Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.

Director:

Travis Knight

Writers:

Marc Haimes (screenplay by), Chris Butler (screenplay by)

Stars:

Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 33 wins & 63 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Art Parkinson	...	Kubo (voice)
Charlize Theron	...	Mother (voice)
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Kameyo (voice)
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Hashi (voice)
Meyrick Murphy	...	Mari (voice)
George Takei	...	Hosato (voice)
Rooney Mara	...	The Sisters (voice)
Ralph Fiennes	...	Moon King (voice)
Matthew McConaughey	...	Beetle (voice)
Minae Noji	...	Minae (voice)
Alpha Takahashi	...	Aiko (voice)
Laura Miro	...	Miho (voice)
Ken Takemoto	...	Ken (voice)
Aaron Aoki	...	Villager (voice)
Luke Donaldson	...	Villager (voice)

Storyline

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

stop motion | samurai | mother son relationship | magic | storytelling | 

---

Taglines:

Be bold. Be brave. Be epic

---

Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, action and peril

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Skeleton Demon (based on the Gashadokuro of Japanese folklore) is the largest stop-motion puppet to be built, standing at eighteen feet tall.

---

Goofs

Kubo is told in his dream to "follow the setting sun" in order to find the helmet. He immediately wakes up and leads his group into the rising sun. Then the shadows indicate light is behind them, then in front again.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Connections

Referenced in Animation Lookback: Top 4 Best & Worst Animated Films of 2015 (2016)

---

Soundtracks

The Impossible Waves
Written by Dario Marianelli

User Reviews

beautiful movie let down by bad storytelling

I'll come right out and say it, Kubo and the Two Strings is the best looking movie of the year. In fact, it might be the most visually impressive animated film ever made. The action scenes are exciting, the character designs are unique, and overall the scale and scope of the stop-motion is insane. Considering this movie was a box office flop we will probably never see stop-motion animation of this caliber ever again. The story though is just garbage. It tries way too hard to be funny. Way way way too hard. I can't lie, I didn't laugh a single time throughout this whole movie, and I'm not exactly the hardest person to make laugh. I can't imagine I am the only person who felt this way either. Beetle might be the worst comedic relief character I have seen in a film in a long time, and him being voiced by alright alright alright Matthew Mcconaughey, whose voice doesn't match the character he is voicing at all. Monkey is also a really weak character, and her relationship with beetle is one of the most unbelievable and forced friendships in an animated film this year. It's sad really, because this movie starts out with such a harsh and depressing tone rarely seen in kids movies, yet it slowly devolves into pure clichéd and unfunny (for lack of a better word) crap. Still, the action scenes as well as the quality of the animation and excellent sound design make this movie worth the watch. 7/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Germany]

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 August 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kubo and the Two Strings

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,608,372, 21 August 2016

Gross USA:

$48,023,088

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$76,249,438

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Laika Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos DTS (DTS: X) (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1