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I walked out of Kubo and the Two Strings last night emotionally exhausted and completely overwhelmed. I blew my nose, wiped my eyes, then turned to my 12 and 8-year-old daughters and asked, “So, what did you think?”
“I didn’t get it,” said the oldest with a grunt. Her little sister followed suit with, “Yeah, what was up with his hair???”
See, my kids and I agree on most things involving movies. We feel that screaming babies should be escorted out IMMEDIATELY and that popcorn should always be covered with butter-flavored imminent death. We agree that popcorn should also be thrown at people who use their phones during a movie, but we apparently DISAGREE when it comes to Kubo and the Two Strings.
This is the latest from Laika Studios and honestly, they usually get mixed results from my kids. The girls grew to like Coraline but Paranorman always freaked them out. We all enjoyed The Boxtrolls but, to be fair, Kubo and the Two Strings is miles ahead of those other films, thematically and artistically.
Kubo (Art Parkinson) and his mother are hiding from her father, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes). They were only able to escape his wrath when Kubo’s father gave his life to save them. Kubo must now find a special armor that will help him battle his Grandfather AND his dangerous Aunts (Rooney Mara), with the help of Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey, in his first animated feature).
Kubo and the Two Strings plays out like an ancient Chinese proverb, which works fantastically with the innovative stop-motion animation. It’s the perfect marriage of material and medium, but that doesn’t mean that kids will like it. In fact, they might find the whole thing a little heavy-handed and weird, like my kids did. The girls had a million questions about why the magic worked the way it did, and rolled their eyes when I explained “suspension of disbelief” to them. Nothing I said helped the girls understand why Kubo and the Two Strings made me cry multiple times or why I was enchanted by even the silly parts. They just sighed and said, “Whatever Mom. It was weird.”
What do they know? Kids.
Well, I think that Kubo and the Two Strings is beautiful and possibly one of the best pictures of the year. I can’t imagine an animated film that will top it once Oscar season rolls around and that’s why YOU should definitely see Kubo and the Two Strings. If you have kids, take them, but remind them to keep their snarky opinions to themselves. If that proves to be impossible, I suggest throwing butter-drenched popcorn at them.
Mom– A+ Kids– B-
I completely agree with this. Great review. I see everything so my children see everything. They have a great knowledge of the cinema and I’d even call one of them a cinephile like her mother. We generally agree on most films. But I definitely love Kubo more than they did. My teen son felt the story was too straightforward and predictable. What???? Is he nuts?? Anyway they liked it but didn’t love it. I then worried how it would play out with kids.