Kubo and the Two Strings is truly a gorgeous movie that deserves more attention.

The astonishment and awe that the film creates inside me are indescribable.

There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time. ― David M. Eagleman

Death is not formidable: “the end of a story merely means the beginning of another”. A person only, and truly, dies when they are being forgotten. Memory is what passes along our stories, and when no one possesses your story anymore, only then does your story perish.

Frankly, Coco and Kubo and the Two Strings possess the identical theme:

The definition of death and memory.

What impresses me, that’s presented in Kubo but not Coco, is the pure craftsmanship that led to the creation of Kubo itself.

I love Coco with all my heart, however, even with a tenth of Coco’s budget, I firmly believe that Kubo is just as a good movie as is Coco. Kubo deserves more attention, it’s extremely underrated and unfamiliar to most people.

Stop motion requires more than the limitation of a budget, it asks for time, skills, and patience. I cannot imagine how time-consuming it must have been to create a single scene in the movie. To be honest, the desire to watch the movie itself was sparked by Kubo’s behind-the-scenes video I came across with.

Spoiler Alert:

I think Kubo’s quest is not finding the armors, but rather finding and understand humanity that has always been a part of him. He completed his quest by spreading his definition of death to his grandfather.

He forgave him.

If that is not the true meaning of humanity, then I do not know what is.

This animated film contains more than just puppets and stories, the philosophy that it’s yet to reveal delivers itself directly to every audience.

Dear reader, if you’ve been reading this far and have not watched the movie yourself, stop waiting. I solely regret of not watching the movie earlier myself, therefore not being able to enjoy it in a movie theatre.

If you have seen it, I welcome all discussions, you can email me with the contact form on my website or simply leave a reply. I will reply to your message as soon as I see it.

Happy watching!

p.s. Just found out the director is not interested in doing a sequel, cannot stress about how sad I am :(