Kubo and the two strings

Well, I cried more than should have Sup Forums. What did the rest of you guys think?

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I was pretty excited and fairly let down. Pacing was pretty awful

i liked it! not as good as paranorman or coraline, but the story was good and the characters enjoyable

I think Laika's animators are stealing the lifeforce of the writers. Every movie looks better than the last, but has writing problems not present before.

I slept halfway throughout the movie. Although it was justified since it was 4am and I was tired as fuck on an airplane and had watched Nerve and The Secret Life of Pets before that

Story was alright, but really the animation and environments keeps me coming back to it, characters here and there too

The first appearance of the sisters was the most creeped out I've been in any animated (and most live-action horror) movies.

That alone is why it's in my collection.

It had a good premise that was brought down by its reliance on cheap sentimentality, and a climax that opted to be showy when it ought to have been clever. It was undoubtedly gorgeous, Laika's most technically impressive movie to date. I didn't even have any problems with Matthew McConaughey's performance, which puts me in a minority.

It's really beautifully crafted schmaltz. Laika's hamstrung by it's desire to do more challenging storytelling and lavish, sophisticated productions, while still needing to appeal to families with young kids because of cost. They need to lean a little more one way or the other.

I was so convinced the Monkey and the Beetle were going to be magically cured by the end. Clearly I'm too used to Disney stuff.

Plot is... eh, dialogue is way too hammy

I saw in foreign dub first, and initially thought that "listen closely" kiddie shit voiceover in the beginning was something that our localisers came up with. I then waited for torrents to see if original is better, but after hearing the same shit there, I just deleted it

redeeming the villain seems very japanese
did this do any good in japan?

Just finished the movie now, they did it in such a redeeming a well fitting way, I thought it was clever.

I cried about half the movie...not always from sadness, sometimes just the beauty of it.

I cried on the ending credits, with the realization that the movie will never be as recognized as it deserves.

Also you can see that Laika is really crazy to do a traditional 2d movie.

Not as good as Paranorman, but still fucking good. The first 20 minutes are probably the best thing Laika's ever done, but sadly after that point the plot becomes a bit more typical and the writing more cliche. Still decent tho, and the visuals are unparalleled.

My dad said something that I found interesting, he said the thing that impressed him the most was the lighting. Before the movie they showed a trailer for Moana and he said that in comparison that movie looked so flat. It probably has to do with Kubo having actual sets and figures they light with actual lights, but it really does look a lot better.

>cliche
well it's a standard quest story and those aren't about what you tell but HOW you tell them. To that Laika did a spectacular job. It's one of my top 5 movies, in no particular order

>The Flight of Dragons
>Kubo
>The Brotherhood of the Wolf
>Mirrormask
>Pan's Labyrinth

I find it odd, I'm more of a sci fi geek than fantasy, but all my favorite movies are fantasy.

Visually, both from technical and creative standpoint, absolutely beautiful. Story-wise, really meh. It's ironic that this is a film about a story teller who's pretty shit at telling stories and people only come to him for his fantastic visuals.

But Laika was never really good in the writing department. Interesting concept, boring execution. That's probably what's keeping it from being on Disney and Pixar's level popularity and success-wise.

I also wanna mention the excellent soundtrack, there's some good shit in there.

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Excellent movie with some script/pacing hiccups that are easily forgiven considering the excellence of the overall story and setting and the beauty of the animation

Yeah, it was really schmaltzy but it did the schmaltz well. That's fine in a kid's movie.

It's too bad Laika has either no money for advertising or hires the worst advertisers because no one ever knows their movies are out or else doesn't know what they're about.

The cause of Sariatu's condition, wherein she's catatonic for most of the day with only brief periods of lucidness and suffers from memory loss. Is it because she's a formerly divine being gone from her place of birth to the human realm? Is it because she and her family are all beings of the night that she's only really active at night time rather than the day? Or does it all stem from the severe head trauma she received when Kubo was a baby?

I was under the impression she could only be lucid at night time, due to being he daughter of the moon king

If I recall it went straight to video there

So how it worked when he was just a baby?

It was kind of fucked that Beetle's body didn't fade away or vanish or transform (like Monkey's) into something PG and his corpse was just there for Kubo to brood over for the rest of the night.

he wasn't a god.

I thought it was both. Her injury took her mind but at night she had enough power to become lucid.

Blame Universal because they distributed it from Focus Features, their Arthouse label which never really produces hits

They had a "head of story" in the credits, apparently he did a shit job.
The story is generic, underwehelming and badly executed.
The charackterization is very much lacking, Kubo come across like a little asshole sometimes, motivation of teh evil grandpa is like for different thing, or one or the other or something. Ending was underwehlming again.
The craftsmanship in this is amazing though, i'm hoping for a good making of sometime soon. And this what really bothers me about this movie, it sets a bad light on traditional animation, because aside from the technique, the movie is pretty crappy.

Don't look too far, she hit her head really fucking hard. Anyone would get brain damage after that.

When the movie came out it was nearly universally acclaimed here on Sup Forums. Now there are contrarians, counter shills, overblown nitpickers, and people who lack taste that all post because they want attention. It has its hiccups but the film is still a 4/4 in my book

Story is generic? Then old "Grandpa wants to steal my eyes so I can be infinite" trope?

Bingo. Her lucidness at night was her drawing power from the moon to overcome the physical injury

Nothing you said here is really true? Kudos an asshole? If that were true, that would be charackterization (sic) .

I don't remember grandpa's motivation ever changing, perhaps you were just confused....

Because he's telling a story...

She was injured, not the baby

Why did Kubo turned the moon king into a human?

So he could watch him die slowly as he's gaslighting him into being someone he totally wasn't before after completely wiping his memory, as revenge for killing his parents.

Children really are monsters.

>Moon King
The Moon King is dead. Both as a god and as a person. All he did was add a final insult by making his empty shell serve as the village's slave.

I don't know what anons are bitching about with the script. I thought the fakeout with Monkey and Beetle being Kubo's parents was a bit predictable, but it gave them more importance and tied them to the backstory.

My only complaint was the jokes. Some of them fell so flat I actually cringed, and you could see most of them coming a mile away. There were some good ones though.
>"He's been standing there for HOURS! I don't think he's even technically origami!"
>"I GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU! Get it? Because he's made of bones."
>Kubo being weirded out by his parent's sexual tension

It had a good heart, a bit flawed but miles better than Boxtrolls. Not even close to ParaNorman and Coraline though.

Hey, now. It was either turn him into the village's nice old man who everybody likes and respects, or fucking kill his ass. I think Kubo didn't expect that to happen and sort of just rolled with it all.

I do wonder what the other gods think of Kubo now, though. He one-shot a fucking dragon god, shit was OP as fuck.

This. You LITERALLY see blood spill out when she hits the rock. She got all fucked up.

>If I recall it went straight to video there

Where did you hear that from? It was said early January that it was going to get a Japan release, but the date hasn't been announced yet.
>LAIKA has signed a distribution deal with GAGA Corporation to release its latest film Kubo and the Two Strings in Japan in 2017. The exact release date is still to be announced. GAGA also distributed LAIKA’s first feature film, Coraline (2009).
awn.com/news/kubo-and-two-strings-headed-japan-release

>decline godhood, /ss/exy aunts and palace life in favor of being a cave hobo
Was Kubo literally retarded?

>Not even close to ParaNorman and Coraline though.
I liked it more and I am a huge Gaimanfag. Coraline has quite a lot of flaws when you rewatch it. Still love it, but it's far from perfect

the aunts may have been hot but dear god they were scary rape aunts

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I was extremely disappointed that the villagers all somehow lived. It didn't make any sense considering that black smoke ripped the village to shreds and Kubo was running past everyone.

The people of the moon are not gods. The are heavenly beings, but they are merely humans that have ascended to a higher state. Also their world is often depicted as being devoid of emotion. This means stuff like pain, and sadness, but also happiness and love.

I still think that ParaNorman is their best film so far.
Showing how people can hurt other people, not because they're evil or bad people, but because they are afraid, and don't know what else to do, is one of the best morals I have ever seen coming from a kids film.
It is so often that you see the antagonist of such films doing what they do, because they're just assholes, or some shit happened to them that made them assholes, instead of them just being normal people who don't really know what else they could have done.

Moon King got Kubo's eye in the end, the very same eye that he stole many years ago.

He was blind to everything good that might exist on humanity, the Heavens are perfect, but all that he see when looking at mortal is imperfection. Which unironicaly, made him and his daughters the only true monsters on the entire movie.

By turning him into a human, he is going to spend time with Kubo, like he wanted.

But he will also have a new perspective of humanity, not blinded anymore for empathy and the good that can come from the material world.

Considering that after death Kubo's Mon and Dad got their curses lifted and their memmories back, it is likely that once Moon King dies, he will go back to be a heavenly being, but with a new perspective of the world.

We dont know if EVERYONE survived, just that everyone that had a speaking line.

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>If you must blink, do it now
>Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear
>No matter how unusual it may seem
>But please be warned
>If you fidget
>If you look away
>If you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant
>Then our hero will surely perish

>His name is Kubo
>His grandfather stole something from him
>And that really is the least of it

>KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

Holy fucking shit if only the rest of the movie was as amazing as the intro. Fucking 11/10.

The story was nothing special, but it was pretty solid. On a technical/artistic level, it's nothing short of astounding. One of my favorite movies.

I have a friend who is uber-autistic over this movie. He watches it like once a week. I ended up watching it with him last week, and he floated this stupid theory he had that "hurrr, the whole movie was a dream", from when Kubo is in the graveyard at nightfall to the ending where he's back in the graveyard after fighting the Moon King. It was painful to listen to.

Also, if you want to make this movie look like utter ass, watch it on a TV where the cinemotion/trumotion/motionflow can't be disabled. Makes the whole thing look like garbage CGI.

>That's probably what's keeping it from being on Disney and Pixar's level popularity and success-wise.
I gotta disagree there. Many of my normie friends loved the story but don't care about stop motion. Parts that I was excited for them to see in Laika movies that took my breath away they didn't even care for. They say CGI is cooler and that Disney movies have songs they can enjoy as well. Even if Laika churned out stories that are better than ones from Disney or Pixar, I think it would still have a smaller cult following opposed to their huge fan base. I think Laika should make more mature themed stories instead of worrying about the children and watering down stories.

That scene made me physically cringe and I normally don't do that for any kind of movie.

When I first saw it I was losing my mind over how much effort must've gone into making it. People who do claymation are fucking insane.

fuck that, they are the only company that makes movies that the entire family can enjoy and talks UP to kids. Since the days of Jim Henson and 80s movies only Laika and Neil Gaiman (Mirrormask) have managed to make these kind of films.

I just showed a buddy Princess Bride last week and he was amazing at the adult content in a 'kids' movie. Barely anyone does that stuff anymore

I didn't notice this when I watched it so I checked and fuck, you're right.
This movie got really brutal at times. I think at one point you get a clear view of Monkey's gaping wound after fighting the sister.

fug

>that closeup shot when Monkey gets hit and it pulls her skin
Stop. Look at this cute bird instead

I prefered the tone and style of Coraline and Paranorman, but the animation and set-pieces were astounding.

Wish they had utilized tKubo's aunts a bit more, I really loved all of their scenes.

>TL;DR: my friends are dumb shits with no taste

On a similar note, I recently met a guy who didn't know Laika's films were stop motion. I found this out when he mentioned the CG in their films looked weird.

Was she even technically flesh and blood? This should be literally bleeding bucketfuls.

The three lead characters questing together was an alright dynamic, but my favorite part of the movie was probably the beginning. Where it was just Kubo traveling through the big open fields by himself and trying to take care of his catatonic mother in somber silence.

It was beautifully atmospheric and emotional with very little dialogue, and I kind of wish that more of the story felt like that.

The film imo is a technical masterpiece and a pretty one at that, otherwise Its pretty meh.

This. First 20 minutes are GOAT, rest of the movie is alright with some scenes that went back to being great, like Monkey's story and Kubo's dream.

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I really liked the Monkey Aunt fight while Kubo and Beetle were fighting the underwater eyes. That was brilliant

This might be my favorite shot in the movie

So, What was Beetle doing underwater that whole time? Did he really just space out and go after the fish due to being magically scatterbrained?

Yeah, the animation was definitely the best part about it. The origami story at the beginning was just beautiful.

It's quite possible the most beautiful animated movie out right now. The fucking credits where they have While My Guitar Gently Weeps playing and showing the making off just blew my fucking mind, since I didn't know it was stop motion.

Just insane.

The eyes tell you secrets you want to know

The eyes told him where the fish was, so he went and got it

After both monkey and beetle die, the movie seemed to lose all momentum. The ending felt kind of weak and lackluster.

Figuring out the meaning of "the two strings" was great, but I can't quite put my finger on why the rest of the ending fell flat for me. Maybe all the good ideas and visuals were spent by that point.

That being said, it was beautiful. I wish it could have done better.

Had some kid screaming their lungs out when I watched it so I can't really say for sure.

I appreciated the jokes way more like, a day after watching it.Because of course Beetle is going to make lame dad jokes.

That scene was perfect. It got me emotionally engaged from beginning to end.

My father left the cinema thinking it was CGI and he thought I was fucking with him when I told him it was stop motion.
Also, speaking from memory here, so I might be wrong, I remember that the stop motion is a bit clunky during the first 5 or ten minutes but it catches up very early on and then it starts being excellent. I don't know, I remember the scene where Kubo feeds his mother rice to be missing a few extra frames to make the movement completely fluid.

Kubo and the Zero Oscars

So what were the point of the MacGuffins? If they weren't enough to kill the god, why was he so afraid of McConaughey getting it?

I'm glad that I got to see it in the theater. It wasn't marketed here at all and the theater was mostly empty.

>japanese inspired story
>get a bunch of japanese actors
>they only voice minor townspeople and white people have all the major roles

as someone whose grandparents have severe dementia, the ending hit me like a fucking truck.

Journey gave him experience.

is this webm broken

>lewding laika characters
Delete this, Laika films are pure
I bet you'd lewd ghibli films too, you sick fuck

Laika films have fucking flawless soundtracks

>The Brotherhood of the Wolf
Jesus Christ, user. This movie is pure garbage.

Love me some Bruno Coulais.

youtube.com/watch?v=gxs2vS2gJ-c

Really liked it. But I hope that Laika's next project returns to horror themes.

Great animation, pretentious mediocre story.
It's an ok 6/10