Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
We have spoken about Kubo and the Two Strings at some length back at the turn of 2016 in an Intermission episode, then again in the following episode where it was named out film of the year. Spoilers. It also showed up in a clip show episode, so you are forgiven if you want to skip this review. I shall try to keep it brief. Indeed, the briefest form is simply to reiterate that it was our film of the year in 2016 and nothing has happened in the intervening years to make me reconsider that opinion.
Back in feudal Japan, when myths and legends still stalked the land, there lived a one-eyed young boy, Kubo, caring for his ill mother, earning money by storytelling and animating origami with a magical shamisen, but he must return from the village to their homely cave before night falls, lest, as his mother’s stories say, the evil Moon King and his minions find him to claim Kubo’s other eye.
Turns out, however, that the stories his mother tells Kubo belong in the non-fiction section of the library, so when one day Kubo does stay out to take part in a festival, hoping to communicate with the spirit of the father he’s never known, said Moon King and evil minions show up to cause ocular bother for our protagonist. Kubo’s mother uses the last of her magic to spirit Kubo away to temporary safety, along with an animated monkey charm, now an actual monkey, called, er, Monkey, and “Little Hanzo”, an origami figure based on Kubo’s father. They’re soon joined by a reincarnated samurai, sort of, in huge beetle form, called, er, Beetle, who claims to have been one of Hanzo’s, as best as he can remember, which isn’t very well.
Together they must complete Hanzo’s quest for the Sword Unbreakable, Breastplate Impenetrable, and Helmet Invulnerable and go and punch the Moon King in his stupid moon face, and maybe, just maybe, along the way, they’ll all find out more truths about Kubo’s past and his family.
Good gravy, Kubo and the Two Strings is an astonishingly beautiful film. Both visually and narratively, but perhaps we should talk first about the visuals. Of course, as mentioned, all of these films are, but this has a great variety of strikingly lovely character and creature designs, and the scale of some of them is mind-boggling, requiring a mind-boggling amount of work.
The characters are strikingly well realised, both visually and through great vocal performances from the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Rooney Mara, and Ralph Fiennes. The story is in equal parts funny, action-packed, intelligent, epic, and touching. In short, it’s an incredible film, and if you haven’t seen it you are missing out on, well, the best film of 2016. If that’s not enough of a recommendation for you I don’t know what is. Arguably the best quote-unquote kids film that doesn’t have a Studio Ghibli ident at the front of it.