Sitting in the director’s chair is Laika president and CEO Travis Knight, who’s confessed that the story is close to his heart, as it’s inspired by his own childhood. Under his deft touch, feudal Japan comes to life in bold strokes of color and light. Please go see it because stop-motion animation needs all the love and support it can get nowadays, especially in the form of tickets purchased to see this handsome work of art in theaters.
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Kubo (voiced by Game of Thrones’ Art Parkinson) shares stories with an audience in his small village using his three-stringed shamisen, but he knows little about the extent of his powers.
The movie’s beginning takes place On December 22, 2014, when Laika and Focus Features announced that the production will began on a 3D stop-motion animated film Kubo and the Two Strings. The way this movie tells this story is nothing short of extraordinary. This is the first animated film I have ever done. Even when Kubo tries to explain the villain’s motives, it’s not until the last ten minutes and they rush right through it. Along with a tiny, mute origami warrior, the questing friends set out in search of Kubo’s father’s magical armor, helmet and sword, thinking it to be the only way to save Kubo from a pair of relentless spirts (Rooney Mara). Kubo tries to run home but he’s not fast enough and the two spirit sisters are nearly upon him when his mother appears and uses her magic to transport Kubo away quickly while she distracts the spirits. “When you look at a stop-motion film, you see the will and the skill, and the imagination of an artist who’s brought something to life with their hands”, Knight said. Kubo’s lush silences, too, often speak louder than its script. And in a way, they are: When the 11-year-old titular protagonist urges the audience to pay close attention to his story, he might as well be preparing them for the 90 minutes of spellbinding visual magic to follow.
It was also nice to hear George Takei deliver his signature “Oh my!” in the role of Hosato, a phrase that will forever be associated with the Star Trek star. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award victor Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award victor Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. In a village at the foot of a mountain where he and his mom live (they’re contented cave-dwellers), he makes a living as a busker or sorts, telling samurai stories in the street as he provides his own background music via his trusty shamisen (a Japanese, banjo-like instrument). Most run with the same cartoonish CGI aesthetic we’ve seen in a dozen Pixar movies and most end up only centering around popular themes like courage, friendship, and togetherness. The title character’s knack for origami and the clever ways that papercraft shape the story offer the animators the opportunity to create one beautifully intricate sequence after another that push the boundaries of stop-motion in fresh, imaginative ways.
Kubo and the Two Strings is only Laika’s fourth film, following The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman and Coraline.
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Kubo and the Two Strings is now in wide release.
