Checked out Laika studio’s latest stop-motion animated film Kubo and the Two Strings. Laika previously made a few movies that other people love but I either disliked or found only ok – namely Coraline (the one I kind of liked), The Box Trolls, and ParaNorman. Their movies are undoubtedly impressive from a technical and visual standpoint and Kubo is not different. But, once again, I didn’t really like the movie and all the critics do so I’m probably wrong. .
Kubo is about a young Japanese boy who lives alone on a mountain with his semi-catatonic mom who insists he cannot ever been seen outside their cave at night (or the Moon King will find him). He spends his days playing his three-string lute for local townsfolk – his music has the power to create animated origami for whatever reason. And he stays out late one day and is found by a pair of evil Japanese ghosts who want to steal his other eye (spoiler alert: the Moon King stole one of his eyes as a baby).
This movie’s story is deliberately vague and, to its credit, chooses to not spoon-feed the plot to the audience. It makes me feel like maybe some of this story is based on folk lore that a Japanese audience would know (but I don’t think that’s the case since it’s a western production). But, as it stands, I was bored by the movie. i wasn’t intrigued by whatever was going on and I was tired of the quest the kid was on because the lack of a plot left me uninterested in the basic fetch quest.
I will say the final resolution of the final confrontation was kind of nice… not the actual confrontation, just the resolution. It was kind of clever and touching. So I guess part of the movie worked for me without realizing it.
I dunno… based on the very positive reviews, I must be wrong. I suspect people are responding more to the technical achievement and the fact the movie isn’t an embarrassing writing or plot disaster. So maybe it’s “good enough” to get decent reviews? I dunno.
Maybe I just don’t like Laika’s style. If you’ve seen Box Trolls, ParaNorman, or Coraline and liked ’em, you’ll probably like this one too.
Score: 68