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#335 - Kubo and the Two Strings
Travis Knight, 2016
When a young boy is attacked by his mother's supernatural family, he must go on a quest to retrieve his late father's magic samurai equipment.
Kubo and the Two Strings is very much a film about the importance of stories. It begins with a line of narration imploring an audience to pay the utmost attention to what's about to happen and soon reveals that the eponymous protagonist (Art Parkinson) makes a living by telling stories through the use of both his shamisen and magic origami figures. This even extends to the film's actual plot, which does hit many recognisable beats within the standard "hero's journey" narrative as Kubo is forced on an epic quest to gather the items necessary to fight back against the film's supernaturally relentless villains and save the small village he calls home. He's even given some good companions in a talking monkey (Charlize Theron) and a cursed beetle-man (Matthew McConaughey), which fills out the sections between beats with some appropriately captivating interplay. In this regard, I reckon the film does falter slightly; while there are good players in the mix, the humour is not particularly funny in its own right. Of course, not only is this a minor complaint but it actually speaks to how Kubo is focused on combining its many elements to make as organic a tale as possible. Considering the strength of every other element, I can accept the humour being more for the benefit of the characters than the audience.
Not only does Kubo and the Two Strings deliver a fable-like narrative that champions the power of basic storytelling and the magic that can be wrought by seemingly simplistic methods, but it's amply reflected in the Laika studio's astounding visual approach. It speaks to the quality of the animation that I can barely determine where the practical ends and the computerised begins (and even then I'm not so sure that I can genuinely tell). Once the film got to the scene where Kubo was entertaining the townsfolk with his fantastic tale, I knew that I was in for something truly special - and it only continues to escalate from there (except for the moments where it knows to show an effective level of restraint). Vast landscapes, spectacular action, and elaborate set-pieces combine to make for one enthralling adventure that complements the narrative and its players just fine. As a result, Kubo proves a strong piece of work that does have the odd flaw (in fairness, it is quite distracting how a movie so deeply rooted in Japanese folklore has white people voicing the lead characters while relegating actors from Japanese backgrounds to playing a couple of supporting parts) but is otherwise what I'd hope to get out of a mainstream animated family film.
Travis Knight, 2016
When a young boy is attacked by his mother's supernatural family, he must go on a quest to retrieve his late father's magic samurai equipment.
Kubo and the Two Strings is very much a film about the importance of stories. It begins with a line of narration imploring an audience to pay the utmost attention to what's about to happen and soon reveals that the eponymous protagonist (Art Parkinson) makes a living by telling stories through the use of both his shamisen and magic origami figures. This even extends to the film's actual plot, which does hit many recognisable beats within the standard "hero's journey" narrative as Kubo is forced on an epic quest to gather the items necessary to fight back against the film's supernaturally relentless villains and save the small village he calls home. He's even given some good companions in a talking monkey (Charlize Theron) and a cursed beetle-man (Matthew McConaughey), which fills out the sections between beats with some appropriately captivating interplay. In this regard, I reckon the film does falter slightly; while there are good players in the mix, the humour is not particularly funny in its own right. Of course, not only is this a minor complaint but it actually speaks to how Kubo is focused on combining its many elements to make as organic a tale as possible. Considering the strength of every other element, I can accept the humour being more for the benefit of the characters than the audience.
Not only does Kubo and the Two Strings deliver a fable-like narrative that champions the power of basic storytelling and the magic that can be wrought by seemingly simplistic methods, but it's amply reflected in the Laika studio's astounding visual approach. It speaks to the quality of the animation that I can barely determine where the practical ends and the computerised begins (and even then I'm not so sure that I can genuinely tell). Once the film got to the scene where Kubo was entertaining the townsfolk with his fantastic tale, I knew that I was in for something truly special - and it only continues to escalate from there (except for the moments where it knows to show an effective level of restraint). Vast landscapes, spectacular action, and elaborate set-pieces combine to make for one enthralling adventure that complements the narrative and its players just fine. As a result, Kubo proves a strong piece of work that does have the odd flaw (in fairness, it is quite distracting how a movie so deeply rooted in Japanese folklore has white people voicing the lead characters while relegating actors from Japanese backgrounds to playing a couple of supporting parts) but is otherwise what I'd hope to get out of a mainstream animated family film.