He is the hero because we are told that he is the hero, rather than shown. There is no character change, because there was nothing to be changed at the start.Īnd this becomes a notable domino-like effect with the rest of the film. He is told what his quest must be, but through this quest, he has nothing to change within himself. The issue comes with some of the basic 'Hero's Journey' plot beats, and how they're told.

So technically, Kubo has everything in motion to tell a stunning story. Which is intriguing, on paper and in theory, for an American animation film. Laika approaches this story in the traditional sense of the Hero's Journey (see Joseph Campbell's analysis of the Hero's Journey for more on this), with a blend of Miyazaki-esque classical Japanese animation storytelling. Kids films have been steadily evolving to not just be mindless fodder for your children - they can have emotions they can have character arcs they can have morality evaluations they can be better. And yet, studios like Laika and Pixar and Disney Animation Studios have been consistently elevating the medium to tell truly amazing stories. People so quickly jump to the conclusion that story issues in kids films are negligible because they are 'just kids films,' and therefore, should receive a pass.

The weakest issues with this film fall to the story. Overall, the atmosphere and visuals of this film are incredible, but the performances definitely help promote this. The film also excels in the fantastic performances from the various voice-actors, a list that includes the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, and standout Art Parkinson as Kubo. When the animation is as immersive as their work, it sucks you in and doesn't detract, nor remind you that you are just watching another animation film. I constantly forgot that this was stop motion, which is one of the best compliments that stop motion can ever receive. The visuals alone put this film on a higher pedestal than most live-action films in existence. One of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen.ĭirector Travis Knight, who has been a member of the Laika artistic team for their past films, creates one of the most ethereal films I've ever seen. On a technical level, this is their best. With their newest addition to their catalogue Kubo and the Two Strings, they add yet another impressive animation film to their overwhelming successful filmography, despite being their most flawed to date. Paranorman and Boxtrolls, albeit substantially more tame, fall into this same category. Coraline is one of my top favorite films of all time, as its folklore and simplistic story are shown through a beautifully tense and atmospheric approach. Their consistent attention to detail, quality of execution, and fluidity of vision is what makes them stand out. Laika Studios is one of the best film studios out there, let alone animation studios. The problem-and it’s a befuddling one, since “Kubo” is a story about a storyteller-concerns the storytelling in the script, which is disorganized, confusing and diffuse.(EDITOR'S NOTE: This review is a two-part publication, written by Cinemaker Blog contributor Jake Sanders and Community Coordinator Spencer Mirabal respectively.) Both are intriguingly odd and thoroughly entertaining. His companions are a ferocious monkey voiced by Charlize Theron and a samurai beetle voiced by Matthew McConaughey. The core of the narrative is an odyssey that Kubo is forced to undertake in order to uncover family secrets and fulfill his own destiny. The hero of the title, voiced by Art Parkinson of “Game of Thrones,” is an earnest young street musician and storyteller whose tales are animated, in their turn, by origami creations that come magically to life. (Although the action is set in a fantastical version of feudal Japan that looks uniquely Japanese, the stop-action feature was made by Laika, the American studio that previously gave us “Coraline,” “ParaNorman” and “The Boxtrolls.”) The first and last things to be said in this limited space about “Kubo and the Two Strings” are that it’s a showcase for some of the most startlingly beautiful animation in recent-and not so recent-memory.

Kubo and the two strings theory