Kubo

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

Kubo and the Two Strings is the fourth full film by stop motion studio: Laika Entertainment (Coraline, ParaNorman, Boxtrolls) and it tells the story of a young boy named "Kubo" and his journey to finding freedom from the people that hunt him. Let me just start off by saying Kubo is one of the most beautifully animated films i've ever seen. If you've ever seen any of the other films by Laika, then you know they are very good at creating amazing visuals using stop motion. In "Kubo" Laika takes their stop motion to another level, with amazing scenery, emotions and expressions on the characters, and great movement. Watching a movie like "Kubo" reminds me why I love film and animation so much. Seeing all the creativity with the visuals, like the unique locations, character designs and the detail that they put into them was fantastic.

The story in "Kubo" is also another strong aspect of the film. A story is focused on Kubo, a boy with great power who has lived a sheltered life with his mom. He sets out on an adventure to try to
stop the evil forces trying to destroy his life after certain events occur. There's really something here for people of all ages. For older watchers, the story has a lot of details and things that you will better understand as you get older. It offers a lot of great dialog and themes to keep you interested and invested, things a younger viewer will miss. For younger watchers, there are great action scenes and the whole movie just feels like one big great adventure that i'm sure younger kids will love. The world of Kubo isn't like anything else I've seen this year, it's not afraid to go a little dark with it's visuals and storytelling. I think that's part of what makes this film feel different from other animated movies like "Zootopia" and "Finding Dory". Things don't always go where you think they would in a film aimed for families, it's more surprising and refreshing in that aspect.

We live in a time where big high-budget movies are mostly just sequels or comic book movies, so it's always great when someone brings new and original ideas. In a year with many forgettable animated movies like: "Angry Birds", "Ice Age: whatever it was called", and "secret life of pets", Kubo stands above.  This movie gets everything right from it's amazing visual work, to storytelling, to voice acting. Not only is "Kubo" one of the best films of the summer, it's one of the best of the year. On a personal level, I think it's the best animated film of the year, taking the place of "Zootopia". Laika is quickly becoming my new favorite film studio (Pixar still being first.... FOR NOW) with the great original films they keep putting out.

Overall this movie was amazing from start to finish. I didn't feel bored during one single second of it and was always excited to see what was going to happen next. I wish more movies could provide
the entertainment and creativity that I found in this one. It's clear that lots of hard work went into making every part of this movie, and it was well worth it. All the visuals were top-notch, everything
felt very memorable and I felt amazed by the beautiful animation the whole time. I'm very excited to see what the next film by Laika Entertainment will be.

Overall Grade: A