If You Must Blink, Do It Now.

Conditions: Odd and sweet. 

Film Review: Kubo and the Two Strings

I looked over the latest offerings from Hollywood and despaired.  Another Star Trek movie, made from the leftovers of thirty odd years ago with a shallow new paintjob.  A comic book film that's some stupid lightweight twist on the Dirty Dozen.  Another Jason Bourne film, that's exactly as annoying and incoherent as the last two.  No thank you.  There comes a time when you just despair of convention.

Having given up on the summer blockbuster season, full of reheated crap and disappointment, I decided to wait for something else.  And here arrived something rather different.  Kubo and the Two Strings is a story that in some ways is about storytelling.  Kubo is a young child who entertains a village by day with stories about legends, aided by a magical guitar he can use to animate paper.  It actually makes sense when you see it.  Kubo has a dark backstory to him - his mother was a witch, whose father forbid her from seeing Kubo's father (a soldier).  But love conquers all, and the two had a child, Kubo.

The grandfather takes this badly, along with also taking Kubo's left eye.  His theory is that Kubo has to become detached from humanity, like he is, which means making him blind.  Kubo and his mother escape, but face a tough life in hiding from the moon.  Eventually the grandfather catches up with them so Kubo has to go on the run.  His quest is to find two pieces of armour and a sword to face his grandfather with.  His companions are a monkey and an odd samurai/cockroach character.  It's really a wonderfully sweet and artistic film, made through a stop-motion process.  There's cliches there, but that's kind of what the film is ultimately about.  Heart warming and clever, this deserved to be seen by everyone. Four leafs out of five.

- Peace out