Kubo and the Two Strings

I just saw this and it was really good. Why isn't there a thread about it?

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There were a lot of threads about it, it's just that not many people saw it, unfortunately.
I want to hug Kubo.

because it isn't good

>2 strings
more like 3 strings

The two strings are his parents

Because everyone who cared about it already saw it and we all agreed it was fucking beautiful but the story needed work.

I thought the story was pretty strong.
Maybe not a stand out or particularly original but strong enough to carry the film.

What was the main criticism?

What did people say needed work about the story?

It didn't fucking hold their hands so they're sad

Literally every complaint I've seen says it was confusing.

For me it just felt like watching other people play D&D

The story left me with a stronger reaction, possibly because it resonated with my experiences.

Everyone had reasons not to be fighting but they were crazy with spite and loss. The mother - contrary to the impression she gives Kubo - had no real reason to hide other than hatred for her father and sisters for killing her husband. Nothing in the movie was about Kubo, it was about the conflict between his grandfather and his aunts on one side and his mother and father on the other side and he was just a pawn in it. It rang very true to me and reminded me of real-life broken families. At no point does anyone ask Kubo what he wants to do. After a certain point family members stop caring about making things better for themselves and only think about hurting each other, and the younger generation is just a tool for this.

I think if my family had been less shitty I might not have felt this strongly.

I felt like the writing and comedy needed major work. All lot of the 'monkey's lines fell flat. Also, many of the story elements seemed very convenient and predictable.

Really? I thought it was a little too hand-holdy for me. Plenty of places they could have made it more vague.

There was a lot of laughter in our cinema.
It wasn't knee slappingly funny but I really don't think it was meant to be.

I did find the story a little predictable but I figured it was going for the classical mythical quest feel and it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story.

>I think if my family had been less shitty I might not have felt this strongly.
I think if you paid attention to the fucking movie you might have liked it more. Kubo's mother hides him from the evening sky because her father wanted to rip out Kubo's other eye in order to allow him into heaven. Not only is it physical mutilation but it's said throughout the movie that it would have taken away Kubo's heart and compassion.

Kubo wasn't a pawn either. He wasn't being manipulated, he was being shown how to survive against his aunts and grandfather, who were intending to tear out his eye (and later in the movie, kill him). That's not being manipulated, that's being under attack. Monkey eventually told him the truth about who his family was and told him in no uncertain terms what would happen if he were to give up or fail.

No one asks Kubo what he wants to do because there isn't time. That's like asking someone running from the police "oh, what do you want to do? Do you want to get caught, or keep running?"

You sound like a butthurt faggot who should get over his emotional baggage.

I guess I just didn't like the way most of the characters were introduced. Their interaction with each other felt rushed and off.

I liked the movie a lot. I'm saying I saw it more like a bitter custody battle than like a fairy tale about good against evil.

>who were intending to tear out his eye
That is true but turns out to lack the importance one would assume because losing the other eye wouldn't stop him from seeing and would apparently transform him into some kind of moon god.

Yeah, I think get what you mean, especially with Monkey and Beetle.
But I grew to like the characters a lot so I might be a bit more forgiving.

Me and my boy got back from the cinema a few hours ago, we loved it. Story was great, feels were had and the stop motion was beautiful.

9/10 from me

If you mean the rapid development of the interaction between them, I saw that as deliberate foreshadowing.

I just got back from seeing it, saw the parents twist a mile away. The story definitely needed more work, still enjoyed it though.

It stuck too close to the "Hero's journey" formula. You could predict what was going to happen.

I read somewhere (and I agree) that a twist needs to be foreseen to be satisfying. The satisfaction is in realizing what is going on some time before the characters in the story realize it. If a twist truly comes out of nowhere it's just annoying and feels like "cheating", not like the author did something clever.

I kind of agree, but at the same time it was so incredibly obvious to me I thought it was dumb that Kubo never realized it until way late. I knew almost as soon as I saw Monkey and Beetle being introduced. I think twist should be foreseen, but not so far ahead that you spend the rest of the movie impatiently waiting for it.

I meant more their introductions in themselves, not as impactful as they could be but that's me nitpicking.
I also wouldn't have minded one more scene with the two and Kubo just bonding, though that might just be because I liked spending time with them so much. Why did they have to die so soon? They'd just been reunited officially ;_;

Half way through the movie, I realized that was Matthew's voice.

Alright alright alright

So Boxtrolls starred Bran, and Kubo starred Rickon. Which Stark kid should be in the next Laika movie?

Do you even realize the problem there? Kubo wasn't given a choice at first, and we were not only repeatedly told that going to heaven meant not being human anymore, but shown that through the way his aunts and grandfather acted.

If you'd take that trade, you do you, but don't act like it's normal to be willing to give up your humanity and compassion.

> but the story needed work.

I thought the story was great

The story was good buy it felt rushed. I dont know what people mean by "confusing" tho

It really only felt rushed at the end. And even then, it was still good.

I find it strange and kind of sad that Kubo doesn't seem to have amassed a fan following.
I haven't really seen any content being made around it.

>Wanted to go see Kubo after work tomorrow
>Only normal showing is at 3:45pm, only showing after work is in 3D
Holy fuck this 3D gimmick bullshit needs to crawl into a hole and die already

Agreed, but unfortunately it won't for a while. All the theaters have to make back their money they spent on all the 3D equipment.

Reminder that Kubo killed them. The paper hanzo was trying to show him the right way after he woke up but he ignored it and stuffed it in his sack. He got his parents killed

Kubo actually makes good and smart use of stereoscopy

im sick of people telling everyone to go see this movie because its so great and beautiful. IMnot watching this shit out of spite at this point. im sick of you fuckers.

I prefer not to watch some blurry as fuck movie with those red and blue cardboard glasses the whole time.

Guess I'll see about catching the Monday showing

That just makes it sadder.

red and blue cardboard glasses haven't been in theatres for years now

>It's popular so I'm not watching it because FUCK YOU GUYS
I assume you don't consume any media at all then

Than how the fuck do you see the gimmicky 3D?

Its depressing as fuck and I only noticed it recently

You just use 3D film, no need for glasses.

>The 3D isn't even optional anymore
Every time I try to wake up the nightmare just gets worse, I just want to go back to simpler times where movies were flat projections.

the 3D was never optional, why the fuck would you go to a 3D film and never put on the glasses?

Also you still need 3D glasses for most 3D films, they're just not garishly red and green anymore and made of plastic

My theater put it at bottom billing and ditched 3D showings three days into its run.

Someone there REALLY had an axe to grind with it.

>Why the fuck would you go to a 3D film and never put on the glasses?
Because theatre's play everything in 3D these days when you just want to watch the normal movie, which they only do like once a day and at inconvienent times, it's why I just torrent basically everything I watch.
Kubo is one of the few movies I actually wanted to watch in the theatre for a while.

overrated predictable bullshit

Get back in the grave Roger

Much like your life.

sick fucking burn

I feel like doing fanart out of pity but I don't even like doing fanart.

there is some art here and there

...

Why don't people like the final battle? Sure the snake-fish monster wasn't as incredible as the skeleton model, but it was still a great climax.

I enjoyed the paper dolls reenacting the Mom and Hanzo's initial encounter but I honest would've loved a full flashback to their first fight.

I wonder if she was decked out in the same gear as her sisters back then. Her weapons of choice seemed to be a sword and shamisen.

fascinating

and beautiful

I'm sure they all had the raven themed outfits, with Kubo's mom going for the red and oranges and looser clothing when dating Hanzo.

bump

they did kinda rush it. the beetle showed up right away and the monkey started flirting quickly. it was pretty obvious they were the parents

besides that the story was great. beautiful film

4/4

I thought it was a rather uninspired design. Of all the cool moon themed stuff they could do, they go for the aliens from the Avengers film?

It did feel threatening enough. Especially with a pissed Ralph Finnes's voice coming out of it.

He taunts Kubo about him wanting to slay the monster that stole his family and becomes a monster for him to fight.

It makes it even better when Kubo decides that's not the way his story ends.

I feel ya, Sup Forumsmrade. Shit like what Kubo went through would break most people, and my connection with the kid made me feel especially sorry for him.

When I first saw that final form, I first thought of pic related.
The Avengers skywhale-thing had more of a centipede or skeleton vibe to it.

How was it confusing in the slightest. Do people really need everything so spelled out?

Fuck, if anything my only complaint about it was that it was too predictable.

But honestly, I can deal wiith predictable. The movie was great, and a lot of hollywood movies should be taking notes on how to make fight scenes from this little gem. It's about making the fight have weight and emotion behind it. That first fight with Monkey and Evil Aunt, shit.

Well, the movie was heavily Japanese myth-y. And carps have a link to the moon in myth, as well as to the whole theme of infinity and unchanging cycles spinning on themselves. So of course if the Moon King, the stagnated, "perfect" sovereign from the moon has a boss monster form, it's going to be some kind of evil carp dragon thing.

I remember having complains the first time I saw the movie, mostly about the story. I thought it was a bit predicable and rushed, and I didn´t really like Beetle that much, or at least, not as much as I thought I was supposed to like him. However, during my second viewing I couldn´t find any of the problems I used to have. The story's pace suddenly seemed more balanced, the interactions between the characters seemed more genuine and funnier, and the final scene with the Moon King and Kubo, which I then thought controversial, now seemed much more sensible, although I think that's because I had had time to meditate about it at home.
So, in short, the movie was even better after a second viewing. Perhaps this is one of those films that requires two viewings in order to get a full grasp of it. At least, that's what works for me.

My girlfriend and I cried twice watching it.
Really beautiful film.

I thought it was some kind of armored fish too.

camrip when?

>Do people really need everything so spelled out?
Yes, they need their hand held, and then when they get that, they complain because the movie held their hand too much. Some people are only happy when they are angry and complaining.

For me, that was a definite strength of the movie. It was a really rad eastern-themed D&D campaign brought to life.

Go to the theatre you cheap nigger

Have you seriously not left your fucking house in years? There hasn't been a red-and-blue glasses film in theatres since, like, 2009. Even if you haven't gone to see a 3D movie in theatres for the last 7 years, surely any functional person would know someone who has. And how have you been consuming media all this time without realizing the references to 3D films no longer include distorted colours?

This film was actually one of the most effective 3d films i've seen in a very long time. Better than most action movies and CBM in terms of of effective 3D

That makes sense. The 3D they did for Coraline was really good too.

Shame they actually DID use the two-colour glasses for that one. Spoiled the effect for me.

Not that good.

I liked this better than Paranorman, though Paranorman had its good points too.

I just saw this today and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought that maybe it could have made a few elements clearer but save for that, I enjoyed the whole thing. Especially the action scenes.

Oh, and I'd love to say how gorgeous and detailed everything was, but the projector was so far out of focus it was difficult to see anybody's face at times. Fucking sucked, man.

I can't stop listening to this
youtube.com/watch?v=_zagM1Memfw

that was nice. not a fan of the original song so it didn't appeal to me so much, but god damn if the bit where Kubo was telling his story didn't have me in awe at the whatever-the-fuck-that-instrument's-called playing.

fucking beautiful

I don't know if they did 3D natively for Kubo, but Coraline has such a fantastic 3D presentation because they shot the whole thing in 3D properly. they mounted all their cameras to tiny little racks and moved them left to right on the racks for every single frame. I'd assume that they did the same wherever possible on Kubo.

If the grandfather could be redeemed, the sisters should be redeemed as well. I hope Kubo made lanterns for those two along with her parents.

I couldn't feel sorry for them after they killed Kubo's parents

BUMP

I liked that they had the courage to do a bittersweet ending. If this was a Disney movie, either Beetle probably would have been left alive to take care of Kubo or both parents would have magically come back to life at the end.

>What was the main criticism?
That whites voiced Asian characters.

Yes, some twats actually got pissed that there were non-Asians voicing any of the characters.

Laika's magnum opus, great heartfelt characters with a perfect blend of bittersweet. Only complaint is that the film is fairly predictable if you can put two and two together, both with the twist and the actual ending.

Also I'm surprised how tumblr seems to unanimously love this movie since I some people to get pissy over the movie using literal blindness as a way parallel figurative blindness of emotions.

>Its not an instrumental like what they used in the trailer
Fuck the fuck right off.

It was kinda weird that you have a big , blatantly Japanese inspired fantasy AND you cast George Takei and he only ends up with two lines.

And one of those lines is just "Oh my"

Eh, if they really wanted to be authentic they would have made the characters speak japanese.

I only found out about this movie the other day (because I just started coming to Sup Forums for the first time in quite a while and they're very excited about it) and it sounds good but I must admit the name Kubo triggers me immensely.

Why didn't it ever occur to the Celestials to go looking for the golden weapons in the decade plus it took Kubo to grow up? Hanzo had painted their locations, along with the traps guarding them, in giant tapestries in his fortress and that seems like the first place anyone with half a brain would look, given that they knew he'd made success in finding them to a degree.

Also, if Hanzo knew exactly where they were, why didn't he just go find them in the 9 months it took to have Kubo, assuming Mom was impregnated the same night they met? That way, Hanzo and Mom could have just fought and beat the sisters and the Night King together, given that Mom was more than a match for one of them without an ounce of magic and the Night Kick got serious wounds when fighting a child with no combat experience? Seems like the two of them, in their prime, with the golden weapons would have curbstomped the Celestials without much effort.

>Not liking Regina Spektor
>Maybe even so far as to not like a Beatles classic

Did the weapons even do anything? The only thing that had any use was the sword

>Have an instrumental version in the trailer
>Never use it in the movie (iirc)
>Only release the non-instrumental version because fuck you if you want it
Release them both side-by-side then. I like the song, I just think it works better, given the theme of what its attached to, without a pop star singing over it.

You're right. It really should have just been the sword. The movie could have used a little more time to breath between action scenes to flesh out the characters better without having to tie everything in the scene back to getting one of the pieces.

But the question still stands. Why didn't the Celestials even try to acquire the one thing that could threaten them when one person kind of succeeding at finding them had already broken up their family and turned the strongest daughter into a traitor? Especially since it would have been as easy as just taking a look into Hanzo's destroyed fortress at any time in 10+ years.

too bad, this is all you get youtube.com/watch?v=N_e0fbRY9cs

It may have been a marketing decision. Parents know who Charlize Theron and Matthew McConaughey and Ralph Fiennes are. They may not recognize Japanese actors and might be less likely to take their children to the movie. It's the same reason that Disney and Dreamworks use big name Hollywood actors and actresses instead of lesser known voice actors.

Been listening to it for the past two weeks.

Help me...