Stop Motion Movie Review 1 (BSA 124)
Kubo and Two Strings Review
Movie title: Kubo and Two Strings
Year released: 2016
Production company: Laika
Genre: Fantasy, adventure, action
Producers: Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
IMDB rating: 7.8/10
Plot: It is the story of a young boy named Kubo whos peaceful life has been destroyed after he suddenly summons a vengeful spirit from the past. With his two companions, a monkey and a beetle, the three of them begin their journey to fight the moon king to save his family.
Stop motion has always been so interesting to learn and watch. To explore and gain deeper knowledge in it, I've decided to watch one stop motion animation movie each week. I'll write my review about the movie itself, doing research in the movie background's, as well as the techniques that are being used in the movie.
I've watched Kubo and Two Strings twice already, and this week is my third time. I never got bored with this movie as it tells the power of family's love which is irreplaceable. Kubo and Two Strings first released by Laika studios last year's summer (8 July 2016). Laika has been the leading company specializing in stop motion animation for all these years and known for its movies such as Corpse Bride, Paranorman, and Coraline.
My review:
Kubo and Two Strings is not adapted from any book as its screenplay was written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler with a "story by" credit for Shannon Tindle. This movie is totally magnificent if we look from its complexity high detailed and extraordinary beauty of the animation quality. All of the movements are extremely smooth, sometimes I even forgot that this is actually a stop motion animation.
As its title, this movie tells the story of a young boy named Kubo who is given a supernatural power and lives in the ancient Japanese era or also known as edo. As a child, Kubo lost one his father called Hanzo and one of his eyes due to his grandfather's deed, which is an ethereal god. Now he lives with his ailing mother on top of a hill, hidden from society so that his mother's sister wont't be able to find him and kill him later on. Kubo has to go down everyday with his two strings guitar to the nearest local village to tell his story with origami forming fantasy creatures and flying around for living. One day, Kubo forgot his mother's warning for not staying outside after the sun sets. Not long after that, both of his mother's sisters found him and attempt to kill him not knowing that suddenly their sister has appeared before their eyes. Kubo's mother sacrifice herself in order to safe him and give him a monkey companion to find Hanzo's armours and fight his own grandfather to stop all of this.
The journey starts and on their way they meet a human beetle who dedicated his life to protect Kubo from any dangers. Their journey is full of dangerous and hideous monsters, but it just strengthen their bond without realising that actually the monkey is his mom in disguise and the beetle is his own father who's been cursed.
Even though the moon king has been defeated (Kubo's grandfather), tragically both of his parents died in the end after trying to keep Kubo safe. But one thing Kubo knows that his parents will forever be in his heart and accompany him wherever he goes spiritually.
There's happiness, sadness, fear, and forgiveness that I can get from Kubo. For a young child who's parents are killed, he is still able to forgive while cherishing the sweet moments he had with them. It is a very touching movie, where you can find the love of parents for their children, even ready to sacrifice their life for him. The story is unpredictable, with an unexpected sad ending, but in the same time you can find happiness in it. The animation itself is totally amazing, with those details in each movements.
Movie Backgrounds:
Director Travis Knight says that the story of Kubo has been nurtured by all the Laika team since 5 years ago with the interview with The Mary Sue.
"The original idea for the story sprang from the fertile mind of our brilliant character designer, Shannon Tindle, and even though it was early and raw, the original pitch…there was something about it that was really exciting and evocative. Stripping it down to its most reductive state, the idea of a stop-motion samurai epic was something that was really cool"
As a child who has the interest about Japan, especially the manga The Wolf and Cub created by Akira Kurosawa, it gave him the idea to make a fantasy and epic world in Kubo and Two Strings.
Origami is one of the way to tell the culture of Japan in Kubo as the producer Travis Knight says:
Movie title: Kubo and Two Strings
Year released: 2016
Production company: Laika
Genre: Fantasy, adventure, action
Producers: Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
IMDB rating: 7.8/10
Plot: It is the story of a young boy named Kubo whos peaceful life has been destroyed after he suddenly summons a vengeful spirit from the past. With his two companions, a monkey and a beetle, the three of them begin their journey to fight the moon king to save his family.
Stop motion has always been so interesting to learn and watch. To explore and gain deeper knowledge in it, I've decided to watch one stop motion animation movie each week. I'll write my review about the movie itself, doing research in the movie background's, as well as the techniques that are being used in the movie.
I've watched Kubo and Two Strings twice already, and this week is my third time. I never got bored with this movie as it tells the power of family's love which is irreplaceable. Kubo and Two Strings first released by Laika studios last year's summer (8 July 2016). Laika has been the leading company specializing in stop motion animation for all these years and known for its movies such as Corpse Bride, Paranorman, and Coraline.
My review:
Kubo and Two Strings is not adapted from any book as its screenplay was written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler with a "story by" credit for Shannon Tindle. This movie is totally magnificent if we look from its complexity high detailed and extraordinary beauty of the animation quality. All of the movements are extremely smooth, sometimes I even forgot that this is actually a stop motion animation.
As its title, this movie tells the story of a young boy named Kubo who is given a supernatural power and lives in the ancient Japanese era or also known as edo. As a child, Kubo lost one his father called Hanzo and one of his eyes due to his grandfather's deed, which is an ethereal god. Now he lives with his ailing mother on top of a hill, hidden from society so that his mother's sister wont't be able to find him and kill him later on. Kubo has to go down everyday with his two strings guitar to the nearest local village to tell his story with origami forming fantasy creatures and flying around for living. One day, Kubo forgot his mother's warning for not staying outside after the sun sets. Not long after that, both of his mother's sisters found him and attempt to kill him not knowing that suddenly their sister has appeared before their eyes. Kubo's mother sacrifice herself in order to safe him and give him a monkey companion to find Hanzo's armours and fight his own grandfather to stop all of this.
The journey starts and on their way they meet a human beetle who dedicated his life to protect Kubo from any dangers. Their journey is full of dangerous and hideous monsters, but it just strengthen their bond without realising that actually the monkey is his mom in disguise and the beetle is his own father who's been cursed.
Even though the moon king has been defeated (Kubo's grandfather), tragically both of his parents died in the end after trying to keep Kubo safe. But one thing Kubo knows that his parents will forever be in his heart and accompany him wherever he goes spiritually.
There's happiness, sadness, fear, and forgiveness that I can get from Kubo. For a young child who's parents are killed, he is still able to forgive while cherishing the sweet moments he had with them. It is a very touching movie, where you can find the love of parents for their children, even ready to sacrifice their life for him. The story is unpredictable, with an unexpected sad ending, but in the same time you can find happiness in it. The animation itself is totally amazing, with those details in each movements.
Movie Backgrounds:
Director Travis Knight says that the story of Kubo has been nurtured by all the Laika team since 5 years ago with the interview with The Mary Sue.
"The original idea for the story sprang from the fertile mind of our brilliant character designer, Shannon Tindle, and even though it was early and raw, the original pitch…there was something about it that was really exciting and evocative. Stripping it down to its most reductive state, the idea of a stop-motion samurai epic was something that was really cool"
As a child who has the interest about Japan, especially the manga The Wolf and Cub created by Akira Kurosawa, it gave him the idea to make a fantasy and epic world in Kubo and Two Strings.
Origami is one of the way to tell the culture of Japan in Kubo as the producer Travis Knight says:
“This film expresses the respect and admiration all the artists at LAIKA feel for Japan and its culture.”
Kubo character is inspired by Japanese dolls around the late edo period between 1600s to 1800s. Those dolls were historically made from cloth, wood, lacquer paper and human hair. The hair was coated with silicon for its durability.
Stop Motion Techniques:
1. After designing the characters with the inspiration from the edo era, its time to figure out the techniques that Laika use to animate the origami, as this is something new for them. So instead of using a "real" origami for the animation, Laika uses cinefoil, somekind of mallebale alluminium material which was covered with paper towels and then painted.
2. Especially for Hanzo's origami in the scene where he fights a chicken, Laika made a real puppet of him instead using the cinefoil. The reason behind it is that paper will deteriorate quickly under the animators' hands.
3. In the village scene, when Kubo played his guitar as a story teller, most of the villagers in the crowds are digitally animated to reduce the time being spent on animating them one by one.
Reference Links:
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/movies/kubo-and-the-two-strings-blends-animation-and-origami.html?mcubz=1
2. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/11/kubo-and-two-strings-review
3. http://screenrant.com/15-facts-about-kubo-and-the-two-strings/
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