Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey

Synopsis:
A young boy with magical powers must seek out a magical suit of armor to protect him from the dreaded Moon King.

Impressions:
This movie had my interest from the first teaser I saw. I really liked Coraline, so I was looking forward to this and I wasn't disappointed. I will admit to having some misgivings about how Matthew McConaughey's schtick would play in a Japanese-themed fantasy epic, but his character Beetle is rather amusing and has good chemistry with Charlize Theron's Monkey. The stop-motion animation is really amazing. Now, I'm not going to say CG is easy because even with all the tools that facilitate the process, it's no mean feat to do it well, but there's a lot more that goes into stop-motion, particularly when it's this elaborate. In the end credits they give you a vastly sped-up look at just some of what went into one of the monsters. If you consider yourself in any way a connoisseur of animation, you definitely need to see this. And it's not just the tech. The story and characters are great. I really can't think of much of anything to fault it on, though I do feel this is going to be more of a cult film and its returns may hurt the kind of budget Studio Laika can secure for its future projects. I strongly recommend giving this one a watch and may even adding it to your collection when it hits the home video circuit.

Rating:
Own It