
die. Or at least be condemned to
watching lesser animated fare like Sing
or The Secret Life of Pets for the
rest of eternity. *shudders*
This
threat is not terribly dissimilar to the one facing our hero, Kubo (Art
Parkinson), as he seeks to discover the legacy of his late father, the
legendary samurai Hanzo. Possessing the
ability to use his magical shamisen to manipulate objects like leaves and
pieces of paper however he wishes, Kubo is at first wholly ignorant of why he
and his mother live alone in a seaside cave, why he is strictly forbidden from
leaving the cave at night, and why he only has one eye. He finds out in terrible fashion one night
when he stays in the local village just a bit too long, and his mother’s twin
sisters (both expertly voiced by Rooney Mara) descend from the moon to kill him
and his mother and steal his remaining eye.
His
mother uses the last of her magic powers (she appears to have once a powerful
sorcerous, but grief over the loss of her husband slowly dimmed her strength
over the years), to send Kubo away under the protection of a monkey talisman
brought to life. Kubo and the monkey (Charlize
Theron) are soon joined by an anthropomorphic beetle (Matthew McConaughey) claiming
to have been trained by Hanzo himself.
They set out to find the legendary three great treasures that offer
Kubo’s only defense against the powerful magic of the sisters and their father,
the Moon King.
It’s
a perfect example of the classic Hero’s Journey we’ve seen a thousand times
before, yet done so point-perfect and with such obvious vision that it rises
above most of its competitors into something unique and special. This movie was in production for almost a
decade, and it shows, as its lavish and detailed visual design left me gaping
in every other scene. Everything from
the way hair and clothing moves to how waves rise and fall looks so realistic
you have to keep reminding yourself you’re watching clay figures that were
photographed a shot at a time.
This
is so much more than a lights show though.
The voice acting breathes beautifully animated life into the characters,
and when you least expect it to, the movie uses its story to turn to themes of
forgiveness, love, and family, and the importance of building community with
those around you. There are story
quibbles to be had- later reveals about the background of Monkey and Beetle
raise more questions than they answer- but these are minor distractions from
what is otherwise one of the best movies, animated or otherwise, to come out
this year.
I
still find it supremely disappointing that Laika has never had quite the
box-office success (nor the awards success) that the other major animations
studios in America have had, because they have firmly established themselves as
the new Pixar of the US animation scene, created brilliant, original, and cutting-edge
works that push the boundaries of stop-motion animation much like how Pixar has
expanded the possibilities of computer animation. By all rights this and ParaNorman both deserved much better success than they had (this
one just barely broke even at the box office).
That
said, Kubo is still such a masterful
piece of work, I am confident it will still find its audience and will remain
and enduring work for years to come. Like
its score and the magical, reality-altering music of Kubo himself, it rises and
soars on its own vision to heights most movies can only dream of reaching.
-Noah Franc
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