Reviews WesternAnimation / Kubo And The Two Strings

If You Must Blink...

...do it before the movie starts, because you don't want to miss a single millisecond.

Where do I start with this treasure? The (voice) acting is amazing. The music is enchanting. The characters are alive. The story is simple but enthralling. The setting is fascinating. The art and animation are breathtaking.

Let's start with the characters. The animation, designs, and voices blend together to make almost real living people despite the art style being decidedly non-realistic. Art Parkinson is a brilliant gem as our main hero: the inflections in his voice, the way he says his lines, the emotion he puts into everything he does. He is a believable child character in a genre where they're often pretentious or irritating - Kubo could have been my little brother.

This is not to ignore the other members of the cast by any means. Charlize Theron puts in a great performance as both the hard-nosed Monkey and Kubo's gentle, loving mother^spoiler especially when it's revealed that they're in fact the same character - it shows a much more Mama Bear side of her. The scenes near the beginning in the cave, where Kubo and his mother try and tell stories despite the mother's memory issues, shows a tender, touching relationship between a terrified mother and a boy who's had to grow up too fast. And that's where the main (though by no means only) strength of this movie lies: the relationships. The trio at the center, Kubo, Monkey and Beetle, form a great adventuring group to tag along with.

And what about the villains? The Sisters...holy shit. They're flawlessly sinister and eerie and threatening. That haunting Ku-bo... that they keep doing will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Their designs, especially, the masks, are deliciously creepy and their movements make them seem like stalking black shadows that always stay just out of your field of vision.

Now let's talk about the music and art, because they too carry this movie to a gold medal. The origami-esque animation (it was all stop motion) gives the movie a unique and breathtaking look, from the sinister Sisters and terrifying Gashadokuro to the tiny paper figures Kubo makes to help them on their quest. And as to be expected from the title, the music, both the soundtrack and what Kubo plays in the movie itself, do a great job of setting the mood, be it joyful, adventurous, or terrifying.

And finally, the setting. The characters, writing, story, art and music all come together to create a fascinating, living setting in a mythical Japan. The setting feels alive and real.

For downsides: Matthew Mc Conaughey's performance as Beetle, while still good by any measure, is overshadowed by the phenomenal Theron and Parkinson. Along the same lines, Raiden the Moon King, for all the hype leading up to him, is far upstaged as a villain by the Sisters, who are more immediate, more sinister, and more threatening.