Review of Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) by 43In2014 — 12 Oct 2016

Related media: There is no media related to this film.

What's it like?: It's a stop-motion film (think Wallace and Gromit and Coraline) but it is much more fluid, as if it was a hand-drawn animation. The story concerns the quest of a Japanese boy to collect three samurai battle gear and to avenge his father's death.

Pros:

1) The story is about a boy who earns his living by telling stories to the people in his village. The best scene is when the boy tells a story of a great samurai warrior and one of his adventures, and while doing so, sheets of paper in the boy's knapsack fold themselves into origami shapes that move, fly and float around the boy, so as to illustrate the story better.

2) The cover of a George Harrison's song is great.

Cons:

1) The rest of the film, sort of, degenerates into the usual cliches of stories on Japanese Samurai or Japanese culture, or any quest stories, and it didn't innovate much beyond that. The story would still please the much younger people though.

2) There are jumps in the story that seems to be attempts to cover up major plot holes. I was lost in the details and plots of some parts of the film.

3) This Japanese-theme story only had one voice actor of Japanese origin and he is an American citizen (George Takei). Talk about white-washing! I am surprised there hasn't been an uproar on this. Any venture that takes jobs away from struggling actors of non-white origins, regardless of whether it is only voice-acting, is still white-washing!

4) The arch-villain was disappointing.

How would the the different age groups view it?

Children: Excellent.

Teens: Good.

Young adults: Average.

Medium age adults: Good.

Old adults: Good.

Rating: 3/5 (no half scores). Save your money and catch it on TV.