directed by Travis Knight
written by Marc Haimes, Chris Butler, and Shannon Tindle
Since they burst onto the scene seven years ago with their acclaimed adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean's modern classic children's book Coraline, Laika Productions has produced consistently astonishing movies featuring off-beat stories and unusual heroes. Kubo and the Two Strings continues that proud tradition, and I dare say, on both a technical and storytelling level, it is their best work yet.
Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) is a one-eyed Japanese boy who lives on a cliff with his mother, a half-catatonic woman with a mysterious past who washed up on shore one late evening with her newborn baby whose eye had just been plucked out. Kubo spends his days and earning a living of sorts entertaining people from the nearby village with his storytelling, in which he uses what appear to be magically-animated origami figures and the skillful playing of his shamisen to captivate his audience. He leaves before the sun goes down, however, on his mother's warning not to stay out after dark. Kubo's heart aches, though, because of the absence of his father, whom his mother explains was killed when he was a baby. One day, at a festival for the dead, Kubo stays out late, hoping to commune with his father's spirit, and tragedy strikes. Now, to save himself from dark forces out to harm him, he must find a magical, mystical suit of armor, which he can only do with the help of his friend, a magical monkey sent to protect him (also Theron) and a mysterious warrior beetle (Matthew McConaughey). He'll need all the help he can get against the power of his mother's malevolent sisters (both voiced by Rooney Mara) and the powerful, sinister Moon King (Ralph Fiennes).
Anyone who reads this blog knows I have great affection for Disney's Zootopia, a film I ranked a perfect 10, for its blend of entertainment and its unflinching look at racial prejudice, at a time when a stand on the issue had to be taken. As much as I love that film, though, and as brave as I felt it was, this, in my honest estimation, felt even braver, with its mutilated hero, dark subject matter, and equally unflinching look at the importance of human kindness, which, per this story, must be extended to even the most odious of beings.
Laika's craftsmanship is, as it always has been, vastly impressive, and has significantly improved since the days of Coraline. It's a pretty awesome marriage of the age-old technique of stop-motion animation and modern day technology. Even with all the advances, though, it took a total of five years to make this film.
However sophisticated the storytelling tools, however, they are nothing without a good story to tell (just look at several of Dreamworks Animation's recent offerings), but the good news is that the ladies and gentlemen at Laika have that bit pretty much down pat.
As delightful as it was to hear Oscar-winners Theron and McConaughey voice key characters in the story, it's Parkinson's earnest performance that does the heavy lifting in this film as Kubo is defined by his imagination and ultimately his compassion, all of which come through in Parkinson's voice acting.
I realize I'm venturing into slight spoiler territory when I say this, but this film is quite defiantly not-entirely-kid-friendly with some frightening antagonists (my three-year-old turned away in fear at the ghostly twin ninja sisters of Kubo's mother), and its surprisingly tragic tone near the end. That's what makes it rather endearing in my eyes; the studio could probably have made a couple of more million at the box office with more conventional storytelling, which makes their act of sticking to their narrative guns all the more impressive.
This film is a classic in the mold of a Studio Ghibli production; it's completely uncompromising, and utterly mesmerizing.
10/10
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