Too often a film is hailed as a masterpiece, whether it’s a classic piece of cinema like The Godfather or a catchy-song-filled animated adventure like Frozen; that kind of acclaim can raise one’s expectations for a film too high, resulting in backlash when a movie is not as good as one would have thought. And while the story of Kubo and the Two Strings may feel familiar at times, its animation style, sound design, characters, and the world it creates more than make up for a somewhat typical story. In short, Kubo and the Two Strings is nearly a masterpiece, and a delight to watch.
Set in ancient Japan, Kubo (Art Parkinson) is a young, one-eyed, storytelling musician who lives with his mother, Sariatu (Charlize Theron). What makes Kubo’s stories engaging to those who listen to them is Kubo’s ability to bring origami-like models of people and animals to life to tell the tales. One night, his aunts (both voiced by Rooney Mara), the twin daughters of Kubo’s grandfather, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes), try to take Kubo’s other eye, and he is forced to escape and leave his mother behind. Now joined by a monkey, aptly named Monkey (also voiced by Charlize Theron), and a beetle-like samurai named Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), he must find a way to stop his aunts and grandfather before they can capture him and take his remaining eye.
Looking at this movie through the eyes of a typical American adult viewer, you can clearly see the influence of The Hero’s Journey archetype, from the call to adventure to the abyss and right down to the return, with monsters and enemies to fight at every moment. But that doesn’t hinder the film; it has been proven before that The Hero’s Journey can be applied to many stories and the hero with a thousand faces can have many faces without the overall story losing any of its power. The Hero’s Journey makes for a great story for kids and adults alike, teaching kids about losing innocence and growing up, while giving adults a chance to revisit a archetype of storytelling that has delighted audiences for generations. Suffice it to say, this film’s story benefits from the Hero’s Journey just as much as other stories and movies do.
This film features excellent voice acting, many from celebrities who were likely chosen as much for their fame as they were for their voices. Art Parkinson plays the part of Kubo with a naiveté and toughness that would be expected from a warrior and storyteller so young. Charlize Theron plays two parts in this film: Kubo’s mother, Sariatu, and Monkey, and she plays both parts differently and similarly. Theron plays Sariatu with a warmth and love that you can feel leap off the screen; Theron’s performance as Monkey is noticeably harder and sterner, but she still exudes a bit of warmth that is needed to guide Kubo on his journey. Rooney Mara’s performance as Kubo’s twin aunts was creepy, but it was almost impossible to tell the two sisters apart (though, that’s kind of the point with creepy identical twins in films, isn’t it?).
Ralph Fiennes’s performance as the Moon King had a weight to it, but also a deceptive warmth, similar to but unlike Theron’s performance as Sariatu; you can tell that the Moon King and his daughter were cut from the same cloth, but they were different in enough ways to explain the conflict between them.
The one voice actor I had a little bit of trouble with was Matthew McConaughey at Beetle; he did just fine in the role, don’t get me wrong, but when I look at images of the character on posters or in trailers, I didn’t hear a McConaughey-esque voice. I would have thought someone like Patrick Warburton (Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove and Joe Swanson from Family Guy) would have fit better in the part. But McConaughey still manages to have a good performance, and it sounded like he had fun with the part.
Now, let me state the obvious thing that everyone has gushed about when it comes to this movie: the animation is beautiful. Stop motion animation has been making a slow but sure resurgence in the past few years, and Kubo is yet another example of that trend. The landscapes are all beautifully detailed, with the color palate fitting each environment and setting just the right mood. The way Kubo’s origami comes to life is believable and brings each piece of folded paper a distinctive personality. When the movie was over, I actually wasn’t sure how much of the film was stop motion and how much, if any, was animated through computers; I didn’t find a definitive answer, which makes me think that the vast majority of the animation was done through stop motion. I’m sure there were some things done using CGI, but if it was, it wasn’t noticeable. Nothing about the animation was at all distracting, except for one instance: the lip movements for the characters, while good, did have a bit of a blurry look to them at some points. It might have been a stylistic choice, and thankfully, it wasn’t too distracting from the rest of the animation, but it is something to note. The fight scenes in this movie, from the ones in Kubo’s origami stories to the final battle between Kubo and his grandfather, were all well choreographed. I will say this: there is a battle around the middle of the movie that makes use of both combatants’ particular skills and movements, as well as the site of their battle, in very interesting ways. That battle, I think, was the high point of this film’s action. The final battle between Kubo and the Moon King was entertaining, though some elements, like the resolution, were somewhat predictable; since this is a movie meant for kids and their parents, it has to end in that typical kind of way, but that didn’t stop the confrontation from being a lot of fun to watch.
This film’s messages are fairly typical of a family film: believe in yourself, your greatest strength lies within, and so on. But there is one message that I feel like the movie handled really well: the idea of memories and how the memories of loved ones we’ve lost live on through us. This is a message that has been tackled in many movies, most notably (for me, at least) in The Lion King, my favorite film of all time, and the way they tackle it in Kubo is visually interesting and emotionally stirring. I tear up at movies more often than most, and I felt a bit teary-eyed during this ending; that, to me, indicates a strong film. Also, a quick side note: while the film is called Kubo and the Two Strings, Kubo’s shamisen has three strings (as it should). This confused me at first, but there is a scene late in the film that explains what they mean by “two strings;” I won’t spoil it here, but it ties back into the idea of legacy and those who are no longer with us, and I thought it was a nice touch.
Kubo and the Two Strings is a beautifully animated masterpiece in almost every sense of the word. The story is both familiar and refreshing, the characters are likable and engaging, the world and its magical elements are interesting, and the animation, once again, is beautiful to behold. Currently, Kubo and the Two Strings has grossed $55 million against a $60 million budget; I don’t know how much longer this film will be in theaters, but I implore anyone who enjoys animated films, who has an appreciation for stop motion, or who loves films that follow the Hero’s Journey, to check out this movie. That’s just my two cents on the matter; or would that be two strings?
The Sack Score: 9/10