Kubo and the Two Strings [PG]

As kids, we all love a good story that features a hero whom we can imagine ourselves to be: someone with power, courage, maybe even magic and for whom everything ties up happily in the end. It occurred to me recently that many animated movies these days, particularly those in Western cinema, are very big on the happy endings and the eradication of anything too sad or taboo to bring down the school holiday spirit. Maybe it’s for this reason that I found Kubo and the Two Strings to be such a beautiful and refreshing piece of cinema. 

An interpretation of Eastern myth, Kubo breaks down these Western walls of morals and happy endings, replacing the structure of the animated movie with sliding doors of redemption, trial, sacrifice, and a little bit of horror. And whilst the film ends on a lovely note, the outcomes of the story as well as some of its themes are far from what you’d expect in a family movie. 

The film chronicles the great adventure of young Kubo (Art Parkinson), a magically gifted boy who is hunted by his wicked grandfather (Ralph Fiennes) and aunts (Rooney Mara). When his aunts finally find him, his mother uses what’s left of her magic to send him away on a journey to find a powerful set of armour that will protect him from his grandfather. With the help of a talking monkey (Charlize Theron), a paper samurai, and a forgetful beetle (Matthew McConaughey), Kubo sets out on the quest, all the while learning more about his magic and where it comes from. 

From the beginning, this is not your typical holiday season family film. The first indicator is the stop-motion animation, which is absolutely breathtaking and elevates the film beyond the company of Dreamworks or Pixar. Like Coraline (2009), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), or Paranorman (2012), the animation brings a certain level of maturity to the movie in its ability to depict horrifying things without being too overly scary. Its crispness and tangibility makes the whole thing more real, which also increases the fear factor in scenes where our heroes get hurt or our villains appear. A hefty strike to the chest or head causes us to flinch or moan in empathy, it’s like we’ve felt it too, and you cannot help but react more strongly with these characters because there is a level of solidity to them. Case in point, the aunts, which are a bit reminiscent of Clarice and Cora of Gormenghast, though scarier: their cold and perfect china doll faces make them beautiful but also the stuff of nightmares. 

And unlike your typical family movie that’s in circulation at the moment, Kubo deals with some pretty unthinkable themes. The central theme is family and the protection and longevity of it, but at the same time there is this frightening level of imbalance as the villains are Kubo’s very own blood relatives. Blood proves not to be thicker than water as siblings fight to the death, love and happiness is discouraged, and grandfathers pluck out their own grandson’s eyes! The themes that the movie delves into are highly adult, made all the more confronting and refreshing by the beautiful animation. 

Then we have this set of wonderful characters: Kubo we can all relate to on some level and his character is made complex and wonderful by the fact that he’s more or less forced to act like an adult: taking care of his mother and being the primary breadwinner through his busking in the village. Add to the mix an almost hostilely protective monkey and a sincere but bumbling beetle and it’s a trio that one would gladly go on a quest with. 

A beautiful story about the value of memory and how it defines us as people or characters, Kubo and the Two Strings is a stunning little movie filled with magic, action, adventure, romance, and many unfathomed twists of the plot. Whilst it definitely isn’t the typical family movie to bring the really little ones to, it’s one of the more visually stunning and mesmerising animated stories showing in cinemas.

Starring: Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes, Mara Rooney, Brenda Vaccaro, Meyrick Murphy, Minae Noji, Laura Miro, Alpha Takahashi, Ken, Takemoto, Carey-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and George Takei.