Kubo And The Two Strings (DVD + Digital Download) [2016]

Absolutely love this movie and now so does my kiddo. The story telling and claymation aspect have me sold. Such a good story and well done.

I have purchased all five Laika movies (six, counting Corpse Bride, which Laika helped produce), and have watched every one of them many times. I absolutely love the quality that stop motion creates in the characters and scenery. Travis Knight has done a great job keeping stop motion alive for viewers like myself. I certainly hope that the new Laika movie coming out later this year tops the charts and hits a movie "home-run"! I am retired, sixty-eight years old, and my wife and I both can't get enough of these Laika movies!! They are awesome.

This animated feature is an excellent movie and fully enjoyable and satisfying for both kids AND adults. This movie doesn't have any of the adult TV show/movie or new references that animation movie makers seem to have to put into an animated movie to get adults to watch with their kids and it doesn't need them! This movie may look like a completely CGI animated movie, but it is NOT! The majority of this movie is done "Old School" with different types of clay and mechanical puppets in a more modern style of Ray Harryhausen OR Nick Park/Aardman (Wallace & Grommit) stop motion animation! This movie amazes on sooo many levels! The modern and old style Asian soundtrack is another really imprressive part of this movie that really helps to propel this feature to another level of interest as another element and plot supporting device! The attention to the tiniest of details and a very well thought out plot is what helps keep your interest in this movie, as highly fictional and fantastical as this animated feature is. I never saw this movie in the theaters (I really wished I had), but watching this movie with my wife on our 50 inch screen TV gave us a real great sense of what this movie was like in the theaters. Our interest in this movie was piqued when we seen excerpts of this movie in commercials for "Save our Forrests" ! This movie is an impressive feat that you should either rent to watch or own! If you are a big fan of animated feature films, this is a must have to own feature worthy of being added to your animated movie collection! This IS an excellent and wonderful movie to watch and experience!

We live in the future, and it is incredible. I’ve found stop-motion animation to be a fascinating medium, not only for its “dirtiness” when compared to CGI, but also because of the painstaking care it takes to produce a full-length feature with this process. Animation studios like Aardman and Laika are really starting to take advantage of all the tools at their disposal to create some awesome stop-motion movies. We’ve come a long way since the films of Henry Selick, the most famous one being The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Through Selick, we now have a handful of fantastic films through the Laika brand. While their previous work, The Boxtrolls (2014) had started the trend away from more morbid themes and plots, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) shows just how capable the stop-motion medium is to tell a fantastic story. With an origami motif existing throughout, Kubo and the Two Strings is a fantastic example of what 3-D Printing can do for the stop-motion animation industry. In fact, the almost transparent qualities of the characters allowed the light to more realistically interact with their bodies, immersing the viewer even further into the story. People who haven’t had much interaction with 3-D printing probably didn’t notice it, but I certainly did. Even though the plot may have been a bit “video game”-ish at times, the structure was almost faithfully that of a classic fairy tale. The themes of love, loss, family, duty, and honor are all present in this Japanese setting, thus hammering home the emotional impact of the characters’ actions with each turn. I was certainly in tears during several segments because of how touching they were. With this plot, the style of animation, and the technical achievements to make it a reality, I would be shocked if Laika does not win their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature next year because of this film. A visually stunning, modern fairy tale that shows off the amazing talents of the Laika team, I give Kubo and the Two Strings 4.5 stars out of 5.

Great movie. Got it on a discounted deal.

Watched this with my 4th-grader son and my wife -- we enjoyed it, laughing at times and crying at times. Kubo has heart, no doubt about it. Very imaginative, too. It's great to have a team of animators who are decidedly different. If this story was made by Disney, everything that makes it cool would evaporate. What makes it special, quirky, heartfelt is Kubo's strengths. At times, it almost seems the filmmakers are trying to hard to be different. The story is very basic, but the writing at times confounds me. There are times the dialogue sputters and you think, "Couldn't someone have given Charlize Theron or Matthew McConaughey something better?" (Actually, McConaughey does his best to breathe life into his character -- Theron is too hard, too annoyed to be a loving monkey.) We watched it on amazon, so I bet the DVD would have the extras I'm actually dying to see: how did they make this? My favorite thing about the film is its look. Because it's not cell or computer animation, the clay figures they use have a special earthy or ethereal quality. The Moon King, in his pale-lit light, is truly cold and creepy. Kubo has a kind of loving care to him -- his face beams with love. It's hard not to love the little guy.

Until it was recommended to me by a friend, I'd always assumed based on the thumbnails I'd seen of it that this was going to be some 3D animation melodramatic ripoff of a Dreamworks or Disney/Pixar film. Oh, boy was I wrong! First, the studio, Laika, goes out of its way to make as much of the film using practical effects and stop-motion. I was lucky enough to catch a Laika exhibit at my local art museum where much of it was on display. The amount of detail that goes into everything is amazing. How they managed to transfer the ocean/sea effect from the physical effect to the way it appears in the film still boggles my mind. Second, the storytelling is masterful. (I'm not going to spoil any of it, so it's safe to read this before watching.) Of course, certain story/plot elements in this movie fall into the same kind of Joseph Campbell's "Hero of Thousand Faces" territory that we're all used to seeing, but I think it does a good job of weaving in unique elements that are enhanced by the framework rather than limited by them. They make some really interesting choices that work really well. I also appreciate that there's not too much hand-holding exposition involved. There's some, naturally, but most of the world and its rules are shown rather than told. There are aspects of the world that are just mysterious and left to the viewers' imagination, but not in anyway that feels frustrating or out of place. The only technical thing I would recommend to anyone watching is to make sure their monitor or television or whatever they intend to watch it on has a really good light/dark balance. Certain scenes are better with the clearer contrast. Still a gorgeous film regardless. I was very impressed by this film overall and I highly recommend it as well to anyone looking for beautiful visuals and a story that's engaging and told well. That'll teach me to dismiss a film just because of the thumbnail.

Like “Song of the Sea,” this film for our family was profoundly moving, visually stunning, entertaining, mystical, and very heartwarming. It was also a great departure from the usual animations that adopt the Disney formula, which might be a turn-off for viewers that either prefer cookie-cutter endings or dislike the more mentally-engaged consumer experience (where audiences have to do a bit of deductive reasoning). For us, though, this film was a welcomed departure as it allowed us to discuss real life topics with our kids (teenager and 5-year-old) that even adults have difficulty reconciling. The most notable one was that of personal loss, specifically the loss of a loved one. This by far was the film’s greatest strength as Kubo shows us how to properly grieve and mourn, as well as how to move on. At the beginning of the film Kubo was consumed with questions of why, as in why was he stuck with such personal sadness; by the end, he found the strength and courage to transition himself to questions of how, as in how to move on from his loss (e.g., his surprising actions and those of the villagers at the end of the film simply reflected how many Asian cultures try to deal positively with personal loss). That really struck a chord with our family, especially with our kids who greatly admired Kubo for his kindness, strength, and dedication to appreciating all that human life has to offer, even if that includes a life of emotional hardship. With that said I would advise parents to screen the film first before showing it to their kids, in case their kids are not yet mentally and/or emotionally ready to handle such topics. Otherwise, it’s a beautiful film that will surely resonate with its viewers for many years to come.

A new stop motion movie from Laika Studios. Who also brought us 'Coraline.' 'Paranorman.' And 'The Boxtrolls.' This is a wholly original story, with an oriental setting. The main character is Kubo. A boy who starts the film washed up on a shore with his mother. They come to live on the edge of a village. Where he grows up entertaining the locals with his storytelling, music, and amazing origami skills. But his mother can only tell him so much about his past. And he would love to know who his father was. When the village is attacked, it's the start of a remarkable journey that will change his life forever... The stop motion in here is simply stunningly well done, and gorgeous to look at. It even manages scenes set at water that look convincing. The score is also superb, fitting the setting of the tale perfectly. It's a film of sections. The opening has a lot to set up and is a bit of a slow burner. But once the action gets going it's initially unclear as to certain things that are going on. But then Kubo is on a quest with two special beings, Monkey [Charlize Theron] and Beetle [Matthew Mcconaughey]. The three form an excellent grouping giving some very funny bickering and character moments. Matthew Mcconaughey in particular is superb at playing his character for intended laughs. The final quarter of the film does change direction slightly to go a little darker, but it does deliver memorable action and good answers. And has a brilliant emotional depth to it. Leading to an ending you won't forget in a hurry. Through the narrative Kubo has an excellent character journey, and you can really feel for him and relate to him all the way. Its a great journey to take. The film might be a bit dark at points for some of the very young, hence the PG certificate. But ultimately it's a charming fable and a great watch and well worth five stars. The disc has the following language and subtitle options: Languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic. Subtitles: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic. It also has English audio description. The disc begins with some trailers and ads, that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote. It contains the usual flyer with code to use to download a copy of the film to a digital device. Extras: Kubo's Journey. A making of documentary, which is split into six parts. Which can be watched individually or all in a row. If doing the latter it runs for twenty seven minutes in total. This is a good and in depth look at the production and an excellent watch. There's also Corner of the Earth, a three minute look at some of the settings in the film. Which is a bit too short to have much impact.

merci rapide et en bonne état

Little Kubo sets out to solve the mystery of his samurai father. A magical adventure with stunning visuals make this wonderful film a pleasure to watch.

Très bon film j'adore

Una de las mejores películas del estudio de animación Laika, el exterior, un steelbook precioso en su diseño, el interior, una joya de la animación que todo el mundo debería de ver. El remasterizado a 4K Dolby Vision es sublime, colores sobrios y definición superlativa, lo malo es que esta remasterización es exclusiva de Shout! Factory, por lo que es exclusiva del mercado americano, es decir que no lleva castellano, viene una pista en español, pero es, evidentemente latino, yo las películas las veo en su inmensa mayoría en en V.O. por lo que en lo personal no me afecta, aunque he de decir que, el doblaje latino, es excelente, y además es 5.1, por lo que es muy disfrutable. En definitiva, nos encontramos antes un UHD de una enorme calidad en todos sus apartados, y cuya única pega, es que no viene doblada al castellano, si no os importa en demasía este aspecto, es una compra muy recomendable, hay que tener en cuenta que una versión UHD con castellano ni existe, ni se la espera.