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Simply Perfect

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Another solid film from studio Laika. It's really unfortunate that this technically tanked at the box office. It's Laika's highest rated film...yet made less than its previous three films. I'm hoping it finds some life on home video and the award buzz surrounding it helps out. The film is about a young boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson) who tells stories to the villagers in the small village beneath his home where he uses magic from his guitar to make origami characters appear. One night he is attacked by the Sisters (Rooney Mara) which leads him on a journey to find the three sacred items that will allow him to destroy the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes) and restore peace to the land. Along the ride for him is Monkey (Charlize Theron) a guardian who has a deep dark secret. Then there's the clueless Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) who doesn't exactly remember everything. The film itself is beautiful. Stop motion at its finest and it weaves together a wonderful tale about loss and memory, but also deals with healing and love. It's great and I can't recommend it enough. I will say the only gripe I had with it was the film ended and I had a few questions that never get answered. Overall, solid animated film good for the whole family give it a look!

The best: A very simple story but told in a masterly way. It shows that American animation can come out of the Pixar / Disney duality.The worst: Animation at certain times has fails.

Let me start out by saying I thought this movie was okay. It got great reviews, and I really don't understand it. It's not like a movie like Sing where the only reason it got decent reviews was because it was inoffensive and "relatable", but it still is over-hyped.However, I must admit the animation is breathtaking. Clear effort was thrown into making this movie as stunning as possible, and it was worth it. It takes much effort for this kind of animation to look this good, and it payed off.However, where this film runs into its problems is the script. The script for this film has some creative ideas and I feel there is something great that you can make from this, but it feels lazy and underdeveloped. I didn't care for Kubo at all. I thought he was a bland, very "meh" character. He had a good motivation for what he was doing, but I didn't feel anything for him. The same can be said about the other two main characters, Beetle and Monkey. They each have their moments of charisma and likability, but they take them in a very predictable and bland direction that I was honestly frustrated by.So this is the definition of an over-hyped film. I think it got this level of great reviews because of the studio not being Disney and it having a great concept. Other than that, I don't understand the praise. It has sparks of potential and some terrific moments, but it overall comes off as an everyday forgettable movie. It's on Netflix, so if you're curious, check it out, but don't expect anything too great.

In recent years Laika has been developing a flawless reputation, similar to what Pixar use to have and their latest film is easily their best (or at least able to rival Coraline).In a small village in a world similar to Medieval Japan Kubo (Art Parkinson) is a young boy who tells stories for money during the day and cares for his mother at night. However, it turns out the stories that Kubo that were true and he is being hunted by The Moon King and his mother's sisters (Rooney Mara).Compared to other Western animation studios Laika are darker with its storytelling and imaginary and Kubo and the Two Strings continues that trend. The sisters are a wonderfully creepy creation because of the masks they wear and Mara's manipulated voice.As well having the best features of other Laika films Kubo and the Two Strings also works within the Disney and Pixar templates. Kubo is a fantasy story in the vein of recent Disney efforts like Tangled and Moana and gives audiences some great action set-pieces. Whilst like Pixar Kubo has the heart and some of the themes would have fitted in a Pixar film - Kubo's first scene was him caring for his mother who was in a vegetative state. It's the type of scene that could have fitted in the opening of a Pixar film - Wall-E and Up even did that.Throughout the film there is a thematic throughline of what makes a family with Kubo having to find out what makes a family as well as care for his mother. There is also a theme the importance of memory and stories and how they are connected. It gives Kubo a lot of substance.Although Kubo does stray into dark material for a kids film it's not without moments of fun. Charlize Theron and Matthew McConaughey make for a great double act as Monkey and Beatle, having some great banter and there are some of big action scenes include a fight with a giant skeleton and Monkey fighting one of the sisters who uses a Kusarigama.Kubo and the Two Strings is a great film, working both as a fantasy adventure and as something deeper. It's a great offering from 2016 which itself offered some great animated films.