\u201cIf you must blink, do it now.\u201d This is how Kubo, a young storyteller, begins all his stories as crowds gather round. \u201cPay careful attention to everything you see, no matter how unusual it may seem.\u201d The same applies for the film: if you look away, you\u2019ll be missing out.<\/p>\n
Kubo has lived his whole life hiding from the Moon. When he was just a baby, he was attacked by the Moon King, who stole his left eye, which he now covers with a patch hidden under his fringe. The Moon King eventually perished, along with Kubo\u2019s Samurai father, but this isn\u2019t the end of their story.<\/p>\n
Since that night, Kubo has been forced to hide from the moon in a cave where his sick mother, a sorceress, recounts legends of their ancestors. When he is finally caught outdoors as the moon rises, he finds himself fleeing for his life. With the last of his mother\u2019s magic, a talking monkey and a beetle warrior, Kubo sets off on an epic quest to find an enchanted suit of armour once worn by his father before the Moon King can take his other eye.<\/p>\n
This may seem like an oversimplified evaluation, but everything is wonderful. From the animation to the characters and the score, it\u2019s all close to perfect.<\/p>\n
Laika has this whole animation thing down to a beautiful art form, and Kubo And The Two Strings<\/strong><\/em> is their best one yet. You could play it on a loop in the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre and it wouldn\u2019t look out of place. Even though we know that the props, the characters and the settings are tiny, it all feels so much bigger.<\/p>\n Watching the film is a case of being stuck in a paradox of constantly forgetting that it\u2019s all stop-motion, while also being unable to stop marvelling at the fact that it\u2019s all stop-motion. Just one scene has more life in it than most live-action films.<\/p>\n Movie music enthusiasts will fall in love with Dario Marianelli\u2019s fantastic score, which is often presented through Kubo playing his mother\u2019s magical guitar that he carries around with him. Its earthy quality is paired perfectly with the otherworldly backdrops as Kubo, Monkey and Beetle venture through forests and caves and across lakes and valleys.<\/p>\n The artwork and music combined create a viewing experience so immersive that you\u2019ll be sad to leave the cinema after the credits (and you won\u2019t leave until the credits are over). As with everything else, the voice cast is also perfect, with Art Parkinson as Kubo performing just as well as the Oscar winners and nominees surrounding him.<\/p>\n The story is universal: it\u2019s charming, exciting and frightening. It\u2019s about family, love and sacrifice. It\u2019s about standing up for yourself and doing what\u2019s right. It\u2019s also largely about death and losing people close to you, as highlighted by the residents of Kubo\u2019s village as they take part in the Bon Festival, a traditional Japanese Buddhist custom of honouring the spirits.<\/p>\n Both the film and Bon Festival are more about celebration than mourning, speaking to ancestors from beyond the grave and sending candle-lit lanterns down rivers to honour their memories. People who have lost loved ones will easily find something to identify with, and people who haven\u2019t will still feel the sting.<\/p>\n Although Kubo And The Two Strings<\/strong><\/em> mostly handles death quietly but sincerely through the eyes of its young protagonist, it can also be huge and passionate, coming out of nowhere and winding you as if you\u2019d been punched in the stomach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is Kubo And The Two Strings Laika’s best film yet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":90153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[4911],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Kubo-And-The-Two-Strings.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}