In Praise of Kubo and the Two Strings

 

It has been a summer of really disappointing cinema, and that is saying something for American films. But the summer season goes out on a high note with one of the best films in years: Kubo and the Two Strings. This is a really beautiful film both visually and narratively, and, more importantly, it is something original.

This is not a sequel or an adaptation of a comic book or television show or video game or breakfast cereal but an original story, and the film just feels like a breath of fresh air throughout. The casting is superb, as well, with Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey (without his increasingly exaggerated Texas twang), and Game of Thrones‘ Art Parkinson (a.k.a., Rickon Stark) as the lead trio, with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo‘s Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes, and a scene-stealing Brenda Vaccaro filling in the supporting roles.

kubo2

Kubo and the Two Strings is another stop-motion animation film from Laika, the production company behind Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), and The Boxtrolls (2014). I would consider Kubo a companion piece to the excellent Coraline — a sort of “Coraline for boys” in many ways — in its emphasis on a protagonist at that age between childhood and teens, when he/she is able to be independent but still needs the structure of family. And both have a level of terror that is probably too much for children above age nine or ten, frankly: I remember thinking that, when the true appearance of The Other Mother in Coraline is revealed, I would have freaked out as a child, and some of the monsters in Kubo, such as the gashadokuro (above), are quite intense.

Of course, this gives the film an appealing feel of nostalgia to me because the old classic films I grew up on were also, frankly, pretty scary: There is a level of horror and outright bloodlust in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Sleeping Beauty that Disney would never dream of adding to a film today (though Up gets close).

kubo-and-the-two-strings-3-credit_laika_-_focus_features

For those who constantly say, “Hollywood doesn’t make movies like they used to,” Kubo and the Two Strings is a movie like Hollywood used to make — an original story with tons of heart and beautifully executed adventure. And if having more family-friendly, family-positive films is important to you, I really hope you will support Kubo at the box office. Or if just having great movies made is important to you, support this film.

Need another reason to love Kubo and the Two Strings? Regina Spektor’s shamisen cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that plays in the trailers and over the end credits is fantastic:

 

The trailers for Kubo and the Two Strings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKSqHmQcOzk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-6qJzeb3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BU3ecHy6PA

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  1. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    The Toad clan enjoyed it very much. The aunties are truly chilling, especially when first seen. All of us saw it, from age seven through nineteen and parents. Visually stunning, beautiful, funny, etc.

    Without spoilers, though, I must say we all (well, not the 7 and 10 year olds) found a number of plot weaknesses disappointing.

    • #1
  2. Herbert Member
    Herbert
    @Herbert

    Great review, i’ll try to see it tonight or tomorrow…

    • #2
  3. Elephas Americanus Member
    Elephas Americanus
    @ElephasAmericanus

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad:The Toad clan enjoyed it very much. The aunties are truly chilling, especially when first seen. All of us saw it, from age seven through nineteen and parents. Visually stunning, beautiful, funny, etc.

    Without spoilers, though, I must say we all (well, not the 7 and 10 year olds) found a number of plot weaknesses disappointing.

    I agree that the story isn’t as strong as I would have liked, especially the third act. But I refrained from putting that in my original post because I feel that the film does so much else right that I’m willing to overlook some story elements that aren’t as developed as they should have been. It’s not a perfect film, and I do think that the previous Coraline is the superior film of the two. (I have seen neither ParaNorman nor The Boxtrolls.) Still, Kubo and the Two Strings is nearly flawless when compared to the other two execrable films I’ve seen this summer (both through work) – Independence Day: Resurgence and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

    • #3
  4. Herbert Member
    Herbert
    @Herbert

    Elephas Americanus:

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad:The Toad clan enjoyed it very much. The aunties are truly chilling, especially when first seen. All of us saw it, from age seven through nineteen and parents. Visually stunning, beautiful, funny, etc.

    Without spoilers, though, I must say we all (well, not the 7 and 10 year olds) found a number of plot weaknesses disappointing.

    I agree that the story isn’t as strong as I would have liked, especially the third act. But I refrained from putting that in my original post because I feel that the film does so much else right that I’m willing to overlook some story elements that aren’t as developed as they should have been. It’s not a perfect film, and I do think that the previous Coraline is the superior film of the two. (I have seen neither ParaNorman nor The Boxtrolls.) Still, Kubo and the Two Strings is nearly flawless when compared to the other two execrable films I’ve seen this summer (both through work) – Independence Day: Resurgence and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

    I just saw Indignation,  based on a Phillip Roth book(which I haven’t read), I thought it was very well done.

    • #4
  5. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    POSSIBLE SPOILERS******

    OK, you were warned. Why is the mother unable to retain her grasp on reality? The villagers seem so kind but they seem also to not realize that this poor boy lives with his insane mother in a cave. Does monkey always realize that she is the mother? If so, how can she treat him so coldly the way she does at the beginning? Why do the villagers hang around in their destroyed village? My husband found it pretty funny that the mother is all cool to do her dad’s dirty work… until she meets a really great-looking guy, and throws it all over for him. The quests to find the armor seem kind of not that challenging.

    The origami is awesome, though. I love it when Monkey says, “I still think there have to be scissors involved” or something similar…

    • #5
  6. Elephas Americanus Member
    Elephas Americanus
    @ElephasAmericanus

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad:POSSIBLE SPOILERS******

    OK, you were warned. Why is the mother unable to retain her grasp on reality?

    My assumption was the mother’s memory and mental issues arose from the severe blow to the head she suffered at the very beginning of the film, when she was washed below the waves and struck her head on the rocky sea floor. Blood is shown in the water, and this is the cause of the scar over her left eye; head trauma that violent would probably cause those sorts of mental conditions.

    Does monkey always realize that she is the mother? If so, how can she treat him so coldly the way she does at the beginning?

    My understanding is that Monkey/Kubo’s mother was rather distant because she knew she only had a temporary amount of time to be with Kubo in that state; recall how she told Beetle that the magic keeping her in that state was wearing off. She kept her true identity secret and did her best to get Kubo ready for the Moon King’s attack without having him get attached to her so he wouldn’t have to go through the pain of losing his mother a second time.

    Why do the villagers hang around in their destroyed village?

    Up until the last century or so, most people in the world did not travel much outside a twenty mile radius, so they really would not know where else to go.

    • #6
  7. 6foot2inhighheels Member
    6foot2inhighheels
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Awesome!!!!

    • #7
  8. cirby Inactive
    cirby
    @cirby

    I saw Kubo today, and it was a truly wonderful movie.

    The one thing that struck me was that, for most of the film, I wasn’t watching stop-motion animation. I was watching people. Great stuff.

    • #8
  9. 555DBF Member
    555DBF
    @

    Spoilers ahead: Agree-worthwhile movie very well done. I was the cranky old man shamed into going to see it with my wife and teenage daughter. I thought it really captured some mythic elements, and was unique for these times in the sense that evil was demonstrably evil, and men can heroically strive against the supernatural, but often (and in the old school story-always) for naught. Supernatural beings unconstrained by mere mortals’ sense of right and wrong and “humanity.” The Aunties were very scary, and very well done-but the little ones in the audience seemed to handle them well. I too was disappointed by the plot holes, but nice yarn and beautiful to watch. A modern fairy tale. I think they wimped out when they decided to dial it back and have the villagers return, despite the fact that the village was destroyed, and the implication that all the inhabitants were as well. That would be too dark for a modern commercial movie I expect. Kubo’s mom apparently had slaughtered many men before his Dad turned her heart and she betrayed her father. They did not dwell on that part of her character too much but an interesting trait for the sympathetic Mom. Kubo’s dad must have had quite the silver tongue-since she was sent to kill him.

    My take was the audience on Saturday night from 7 years old to 70 all enjoyed it. Worth seeing.

    • #9
  10. BD Member
    BD
    @

    Looks good.  Zig Zag, Kubo!

    • #10
  11. Richard Finlay Inactive
    Richard Finlay
    @RichardFinlay

    @elephasamericanus — even if all you say (#6) weren’t accurate, it would be very much in the tradition of finding a plausible explanation for apparent discrepancies.  The mark of a true SF/Fantasy/Fable/etc watcher.  Formulating internally consistent narratives is most of the fun. (And, allows one to enjoy even badly flawed pictures.)  Well done.

    Unless, of course, it was all obvious all the time and didn’t require any imagination ….

    • #11
  12. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Almost went to see it but daughter vetoed the movies since she’d already seen two that week (raining cats and dogs here in Texas for a week now).

    I confess that knowing it was made by the same group that made Paranorman is not a selling point.  Paranorman was good in many ways, and then they ruined it by shilling for the homosexual activists.  There was no reason in the world to have the surprise ending that the one character is homosexual, unless the whole movie was an allegory for accepting homosexuality.

    I just don’t think this is a proper topic for young children and I didn’t like having to explain to my daughter that some boys are sissies.  I hope such political social engineering is absent from this movie.

    • #12
  13. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Ok, I’m sold!

    Glad everyone had a good time.

    • #13
  14. Elephas Americanus Member
    Elephas Americanus
    @ElephasAmericanus

    Skyler:Almost went to see it but daughter vetoed the movies since she’d already seen two that week (raining cats and dogs here in Texas for a week now).

    I confess that knowing it was made by the same group that made Paranorman is not a selling point. Paranorman was good in many ways, and then they ruined it by shilling for the homosexual activists. There was no reason in the world to have the surprise ending that the one character is homosexual, unless the whole movie was an allegory for accepting homosexuality.

    I just don’t think this is a proper topic for young children and I didn’t like having to explain to my daughter that some boys are sissies. I hope such political social engineering is absent from this movie.

    There’s no political agenda I could find in Kubo. In fact, I would argue that it’s a rather conservative film that celebrates the value of a two-parent family – those are (spoiler) the “two strings” of the title – and makes a glancing critique of elitism in Kubo’s refusal to become a god in the heavens, someone who would disdain the common man and his suffering like, say, a Washington bureaucrat does.

    • #14
  15. Pathfinder1208 Inactive
    Pathfinder1208
    @Pathfinder1208

    I saw the movie last Saturday with the family (daughters 6 and 11). Everyone loved the film. It is terrific! I would love to see it again.

    • #15
  16. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Elephas Americanus: There’s no political agenda I could find in Kubo.

    I disagree. There is something disturbing in the way both the mother and the Moon King have terrible pasts and actions that are removed by people thinking that actually they are quite nice or at least treating them that way. If we treat our enemies as nice people, they will become nice people! It’s so easy!

    • #16
  17. cirby Inactive
    cirby
    @cirby

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad:

    Elephas Americanus: There’s no political agenda I could find in Kubo.

    I disagree. There is something disturbing in the way both the mother and the Moon King have terrible pasts and actions that are removed by people thinking that actually they are quite nice or at least treating them that way. If we treat our enemies as nice people, they will become nice people! It’s so easy!

    The mother basically realized her sins and spent the rest of her life repenting.

    The Moon King had no memories of his previous actions, and the people in the town went with the “hey, you’re a great guy!” strategy to keep him from becoming the old, evil, powerful Moon King again.

    • #17
  18. Elephas Americanus Member
    Elephas Americanus
    @ElephasAmericanus

    cirby:

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad:

    Elephas Americanus: There’s no political agenda I could find in Kubo.

    I disagree. There is something disturbing in the way both the mother and the Moon King have terrible pasts and actions that are removed by people thinking that actually they are quite nice or at least treating them that way. If we treat our enemies as nice people, they will become nice people! It’s so easy!

    The mother basically realized her sins and spent the rest of her life repenting.

    The Moon King had no memories of his previous actions, and the people in the town went with the “hey, you’re a great guy!” strategy to keep him from becoming the old, evil, powerful Moon King again.

    That’s also how I viewed it. (There was also some personal greed on the part of both the little girl and old lady involved – free markets at work!) I thought the ending with the Moon King was the weakest part of the story. I think I would have preferred to have seen him once more in the story and maybe have his malevolence established a bit more firmly – not as secondhand fact from the mother’s stories but with some actions on his part. I just didn’t think he was as frightening as he needed to be for me compared to the much scarier sisters. But that’s a minor quibble about an otherwise excellent film.

    • #18
  19. Elephas Americanus Member
    Elephas Americanus
    @ElephasAmericanus

    Apparently Kubo and the Two Strings is being criticized by some nebulous force for having non-Asian voice actors portraying Asian characters. Because, you know, everything’s gotta be a controversy:

    Kubo and the Two Strings Director Defends Non-Asian Cast: Inclusion Matters, But Don’t Reduce Diversity to a Hashtag
    Why White Actors Play Japanese Characters in Kubo And The Two Strings
    Kubo and the Two Strings Director Travis Knight Addresses ‘Colorblind’ Casting Concerns

    Oddly enough, none of those articles state exactly who is complaining about the casting. I supposed it’s just some faceless, nameless cloud of Liberal Indignation that everyone knows and expects to be miffed at this, so it really doesn’t need to be identified per se. The same thing has already happened – and will come up again – with the upcoming film adaptations of the manga/anime Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, which have been cast with mostly white actors. Identity politics are so ridiculously omnipresent that one can’t even escape to the movies now…

    • #19
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