"Kubo and the Two Strings" Review - Stop Motion, Strings, Wings, Words.

“Kubo and the Two Strings” is so awesome! I mean, it’s not a groundbreaking animated film, but what makes up for a story that may be familiar is made up for it’s brilliant execution!

For those of you who haven’t noticed, Laika has never made a bad movie. Their lineup includes Corpse Bride, Coraline, Paranorman, and Boxtrolls, all terrific stop motion movies! And every stop motion film they put out, the animation just gets better and more surreal. “Kubo” has such a beauty to it I haven’t seen in a cartoon film in a while, which made up for it’s Wizard of Oz like story.

The one thing that kind of got to me was the Timon/Pumba relationship for like a quarter of the film. This movie touches on so many dark subjects and it’s overall a dark film, and for it to have an odd dumb guy and smart guy duo making really cringe worthy jokes just didn’t seem right to me (but major props to every voice actor, look them up). But thankfully, it all pays off in the end as everything stays connected to make such a great, sad, and epic coherent story. For every moment there’s a joke for the kids, there are two moments of true Lord of the Rings like action. If you do go see it, beware it may be annoying at first, but stick with it. The whole plot pays off in the end.

Adding on another positive to the movie, it’s truly imaginative. Yes, its a familiar plot, but everything about the settings, the monsters, the characters, and the superpowers are all so original. That’s what I want to see in films. It’s fine if a plot is rehashed as long as you find more creative ways to tell it. That’s where I give “Kubo” major props.

I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again, animated movies in 2016 are something wonderful. It’s no longer kicking ass, it’s more like spanking ass. Zootopia, Finding Dory, The Little Prince, Kubo, and soon Storks, Moana, even Trolls looks good!!! I’m so used to seeing great cartoons on TV. To see them conquering the film world for once is really something nice to see. I look forward to seeing what other movies come in store now that Oscar season is finally about to start.

Also, there’s a cover of a great Beatles song at the end. SOOOOOO GOOD!

Two Nebs Up!