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Can I please have the jolly old lady appear in every single movie from now on…

Please ?

Kubo and the Two Strings tells the story of young Kubo as he is tasked to retrieve three items in order to uncover a secret legacy regarding him & his father, the greatest samurai warrior to ever live… Kubo is a fantastically wonderful film and I will admit there were a couple times when I found myself getting way more emotional than I thought. I was enthralled throughout it and it certainly left me wanting more.

How Were The Characters And Story?

The setup of this movie is essentially perfect. It introduces the characters in an incredibly intriguing way, you learn about the film’s lore & magic right off the bat and due to how well the filmmakers introduced the characters, when the main conflict arises you genuinely care about what will happen to these people. When shit initially goes down, I was frightened for Kubo and wanted to see him prosper!

The relationship between Kubo & the Monkey is crazily enjoyable to watch, Art Parkinson & Charlize Theron have amazing chemistry together. The wit sprinkled throughout this film is probably my second favourite aspect to it besides the animation (of which I will laud a little further down the review). I found myself cracking up at Monkey’s dry humour since that type of humour is my personal favourite; one of the best lines being,

“Please keep in mind that my sense of smell is 10 times strong than yours…”

The Beetle, voiced by the whistlin’ Matthew McConaughey, served as the kind of comic relief of the film but I really could have done without it. The first half without him had incredibly humourous moments that made me actually laugh out loud, however there were some moments & sayings with the Beetle that felt so out of place… The one of the top of my head involved yelling FOOT! Instead of Fuck. I was like what was that? There are also certain revelations I found predictable, however what separates this film and other, quote “kids” movies, is that it doesn’t treat its audience like they’re complete morons. Are there frightening images? Yes! Are there themes present that certain audience members will personally identify with? Damn right! Will the action sequences entertain a younger audience that maybe aren’t too familiar with the more deeper messages? Absolutely. I love movies like your Toy Stories and Inside Outs where both adults and children alike are able to enjoy what they are watching on screen.

Were You A Fan Of The Animation?

Saying I loved the animation in Kubo and the Two Strings is like saying Cookie Monster only somewhat likes cookies… understatement of the century, my friends.

I simply can’t express how much I adored every single frame of this movie. To think that there were actual human beings that were able to meticulously craft everything I saw on screen is incomprehensible to me. Looking at some of these screengrabs from The Verge’s video about Laika’s Stop Motion Animation Geniuses must pique one’s interest at least a little bit if they’re still on the fence about watching it.

If you’re looking for an incredibly entertaining stop-motion picture that has disgustingly beautiful animation and a number of characters you might fall in love with, check out Kubo and the Two Strings. So many complain about the “lack of original content” in theatres and when fantastic content like Kubo comes out, these people are nowhere to be found. Encourage your friends to support this shit.

Kubo and the Two Strings receives 4.5/5 Matt Damon heads.