ANI-MOVIES, *Kubo And The Two Strings

After ParaNorman, Laika's next movie digs deep into Japanese mythology with Kubo and the Two Strings. Keeping up the rare art of stop-motion animation, the former team behind A Nightmare Before Christmas crafted together an eye-catching masterpiece that appeals to fans of old samurai opera, as well as some anime.

During the age of samurai, Kubo is a young boy with a missing eye who lives with his estranged mother in a cave near a village where he spends his days working as a storyteller, using his supernatural skill to manipulate paper(similar to Read Or Die)to move pieces of origami while playing a Japanese guitar. Kubo is told by his mother to always come home by sundown, because his grandfather the Moon King wants to steal his other eye, although he does get late one night with his two aunts being sent down to capture him. Kubo's mother manages to rescue him, but at the cost of her own life, magically sending Kubo to an escape. He is awakened by a talking snow monkey(called "Monkey")who was sent to him by his mother using the last of her magic. Monkey tells him they need to find the three pieces of a mystical armor that is the only thing that can protect Kubo from the Moon King. Along their journey, they add to their ranks a large beetle(called "Beetle")who believes he was formally a samurai working for Kubo's father, a shogun that fell in love with a moon goddess. Their quest has them battling a giant skeleton, sea monsters, and Kubo's relentless ninja aunts. The final battle between Kubo and his grandfather doesn't end the way you would see in your standard samurai epic!

This was a true modern day fantasy feast! It is heavily into feudal Japan folklore, featuring rarely used creatures like the boney Gashadokuro, and deities from the moon seen in stories like Princess Kaguya. Bumblebee director Travis Knight started out on this production, and this shows why the Transformers looked so much better as he proves his prestige quality towards animation. Arianne Sutner co-produced Kubo went on to direct Laika's next project, Missing Link. Most of the cast is good like Charlize Theron, plus an unusually tolerable Matthew McConaughey. Kubo And The Two Strings is an engaging Tolkien-esque quest that shows how the ties of family can bind and break a person's life, and the people around them.