Kubo And The Two Strings...
I had seen previews for Kubo And The Two Strings and the visuals looked really good, but, I did not see it during its theatrical run. I did, however, eagerly await its release on DVD...
After seeing Kubo And The Two Strings, the first thing I have to say is that the feature is a beautiful and technically amazing piece of animation artistry. But, the story is a mix of tragedy and adventure that had a somewhat somber tone throughout. There were a few moments of humor in the middle, but, the oppressive weight of events in the beginning and the end tended, in my humble opinion, to drag the entire feature down. Although, I believe that Kubo And The Two Strings is a masterpiece of engineering in animation, in the end, I was really, really disappointed with Kubo And The Two Strings and gave the feature a 1 out of 5.
According to Wokipedia...From the acclaimed animation studio LAIKA (Coraline) comes an epic original action adventure featuring the voice talents of Academy Award winners Charlize Theron and Matthew McConaughey. Kubo mesmerizes the people in his village with his magical gift for spinning wild tales with origami. When he accidentally summons an evil spirit seeking vengeance, Kubo is forced to go on a quest to solve the mystery of his fallen samurai father and his mystical weaponry, as well as discover his own magical powers. Kubo and the Two Strings is a wildly imaginative, magical adventure.
Announced in December 2014, the project is the directoral debut of Laika's CEO Travis Knight. Knight was pitched the story by production designer Shannon Tindle as a "stop-motion samurai epic". Although the studio had never ventured into the genre before, Knight was enthusiastic about the project; owing partly his affinity towards both the "epic fantasy" genre as well as Japanese culture in general.
The art took inspiration from such Japanese mediums as ink wash painting and origami among others. A particular influence came from the ukiyo-e wood block style, with Laika intending to make the entire film "to look and feel as if it's a moving woodblock print". Assistance came from 3D printing firm Stratasys who allowed Laika to use their newest technologies in exchange for feedback on them.
For the Skeleton monster the team created a giant 16-foot, 400-pound puppet, which Laika claims is the record holder for largest stop-motion puppet. The idea to make such a massive puppet was born out of a fear that individual smaller parts (meant to represent the larger monster) would not work well on screen interacting with the other puppets. The resulting puppet was built in two parts which were then attached together by magnets. For movement Laika had to design a robot to easily manipulate it.
After seeing Kubo And The Two Strings, the first thing I have to say is that the feature is a beautiful and technically amazing piece of animation artistry. But, the story is a mix of tragedy and adventure that had a somewhat somber tone throughout. There were a few moments of humor in the middle, but, the oppressive weight of events in the beginning and the end tended, in my humble opinion, to drag the entire feature down. Although, I believe that Kubo And The Two Strings is a masterpiece of engineering in animation, in the end, I was really, really disappointed with Kubo And The Two Strings and gave the feature a 1 out of 5.
