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Kubo and the Two Strings Review Thread

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More_Badass said:
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So damn cool.
 
Saw this earlier today and it was absolutely fantastic. The animation was SO GOOD and the story was dark but had some good moments of levity. The stuff they do with origami is great and the sisters are super creepy.
 
Kubo and the Two Strings is a mixed bag. You can tell the film meant a lot to Knight but one has to wonder why. The story is interesting, sure, but when it boils down to it, the characters are forgettable archetypes. The dialogue is consistently clunky, which is the film's biggest issue. The animation is absolutely gorgeous though, constantly impressing in design and fluidity. The voice cast works well, with Theron and Mara being highlights, but once again, the rest can fall into forgettable territory as well. This may seem like a generic review, but unfortunately it fits Kubo and the Two Strings, which fails to be an entirely compelling animated film, despite being worth seeing just for the stop-motion animation.
 
Shaanyboi said:
Just got back. Loved it, but I don't know that this tops ParaNorman for me. Still enjoyed it alot. Alot of animators in my audience, but glad to see a decent amount of kids too.
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Gotta say the same. Paranorman was very well settled.

Just saw this a bit over an hour ago. Loved it, but I gotta think about it a little more, I feel like there were parts in the end that didn't fully come together but overall was a really wonderful tale.
 
I saw it tongith and it was pretty good! 8/10 for me. Very neat visual effects with origami. Cool music. Stay for the credits to hear a neat While My Guitar Gently Weeps version, and see a cool behind the scenes clip.

Bonus points for Matthew McConaughey NOT using the normal Matthew McConaughey voice.

Trivia: Voldemort played a character that basically looked like Voldemort. George Takei said "Oh myy". Laika had a cool animated logo at the end that incorporated all 4 movies.


*edit* I should point out it's my favorite Laika movie besides Coraline.
 
Movie came out 4 days ago here and there are not even any sessions past 5PM in the city so I can't even arrange to go see it again with friends, and it's not listed for next weekend.

Fuck. People have such shitty taste
 
Caught a 5:55 showing yesterday and the theater was packed. Might be a good sign. Word of mouth seems to be doing this film some good.

Honestly this might be one of my favorite animated movies ever. The broad-stroke storytelling method strikes a chord with me, and the animation was absolutely breathtaking.
 
I really want to check this out. Maybe this weekend.

I wasn't sure if it was actual stop motion back when I saw the first trailer, but I'm glad it is! I love that that's still an art form in 2016. Before I decided to become a comic book artist, I dabbled in animation, and considered going to school for it, and stop motion animation was one of the things I played around with. I used to adore Wallace and Gromit and pretty much eat up anything stop motion.

Me and the Missus will probably see this at some point. We don't go out to the movies a lot because it's so damn expensive, and we've already seen three/four movies this year. We may have to wait for VOD.
 
Wrote this responding to a few friends who saw the trailer and thought it looked bland. Maybe it'll help a few more see this.

"Didn't like the Trailers for Kubo at all either. If that was all I'd seen of it, I would have written it off. Marketing did nothing for me. Looked generic. I hadn't actually seen any trailers at all and started to hear some ecstatic buzz about it enough that I sought the trailers for it and went, really? Still doesn't look very compelling. But it's far far more than it lets on. If I could give you a reference point, it's a stop motion Legend of Zelda told with as much earnestness and heart as Iron Giant/Totoro. It had some emotional arcs there, but nothing that seems like its trying to pull you to crying. It's not maudlin, but it is sincere and authentic. It's an original story, far east setting, told like a fable, straight up throwback adventure. It's about the stories we tell, and why, and the stakes behind treasuring and ensuring memories endure. And it's absolutely gorgeous. There're sequences here, involving origami, and how they animated it, stop motion, that had me totally mystified. They literally designed a ten-foot tall monster and stop motioned THAT, which by itself is enough to make me want to watch a 10-hour making of documentary (stay for the credits!), but something about doing it practically, instead of CGI adds a level of craftsmanship and blood sweat and tears to creating it, that shines in the finished product. It's a beautiful film, told well, in a method we rarely get to see anymore. The kind of film that is worthy of the big screen, and likely isn't going to get the audience it deserves because its marketing was bleh. So...GO GO GADGET WORD OF MOUTH?"

Edit: also loved this explanation.
Russ Fischer (@russfischer):

Loved KUBO — more astonished than ever by Laika’s craftsmanship, and fully pulled into what felt like a kids movie for Tarantino characters.
 
Been hooked on seeing this film since the first trailer. Felt like there was a very minute group of hype on GAF, can't wait to see it.
 
Hardly any showings by me, and only one theater has it in 3D, so I'll probably see it midweek before it's gone. Don't want this to be the first Laika film I miss seeing in a theater.
 
Katori said:
Why did
he turn human at the end? That was very poorly set up.
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If you look closely, the eye he receives is the same colour as Kubo's, and is the same one that Kubo has lost. With the idea that having sight enables you to see the good qualities of humanity, I just assumed that Kubo's magic gave the grandfather his other eye.
Could have been explained better, especially for a family movie.
 
This movie is a masterpiece. Best thing I've seen in ages. Perfect story, absolutely gorgeous visuals. I can't believe how well it was all put together.
 
Makes me so pleased other people like it as much as I did T__T

I really, really hope word spreads so maybe it can have a stronger 2nd and 3rd weekend than it might have otherwise.
 
Beautiful movie with some amazing sequences throughout. But it suffers from Laika's constant struggle: story and dialogue.

The first 15 minutes are probably some of Laika's best work, because the studio excels at storytelling when the acting and visuals do the work. When
Kubo is setting up the fire and helping his mother, the characters and their actions felt organic and genuine. This act is topped off by the appearance of the aunts, who are just the coolest and creepiest characters I've seen in an animated film.
So far so good.

Then Beetle and Monkey show up. This is when the film starts to make its flaws evident. Clunky dialogue starts to pop up here and there, the characters meander from one setpiece to another
(a brief highlight being the ship battle)
and then we get a very
predictable plot twist that we're just supposed to go with because Monkey and Beetle had some 'moments' together. Then we have a third act that starts out interesting, but ultimately succumbs to a rather dull ending. Would've preferred a more extended fight between Kubo and the Moon King.

In terms of humour, most of the jokes didn't hit at all. Beetle could have been an interesting character, but they forced him as such blatant comic relief that he came off as flat. Either make better jokes or find an alternate way to tell a story; not everything needs to be 'funny'.

I still thought it was a decent movie, but the script needed another pass. It's heart-breaking because so much work is put into these films, and I absolutely adore stop-motion. And I will still keep supporting Laika in what they do, as they are the only major bastion of their craft. But for god's sake, get a professional writer. Look at this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9XkYA-ReFU

I know part of the scene's focus is on Kubo making the ship, but the 'argument' between Monkey and Beetle just feels... off? It's just them repeating the same points over and over. It's this kind of redundancy that shows up constantly throughout the movie.

Anyway. Opinions and all that. Glad to see most people here loved the film.
 
Enjoy Laika films while you can.

Despite Fantastic Reviews, ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ is Laika’s Weakest Launch To Date

Despite garnering the best reviews of any Laika film to date (96% positive among Rotten Tomatoes-tracked critics), the opening for the stop motion/vfx hybrid was the weakest ever for the Laika brand. The previous low had been Paranorman, which debuted in 2012 with $14.1 million.

Of greater concern, each Laika/Focus Features release has grossed less in the U.S. than the previous film—Coraline ($75.3m in 2009), Paranorman ($56m in 2012), The Boxtrolls ($50.8m in 2014). While Kubo’s opening weekend suggests the studio might continue this downward trend, the film earned an “A” Cinemascore among audiences, the only Laika film that has ever done so. Combined with the strong reviews, there’s still a chance that the film could find its audience and push past the $50m mark at the domestic box office.
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Kaban said:
In terms of humour, most of the jokes didn't hit at all. Beetle could have been an interesting character, but they forced him as such blatant comic relief that he came off as flat. Either make better jokes or find an alternate way to tell a story; not everything needs to be 'funny'.

I still thought it was a decent movie, but the script needed another pass.
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This is my take away. Beetle could have been interesting, but the jokes were just cringey. I get the feeling they were added in to lighten up a pretty dark story and to help younger kids get through it, but it really distracted from the overall experience. Voice acting wasn't helping much either. I usually love Charlize Theron, but she is so flat in this movie.

This film's visuals are stunning, but it's clear that the script just wasn't there yet. It's so close to having a story worth telling but it gets buried in unmotivated events and a lot of unintentionally ironic scenes where characters talk about the need to tell or "finish stories."
 
Disney found actual Asian VAs for their Asian characters and Big Hero 6 did OK

I dunno, Travis Knight. I dunno.
 
I'm thinking back and wondering how much better the film's quieter moments would have been had they actually scaled back some if not all of the spoken dialogue between Beetle/Monkey/Kubo. There's no lack of talent in the physical acting and between the gestures and facial animation they could have easily conveyed the 'eat your food' and 'I'm connected to the same emblem as yours' scenes that bring together the characters and why they fight for each other in silence.

But a much more silent film would have been a tremendous risk for a film that is going to be received as 'family adventure' and there's nothing worse than having a bored restless kid at the theater when you're trying to appreciate the visual splendor.
 
If it's any consolation, Travis Knight, said they're expanding production so Laika can release a film annually instead of every 2 years.

Right now we’re on a cycle where films come out every two years. In large measure, that limitation is a function of space. Because, unlike CG, you need real estate, a place to build these sets, these puppets…On Kubo, this is the first time we were shooting two films concurrently. While finishing up on Kubo, we started our next production, so we’re shooting out shooting two films at once for the first time. You only have so much time on this planet. The way we make films, there’s only so many films you can do in that time that you have. And I want to tell so many different kinds of stories, in so many genres. So we have to figure out a way to overlap these productions. Ultimately, the goal is to be on an annual cycle – releasing a film every year. That’s where we want to be. We are a ways from that but we are shrinking the period between releases.
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He also said Kubo is the last film focusing on childhood they're making.

This film is a good bye in a number of different ways. The themes that it deals with – loss and grief. But it also deals with healing, compassion, forgiveness and empathy. And so, it is, effectively, the end of this first cycle of films that we’ve done at the studio. The things we’ve got coming are completely different. Our next film does not feature a child protagonist. I don’t even know that there are any children in it at all. I wouldn’t say it’s adult-oriented. But it’s a different kind of a film for us. It’s still intended for families, but it’s a different kind of a story.
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He hopes to do a 2D Animation Feature Film one day too.

I hope within the fullness of time, before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I absolutely hope that we do a 2-D film. They’ve always been a part of what we’ve done. I guess I just have a fixation for moribund art forms. Because nobody is working meaningfully in 2-D feature films anymore. ome of the most beautiful animation ever in existence was done in 2-D. As I was telling you earlier, that’s effectively how I learned to animate. By studying the great 2-D animation. It’s a real shame for me to see this beautiful art form that gets neglected, when you could still so beautifully tell a story. We just don’t see it done very often. I would love to take the same prism that we apply to stop motion—take what we love about this medium, and try to do find a way to do something new with it. In the fullness of time, I would absolutely love to do that.
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In short, Laika needs our support.
 
Watched the movie, it's amazing and wonderful. Was sorely needed. I really wish they made more movies like Kubo. The only thing I didn't like was how
the village at the end brushed off what Raiden did while he was Moon King, once he turned human. I mean the man was a fucking monster.
Definitely bumped it down a point but I thought the humor was funny, the music captivating and the visuals are so beautiful. Best movie I've watched this year!
lightskintwin said:
Enjoy Laika films while you can.

Despite Fantastic Reviews, ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ is Laika’s Weakest Launch To Date
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This really sucks. I'm really happy I got to watch a film like this on the big screen. It was an experience like no other.
 
Just finished watching it. I enjoyed it!

Visually stunning. There were a few shots that were worth framing. The music also complemented the scenes by accentuating the emotions and actions.

The story itself is very simple and earnest. While it doesn't quite possess the je ne sais quoi that makes other stories eternally memorable, it serves well enough as a vehicle to deliver the themes that it wishes to deliver: family matters.

Now, for a few criticisms. I feel like the villains were underdeveloped. Perhaps not the Moon King, but certainly the sisters. I wish their depiction wasn't so one-dimensional, as if we are supposed to automatically root against them. I like my conflict to be more nuanced than that. The choreography was also quite simplistic, which is a shame because the protagonist has a fun ability that could potentially lead to some dazzling scenes.

I hope this movie succeeds, because I won't hold my breath. I was guilty of immediately dismissing it once I saw the poster, and it took this thread to convince me to give it a chance.
 
Ending theory:

I found the ending to be far more interesting once I pondered it a bit more. It's an interpretation, and maybe I completely missing something, but I think it emphasizes the themes of memory and loss even more. I think the whole of the story in the film is Kubo explaining to his aging grandfather who either has dementia or Alzheimer's about how his parents died/lived, and how they should be remembered, by sharing a fantastical story to help him remember them. He's likely told this story many many times now, as his grandfather has gotten worst and it's grown into embellishments and fantasy. Maybe it's his strong desire to break past his grandfather's decaying memory that propels the fantastical elements, but it's emphasized earlier when he told the village about his father that Kubo is a storyteller who uses stories to keep his father alive in a way. Another wrinkle is we actually see a picture a few times throughout the movie (in the tapestry of his father's old camp, and at the end when he invokes them to appear to make things right) of his father, who appears to be bearded human, not a beetle who doesn't know who he is, as he appears to be throughout most of the movie. I don't know how else to reconcile those two different images of his father, other than to assume the beetle version is simply part of the story he's telling.

The idea that Kubo's father also has a sort of amnesia is also telling. Perhaps Kubo is drawing that parallel for his grandfather, as he tells him that his father remembers who he is, wanting his grandfather to do the same. There's a ton in there that we don't know if this is the case, why his grandfather is told as the villain, of someone who wants immortality and a stasis of emotion, no happiness or sadness. Perhaps what really happened was his grandfather disagreed with his daughter falling in love with a war captain, but did not know who he really was, they run off, her family is angry, have a child, and then his father dies in war, and his mother dies shortly after leaving Kubo alone in the village, which her grandfather finally finds him at, shortly after beginning to lose his memory.

Maybe it's the decaying memory that is the real antagonist, given everything in the film in how everyone deals with the loss of their loved ones, the whole film is how Kubo chooses to light his lantern(s), dealing with his grief by telling his story to keep them alive for his grandfather who has lost them even further, inside the story and in reality. It colors the whole simply story so wonderfully if that's the case.

Anyway, just a theory, could be totally wrong, but I can't help but like the interpretation. Need to see it again with this in mind, see if it holds. Poke holes in it KUBO GAF! Crazy interpretation or feasible?
 
More_Badass said:
Isn't the founder of Laika the son of the founder of Nike? I imagine they'll always have funds to fall back on even if their films don't perform well
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While that may be true, I think Knight Sr. takes a more hands-off approach to his son's studio as more than half of the studio was laid-off after one of their films was cancelled.

Also, I don't believe Knight Jr. founded the studio. He joined shortly after his dad purchased it, and moved up the ranks to director/CEO.
 
Was looking forward to this and finally got to see it yesterday.

I really loved the visuals, animation, and character concepts but the script execution and dialogue felt half baked to me..... My boyfriend fell asleep for 20 minutes and I consistently got bored everytime another "character antic" scene went on for too long.

Certain scenes (most everything) were gorgeous to look at but as far as any emotional resonance from the storytelling as a whole, through individual scenes let alone the film as a whole, it was entirely bereft for me.
 
I watched it last week, and it was meh for me. A lot of cheesy moments, and the ending didn't make any sense at all. It also didn't shows some places that they have talked about throughout the movie which made it a disappointment.

They have nothing on japanese anime movies.
 
GameAddict411 said:
I watched it last week, and it was meh for me. A lot of cheesy moments, and the ending didn't make any sense at all. It also didn't shows some places that they have talked about throughout the movie which made it a disappointment.

They have nothing on japanese anime movies.
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Laika still has the weakness in dialogue imo, but I would say the main draw of their movies is still the amazing work that goes into the stop motion which nobody really does. I don't like to use the "but its for kids" argument especially here, but even for kids I don't think the dialogue is that snappy.
 
Saw it earlier today - enjoyed it a lot in spite of a number of problems I had with it.

- Similar to other Laika films, I found the setup and implications of the world they build to have been much more interesting than what they do with it or how it pays off.

- The pacing felt really odd and drawn out from the second act onward (after they meet Beetle), and it feels like there's a lot of jokey/weird character moments shoehorned into what essentially becomes a scrapbook of traversal sequences.

- Despite having some cool imagery associated with it, some of the mythology built up felt really muddled to the point where it was kind of hard to determine exactly what the stakes were.

- The armor/sword ended up doing kind of nothing, and I feel like it would have helped the plot if there was a more meaningful to the world than to Kubo specifically.
- Would have been cool to see Kubo getting a better handle of his powers, because it was kind of unclear throughout the film what the limits or possibilities were (aside from being plot-convenient when it counted). Unfair tease to have him messing around with his abilities in cool ways during traversal sequences and not so much during fights.
- The sisters were rad, and I wish the moon king was more established as a threat.
- I found the last 3rd was a bit overbearingly sappy in its message, but maybe that's just me taking issue with Laika's style of earnestness (I found the conflict-resoution of Paranorman to be similarly sappy/weak).
All the same - glad to have seen it, it was beautiful. Hope they can do well enough to carry on.
 
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