Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) - SPOILER-FREE Review

Editor’s Note: this is an old, unformatted, unedited review. The author’s opinion might not match the original thoughts written in this article.

Directed by: Travis Knight

Starring: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro, Rooney Mara, Matthew McConaughey

Runtime: 101 min

Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop-motion animated film which tells the story of Kubo (Art Parkinson), a kid who finds himself on an adventure with a beetle and a monkey, searching for three specific objects in order to defeat an evil power from his past.

I have to say this already: best animated movie of the year!

I don't usually watch that many animated films throughout the year, but the ones I spend time with are always rewarding. This is a beautifully-animated movie with great characters, amazing action sequences and a heartfelt story! It's super entertaining, there's rarely a boring moment and it's surprisingly serious and mature.

I feel that this was a film made more for adults rather than children since there are some scenes that the kids aren't definitely going to be able to fully understand, but that's fine because there's a ton of action scenes that are also so cool to watch ... It's a movie for everyone, you can watch this film in a more mature point-of-view while enjoying the fantastic action sequences. Remember, this is a stop-motion animated movie! It's amazing how they were able to achieve a masterpiece of this level, it's a brilliant achievement in directing.

The characters are so captivating and interesting, the Monkey (Charlize Theron) is such a beautiful one, she steals the entire movie. Kubo almost brought me to tears at the end, I cared for him since the very first line and he's definitely going to be a character to remember. Every supporting character was great and my only minor issue with the whole movie is related to the "villain's" motivations (they aren't quite clear).

I love how the depth that the characters had, it's such a surprisingly heartfelt and emotional movie rather than just a cool action film for kids. There's actually some scary scenes that I don't even think kids should watch! That's how good it is! The mythology is so incredible, they take their time to build a new world, a spiritual realm, magic and origami ... I love it!

A movie with great main and supporting characters plus some cool mythology, fast pacing story, amazing action scenes and some really emotional moments make this movie flawless! It's one of the best animated movies that I've seen in all my life. Go watch it, have fun!

| A+ : 9.3-10 | A: 8.7-9.2 | A- : 8.0-8.6 | B+ : 7.3-7.9 | B: 6.7-7.2 | B- : 6.0-6.6 || C+ : 5.3-5.9 | C: 4.7-5.2 | C- : 4.0-4.6 | D+ : 3.3-3.9 | D: 2.7-3.2 | D- : 2.0-2.6 | F: 0-1.9 |