Kubo and the Two Strings is not the sort of story that everyone will enjoy. If you are looking for a new story, or one that tells an old story in a new way, this is not the place to look.
This is the story that embraces tropes and the literary narrative whole heartedly. It tells you the exact same story that you have heard a thousand times before.
It encourages you to embrace this fact, rather than shy away from it. It does not pretend to be a story that it isn't, but embraces what it is instead.
At the outset of the film, we as viewers are invited to become storytellers and active participants exploring the movie. There is a very good reason that the movie opens with "If you must blink, then do it now", and why it is then repeated.
When one looks at the film, and analyzes it, rather than watching and seeing what is, then a deeper story unfolds and shows itself. (The use of origami to suggest this is very clever.)
Through the lens of this deeper story, certain plot points that seem to come out of nowhere will make perfect sense or be expected.
The ending is an excellent example of this. For the casual viewer, the movie has been building up the collection of the armour, and at the end, Kubo throws it away for a shamisen. This will seem to be an outright rejection of the goal of the film for something that seems to come from left field.
In contrast, a viewer familiar with tropes or with stories will see that the story has always been about love and family, about the journey taken and what it symbolizes afterwards. Through this lens, the armour becomes a symbol of revenge and hatred, all things that Kubo must cast aside. The shamisen, with its three strings attained over the course of the journey, that connection to his family, are more precious than any revenge.
In the end, Kubo and the Two Strings is not a film for everyone. Some, who only view the surface, may be disappointed by what they see.
A very clever film
Kubo and the Two Strings is not the sort of story that everyone will enjoy. If you are looking for a new story, or one that tells an old story in a new way, this is not the place to look.
This is the story that embraces tropes and the literary narrative whole heartedly. It tells you the exact same story that you have heard a thousand times before.
It encourages you to embrace this fact, rather than shy away from it. It does not pretend to be a story that it isn't, but embraces what it is instead.
At the outset of the film, we as viewers are invited to become storytellers and active participants exploring the movie. There is a very good reason that the movie opens with "If you must blink, then do it now", and why it is then repeated.
When one looks at the film, and analyzes it, rather than watching and seeing what is, then a deeper story unfolds and shows itself. (The use of origami to suggest this is very clever.)
Through the lens of this deeper story, certain plot points that seem to come out of nowhere will make perfect sense or be expected.
The ending is an excellent example of this. For the casual viewer, the movie has been building up the collection of the armour, and at the end, Kubo throws it away for a shamisen. This will seem to be an outright rejection of the goal of the film for something that seems to come from left field.
In contrast, a viewer familiar with tropes or with stories will see that the story has always been about love and family, about the journey taken and what it symbolizes afterwards. Through this lens, the armour becomes a symbol of revenge and hatred, all things that Kubo must cast aside. The shamisen, with its three strings attained over the course of the journey, that connection to his family, are more precious than any revenge.
In the end, Kubo and the Two Strings is not a film for everyone. Some, who only view the surface, may be disappointed by what they see.
Never forget: If you must blink, then do it now.