Review of Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) by Fungusgnat — 30 Sep 2016

Setting and characters notwithstanding, this is not a Japanese movie. It does not have the off-kilter story sense (from a Western perspective) that distinguishes the work of Hayashi and others; this one lies in a land somewhere in between here and there, where events can materialize out of nowhere and sentiment may be called upon to help make the pieces fit.

This is all fine with me, as is the story’s insistence on the importance of storytelling. What is not fine is the music—in which Kubo’s plucky samishen is nearly drowned out by trite Western “movie music.

” No problem, though, with the “photography” (or the art, or whatever a cartoon’s got), which is flat-out beautiful, especially towards the beginning where one has not had the opportunity yet to realize how high the bar is being raised.

All in all, I liked this movie quite a bit and would recommend it without reservation for, say, six-to-ten-year-olds in particular—boys and girls. Meanwhile, the accompanying adult will be all smiles throughout, except where s/he is agog over the fact that this film is largely stop-motion.