STORYTELLING CELEBRATION
Solid quality among animated movies has wowed the world since 2014: The Lego Movie, Inside Out, Zootopia... and oh boy, Kubo and the Two Strings absolutely joins this particular list. Welcome to another gem of stop-motion animated cinema. It's truly fantastic. Remember Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas? Yeah, non-brainer: this movie's on par with them.
Mythology: One of the most incredible aspects of this film is the ability to be truly original and conceiving ideas in a refreshing way because the story could've felt pretty generic with the well-known "quest" story line. But no, no! The setup of this movie within the first 15-20 minutes has two functions: showing us the characters and their basic characteristics and building the culture of the world. The lore and the magic feel so real that is its own thing. Inspiration from Japanese culture is noticeable for sure, but it doesn't rely on you knowing at least basics from Japanese storytelling. The fantasy is able to connect with anyone.
"Charming" and "heartbreaking" are the right words to describe the mythology of the story, in my opinion, because the story creates a precise bondage between the personality of the character and the fantastic elements they portray. Also, the lore is accompanied with breathtaking visuals.
Villainous Presence: From the moment they first appear on-screen, they just have this instant message of "deathly threat". Their presence is essentially powerful because of the suitably grim environment created around them whenever they say a line. Their design reminded me so much of V from V for Vendetta that I just couldn't help smiling. They were terrifying in all the right ways.
The best aspect of these characters is that their actions have real (as fuck) consequences in the main story-line, pushing the protagonist to make choices he never would've thought making before. And what else? Some turnarounds really enhance the conflict in the final act, having some emotional and intellectual challenges for the protagonist to overcome, developing the main themes of the film simultaneously. It's just so complete and rewarding!
Magic Trio: Aside of Kubo, Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) are some fantastic characters to go along with. Regarding this element of the film, the less you know about them, the better the experience!
The voice acting is great. Theron brings so much emotional gravitas to the Monkey that's almost impossible not to like her or understand her motivations. Also, McConaughey is absolutely perfect and hilarious as he gives Beetle to life. He's so damn likable that yeah, emotions will be pulled right out of your heart strings and yes, emotions are earned. Why? amazing character development. Kubo's journey demands adult choices and keeping a down-to-earth behavior, and maybe you'll feel the need to tell the screen to "do this", "go this way", "watch out!". You're able to be part of the story.
Great Action: The fact that this movie is made in stop-motion animation just blows my mind. The action set pieces go from really good to incredible. There's one scene in specific regarding a storm on the sea that's just brutally violent and dark. The action is captured extremely well, well edited, and it feels organic in the sense that you're actually able to follow the characters and their state of danger with each passing minute. I highlight this because nowadays in big blockbusters the action generally feels pretty generic and somewhat by the numbers.
But the action here was very well executed. They're all distinguishable from each other and the stakes are higher every time something dangerous and exciting happens. The third act is beautiful to look at in this aspect, aside of the heartfelt dialogue. I think that if you wanna create professional and sophisticated set pieces that help the story to progress naturally either in stop-motion animation or any type of film, you gotta see this for yourself. It's fun to study it!
Gorgeous Cinematography: My words aren't enough to describe the sheer perfection of every frame in this movie. From the first shot, you're just in it! Seriously! Just from a visual standpoint, this film is truly worth your time. The initial narration helps you to get into the visuals almost instantly. Props to that. The color palette is excellently put into screen and it just hooks your eye.
Not only is it beautiful, but it also acts as a character. Whenever the cinematography has mostly dark colors, it shapes the events that are about to happen in a split of a second, and the same happens with bright colors. It's really consistent in that department. The camera movements in certain moments come off as unpredictable and surprising, adding a level of real storytelling to the movie.
Powerful Themes: If I get too deep into this, I might totally ruin the movie for you, and that's so not the point of this review. The point is that hey, be emotionally prepared for this film... 'cause the feels hit consistently.
Mostly, it says a lot about family and the difficulty of understanding between members of it; also, about storytelling and its greatest strength of bringing people together. Can you relate to the situations? Easily because it could've gone to an over-sentimental direction but it didn't. Why? Because the pacing was on point. The balance between lighthearted scenes and serious dramatic sequences and the transitions from one to the other is really well managed. GREAT JOB.
Storytelling Masterpiece: It's just smooth and seamless. The word "storytelling" is a humongously crucial aspect to the film because it really is the core of why the story works so well aside of the three main characters.
That one shot up there is from a scene that has SO much meaning and direct connection to the journey. Is it predictable later? Mmm a little bit, yeah, but it doesn't hurt the story. As long as you're able to piece the story together when you integrate the storytelling aspect to each character, the movie creates more layers to itself to the point where everything makes sense in an emotionally satisfying way. Every little detail comes to full circle. It adds a different and refreshing spin to the classic quest story-line with great style!
Must-See: In the end, I highly recommend this movie even solely for the pure entertainment aspect because this movie is SO much fun. Besides, the emotion the movie delivers within the characters and the moral message is so genuine that you might want to re-watch the movie several times, other than is an spectacular visual treat. Epic in scope, smooth in character development, great score, phenomenal animation and cinematography, memorable emotional moments, and consistently fun, this film is easily not only one of the best animated ones of the year but also one of the best films flat out of the year. It is THAT good. Why? 'Cause this is masterful storytelling. There's more than meets the eye. Go see it guys!
So... why is it called Kubo and the Two Strings? Up to your personal interpretation. My answer is the final shot of the movie. What's yours?
ALPHAS!
So! What did you think about this movie? Loved it or not? Where does it rank on your list of animated movies of 2016? Leave your comments below!
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NO DARKNESS WITHOUT LIGHT AND DREAMS DON'T END HERE!
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