Review of Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) by Chris O — 15 Aug 2017

It's a heart warming story with beautiful animation.

Clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson of "Game of Thrones") ekes out a humble living, telling stories to the people of his seaside town including Hosato (George Takei), Akihiro (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and Kameyo (Academy Award nominee Brenda Vaccaro). But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta.

I finally saw the final animation film that I had been dying to see from the year 2016. I heard it was up there with "Zootopia" and after loving "The Little Prince", I was excited to see this film. In all honesty, I didn't think this film was better than either of those two, but I still felt it was a well made animation.

One thing that was great about this film was the animation. I don't think it was claymation (through pictures), but it definitely looked like a well done mix between claymation and animation. The animation flowed smoothly and this film had some really great shots. The environment was beautiful and the character models were solid. I think if anything, this film has a unique animation that you don't see a ton of nowadays, and that alone is a reason to watch this film.

I enjoyed most the voice actors. They have a pretty recognizable cast, featuring Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, the lovely Rooney Mara, and George Takei. I think they all did good for the most part, even though none of them were huge standouts. In all honesty, I thought Matthew McConaughey absolutely stole the show. I thought his humor had perfect timing and his character was an instant standout. He brought a lot of humor to the film and he's the one I'll remember when it's all said and done.

The story is fine, but it felt like it had some empty weight in the end. I enjoy the story about Kubo and the connections with his family. The situation he's in makes for a fun adventure that I think kids and adults can enjoy. Even though their intentions were good, I felt like the story lost a lot of weight by the time it hit the third act. The third act felt fairly generic and boring, nothing we hadn't seen before. It had some emotional and fun moments prior, but those moments lost some weight by the time the credits rolled.

In the end, "Kubo and the Two Strings" was a fun family animation that supplies an interesting adventure and a beautiful sight for the eyes.