Kubo and the Two Strings

Visually astonishing and touchingly told, Kubo is utterly wonderful.

Staggeringly beautiful and immensely true, the best animated film of 2016 — one of the year’s best films of any kind, really.

It recognizes that our most cherished legends are an endless source of consolation in times of suffering and loss, as well as a vital repository of cultural and generational memory. If that message sounds trite or familiar, it has rarely been driven home with this much conviction and intensity of feeling.

The movie is genuinely creative, genuinely outside-the-box, and often genuinely scary; parents of toddlers and nightmare-prone children are herewith warned.

The first and last things to be said in this limited space about Kubo and the Two Strings are that it’s a showcase for some of the most startlingly beautiful animation in recent — and not so recent — memory.

Steeped in the mythology and fables of Japanese history, it’s another fantastical adventure from the studio with innovation and awe at every turn, despite a story that could benefit from having more specificity and focus.

Little kids will be bored, as there are only a few scenes with any action, and of those, only one, featuring an enormous skeleton with swords sticking out of its skull, has any oomph.

Kubo and the Two Strings is an absolute masterpiece of animation and storytelling. With stunning visuals and a touching narrative, this movie is a must-see for both adults and children alike. The story follows Kubo, a young boy with a magical instrument, on a thrilling adventure to save his family and uncover the truth about his past. The characters are well-developed, and their relationships are portrayed with depth and nuance, making them relatable and endearing. The animation is truly breathtaking, and the attention to detail in every frame is impeccable. The film also explores important themes such as family, sacrifice, and the power of storytelling. Kubo and the Two Strings is a true work of art and an instant classic that will stand the test of time. It's a must-watch for anyone who loves animation and a great story.

I really liked the visuals, music, and sound design of the movie. You can tell that the artists that worked in this movie knew their craft and worked to its sheer splendor. However, despite how beautiful I thought this movie was, the story was a bit odd. It was too weirdly paced with plot points being too fast and the characters weren't given their proper spotlight aside from Kubo himself and even then his was rushed. I really wanted to give this movie a higher rating because of how beautiful everything is aside from the story.

I remember having goosebumps when i first saw the trailer, the visuals, the sound and the plot (which seemed different) caught my attention but i have to say i was very disappointed with the direction this fascinating story took. The plot is good, the love of the parents who wish to save their child from the horror that awaits due to the burden of his lineage...apparently. I can imagine it being a great great story on paper but the forcefully drawn out cliche characters paired with cliche moments and dialogues to fill you with synthetic emotions. "oh! the poor boy" "oh the evil antagonist" "oh the confused antagonist" "oh the confused boy", so it tends to leave the entire audience quite confused on how to feel about the movie, the twists it takes and its characters. The plot twists can be seen from light years away, at least for me it was and i was wondering if it is more than just a "good vs evil" movie, which would have given it so so much depth but the direction managed to make it annoyingly shallow. I would not take anything away from the stop-motion animation as it was always a visual feast in spite of the confusingly portrayed characters. At the beginning it was all heart warming for me seeing the love of son for his mother and vice-versa but as the movie progresses past the 15 minute mark you start to wonder if they are the same characters you thought you knew. Hence, at this point it becomes very clear that the character development is very disappointing, and i use the word "disappointing" because the script deserved so much more than what it got. I believe this was because the creators were torn between making it a kids' movie which they would enjoy and also understand in the simplest form without taking anything away from the interesting plot twists, but it failed to do both. This is a prime example how a great script can be ruined by lack of sincerity and vision and i could not help but feel ecstatic imagining what the same script would have done had it fallen into the hands of someone like Hayao Miyazaki who would know these characters and understand their motivations and enable any kid and child to feel for the in the ways they themselves would not be able to understand how. This just shows how much the western movie makers underestimate their younger audiences. They might as well just give out candies and ice-cream at the end to convince them they had a good time. The morally grey characters are forced to side with either black or white which leaves the audience confused on how to really feel about them. I loved the sound and the visuals but they do not do anything more to compensate for it, which might be asking too much from my side. Regardless the visuals are stunning and sounds soothing but they do not tie well with the overall theme of the movie or the characters. The action sequences are just as dull as the characters and the clashes are pretty basic hand to hand combats all the while trying to convince the audience that they are witnessing a battle of some of the most divine beings of the universe. That pretty much sums up the entire movie for me, everything and everyone seems out of their depth here and i can imagine the sigh the writers much have left with after watching it. Nevertheless, i hope in future, a distant future where we have forgotten about this atrocious attempt to take something so artistic and mold it into something so synthetic just to please the movie audience who are far more sophisticated than they give us credit for. I am also very disappointed to see great reviews for the movie which was not bad, nope, i could not be that heartless but fell extremely short of what it could have been and what it was meant to be.

Just as ugly as Coraline. Laika is the worst companies to make big budget animation.

Wonderful visuals (though the renderings of humans are sub-par). However: poor dialogue rife with 21st-century colloquialisms and Americanisms, plot holes you could drive a tractor-trailer through, poor story logic, derivativeness, undeveloped characters. And it was boring. "Coraline" was much better. This was a triumph of style over substance. Only one Asian voice actor! The high scores are saddening.