Ben, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world.
Director:
Tomm Moore
Stars:
David Rawle,
Brendan Gleeson,
Lisa Hannigan
Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart, embarks on an adventure that spans three fantastic worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
The special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada. They team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.
An ordinary LEGO construction worker, thought to be the prophesied as "special", is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis.
Kubo lives a quiet, normal life in a small shoreside village until a spirit from the past turns his life upside down by re-igniting an age-old vendetta. This causes all sorts of havoc as gods and monsters chase Kubo who, in order to survive, must locate a magical suit of armor once worn by his late father, a legendary Samurai warrior.
Like Laika's earlier film Coraline (2009), "Kubo" features the theme of eyes being stolen and replaced. See more »
Goofs
Kubo is trying to speak to his ancestors when using the lanterns. The light is behind him, yet there is also light shinning directly into his eyes from a source in front of him. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Kubo:
[narrating]
If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned: If you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you - even for an instant - then our hero will surely perish.
[baby crying]
Kubo:
His name is Kubo. His grandfather stole something from him. And that really is the least of it.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The initial end credits appear over a background animation of characters and scenes from the film, as well as scenes from Japanese culture. After this, there is a time-lapse sequence that depicts the assembly of the giant skeleton demon. The credits then continue with images and short animations of elements of the film (characters, backgrounds, etc.) appearing beside the credits. See more »
A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
For Best Animated Film of 2016, there seems to be two schools of thought: either "Zootopia" or "Kubo". The former has so far been winning the most awards, and will probably win the Oscar. But "Kubo" has a strong following, with some saying it is not only the best animated film, but one of the best films of the year in any genre.
I love a good underdog, but in this case my sympathies lie with "Zootopia". The creators there have crafted an entire world, and it is not only very enjoyable, but lends itself to any number of sequels with other characters. It is a rich, dense landscape. "Kubo", on the other hand, is a very shallow, one-dimensional story. A boy goes looking for armor, and without even knowing what direction to go, he stumbles over it almost immediately. There is no deep conception of character or plot, everything just falls into place. For me, that really makes the film lacking and does not make me want to take repeat trips.
However, "Kubo" is also nominated for Best Visual Effects. And on that note, I would love to see it win. I don't personally know the challenges of traditional animation versus computer animation versus stop motion. But, I do see the finished product here and how flawless it looks. Unlike the "classic" stop motion (such as "King Kong"), the movements are seamless. I can't even fathom the amount of minuscule adjustments that have to be made.
Although "Zootopia" is a clear favorite for Best Animated Feature (in my opinion), by all means give "Kubo" the Best Visual Effects and honor these folks for the hard work and countless hours it must have taken.
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A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
For Best Animated Film of 2016, there seems to be two schools of thought: either "Zootopia" or "Kubo". The former has so far been winning the most awards, and will probably win the Oscar. But "Kubo" has a strong following, with some saying it is not only the best animated film, but one of the best films of the year in any genre.
I love a good underdog, but in this case my sympathies lie with "Zootopia". The creators there have crafted an entire world, and it is not only very enjoyable, but lends itself to any number of sequels with other characters. It is a rich, dense landscape. "Kubo", on the other hand, is a very shallow, one-dimensional story. A boy goes looking for armor, and without even knowing what direction to go, he stumbles over it almost immediately. There is no deep conception of character or plot, everything just falls into place. For me, that really makes the film lacking and does not make me want to take repeat trips.
However, "Kubo" is also nominated for Best Visual Effects. And on that note, I would love to see it win. I don't personally know the challenges of traditional animation versus computer animation versus stop motion. But, I do see the finished product here and how flawless it looks. Unlike the "classic" stop motion (such as "King Kong"), the movements are seamless. I can't even fathom the amount of minuscule adjustments that have to be made.
Although "Zootopia" is a clear favorite for Best Animated Feature (in my opinion), by all means give "Kubo" the Best Visual Effects and honor these folks for the hard work and countless hours it must have taken.