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''Kubo and the Two Strings'' is a 2016 American animated
fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...
directed by Travis Knight and written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Produced by
Laika Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...
, the film stars the voices of
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 201 ...
, Art Parkinson,
Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...
, Rooney Mara,
George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...
and
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
. Set in
feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...
, the film revolves around Kubo, a young boy who wields a magical musical instrument and whose left eye was stolen during infancy. Accompanied by an anthropomorphic snow monkey charm and a human-
stag beetle Stag beetles comprise the family Lucanidae. It has about 1,200 species of beetles in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections to nomenclature and a c ...
hybrid, he must embark on a quest to defeat his mother's baleful twin sisters and his ominous grandfather, the Moon King, who is responsible for stealing his left eye. Laika's production designer Shannon Tindle pitched the fantasy story based on samurais to Knight. By December 2014, Laika announced that ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' would be released in August 2016, with Knight to direct and produce the project, as well as the voice casting announcement. He was enthusiastic about the project, owing partly to his affinity towards both the "
epic fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Pres ...
" genre as well as Japanese culture in general, despite the studio never having ventured into the genre before. The stop-motion animation were inspired by Japanese media such as
ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses Wash (visual arts), washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged duri ...
,
ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...
woodblock printing, and
origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...
among others. Assistance came from
3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...
firm
Stratasys Stratasys, Ltd. is an American-Israeli manufacturer of 3D printers, software, and materials for polymer additive manufacturing as well as 3D-printed parts on-demand. The company is incorporated in Israel. Engineers use Stratasys systems to mod ...
who allowed Laika to use their newest technologies in exchange for feedback on them. Knight stated that the story for the film was partly inspired by works of Japanese animator
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...
.
Dario Marianelli Dario Marianelli (born 21 June 1963) is an Italian composer. Early life Marianelli was born in Pisa, Italy. He studied piano and composition in Florence and in 1990 he moved to London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall Sch ...
, who previously composed the music for Laika's 2014 film ''The Boxtrolls'', composed the film's musical score. ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' premiered at
Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...
on August 13, 2016, and was released by
Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...
in the United States on August 19. The film received critical acclaim for its craftsmanship, musical score, and story. It was a box office disappointment, grossing $77 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, and was nominated for
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
for Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects.


Plot

In the early
feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...
era, a 12-year-old boy with only one eye named Kubo tends to his ill mother, Sariatu, in a mountain cave near a village. He earns their living by manipulating
origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...
with music from his magical
shamisen The , also known as or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually b ...
(a Japanese stringed instrument), telling the tale of his missing father Hanzo, a
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
warrior. Kubo is never able to finish his story, as he does not know what happened to Hanzo and his mother cannot recall the end due to her deteriorating mental state. His mother warns him not to stay out after dark as her sisters Karasu and Washi, as well as his grandfather, the Moon King (who took his eye when he was a baby) will find him and take his remaining eye. One day, Kubo learns of the village's Bon Festival that allows them to speak to deceased loved ones. Kubo attends the festival, but is angry when Hanzo does not appear from his lantern, and consequently forgets to return home before sunset. The Sisters, Kubo's twin aunts, quickly find him and attack, but his mother suddenly appears and sends Kubo far away using her magic, telling him to find his father's armor. Kubo wakes up in a distant land to find that Monkey, his wooden snow monkey charm, has come alive. Monkey tells him that his mother is gone and the village has been destroyed. With the help of "Little Hanzo", an origami figure based on Kubo's father, they set out to find the armor. Along the way, they meet Beetle, an
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...
c samurai who was cursed to take the form of a
stag beetle Stag beetles comprise the family Lucanidae. It has about 1,200 species of beetles in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections to nomenclature and a c ...
—human hybrid, but believes he once was a follower of Hanzo. The three reclaim the "Sword Unbreakable" from a cave guarded by a giant skeleton. They cross the Long Lake in a leaf boat to locate the "Breastplate Impenetrable" deep underwater. Kubo and Beetle swim down to retrieve it and encounter the "Garden of Eyes", a sea monster that uses its many eyes to entrance its victims by showing them visions of secrets, then eats them while they are distracted. Kubo obtains the breastplate, but is caught in the creature's sight and, while entranced, realizes that Monkey is the reincarnated spirit of his mother. Beetle rescues the unconscious Kubo, but once they return to the boat, they find that Monkey has been badly wounded fighting and vanquishing one of her sisters. Going ashore to recover, Monkey explains that she and her sisters were sent from the heavens and ordered by the Moon King to kill Hanzo, but she arrived early and instead fell in love with him, whereupon she was ousted from the sky. That night, Kubo dreams of meeting his grandfather, who points him towards the "Helmet Invulnerable" in Hanzo's abandoned fortress. They travel there the next day, but realize too late it is a trap. Sariatu's surviving sister appears and kills Beetle, revealing that he is Hanzo, cursed by the Moon King for taking his daughter away. Monkey sacrifices herself, buying Kubo the time to use his instrument to vanquish the Sister, breaking two of the three strings on it. Little Hanzo provides insight to Kubo that the helmet is actually the bell at the village, and Kubo breaks the last string to quickly travel there. At the village, Kubo again meets the Moon King, who offers to take Kubo's other eye to make him perfect and immortal, but Kubo refuses. Angered, the Moon King transforms into the Moon Beast, a giant
dunkleosteus ''Dunkleosteus'' is an extinct genus of large arthrodira, arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first verteb ...
-like creature, and pursues Kubo and the remaining villagers into the cemetery. When the armor proves ineffective, Kubo removes it and restrings his instrument using his father's bowstring, a strand of his mother's hair, and a strand of his own hair. Playing the instrument, he summons the spirits of the villagers' loved ones, to protect all of them from the Beast and to show the Moon King that memories are the strongest magic of all and can never be destroyed. Kubo and the spirits' magic strip the Moon King of his powers, leaving him a mortal old man without any memories. Spurred on by Kubo's stories, the villagers choose compassion and tell him he was a man of many positive traits, accepting him into the village. Kubo is able to speak to his parents' ghosts during the subsequent Bon ceremony, as they watch the deceased villagers' lanterns transform into golden cranes and fly to the spirit world.


Voice cast

* Art Parkinson as Kubo
an adventurous 12-year-old boy who can make origami move when he plays his magical instrument *
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 201 ...
as Sariatu
a former goddess, Kubo's mother / Monkey, the latter being a reincarnation of the former *
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
as Hanzo / Beetle
respectively Kubo's father and a cursed, amnesiac bug form of the former * Rooney Mara as the Sisters
Sariatu's twin sister goddesses, tasked with taking Kubo's other eye by their father, the Moon King *
Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...
as the Moon King
God of the Moon and Kubo's grandfather who took Kubo's left eye * Brenda Vaccaro as Kameyo
Kubo's elderly friend and grandmother-figure in the local village *
George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...
as Hosato, a local villager * Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Hashi, a local villager * Minae Noji as Minae, a local villager *Alpha Takahashi as Aiko, a local villager *Laura Miro as Miho, a local villager *Ken Takemoto as Ken, a local villager


Production


Development

''Kubo and the Two Strings'' was announced by the stop-motion animation studio
Laika Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...
in December 2014, and is the directorial debut of Laika's CEO Travis Knight. Laika's production designer Shannon Tindle pitched the story to Knight 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 media as
ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses Wash (visual arts), washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged duri ...
and
origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...
among others. A particular influence came from the
ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...
woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of textile printing, printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page ...
style, with Laika intending to make the entire film "to look and feel as if it's a moving woodblock print" A second major influence on the film included the works of Kiyoshi Saito, who was a 20th-century Japanese graphic artist. Assistance came from
3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...
firm
Stratasys Stratasys, Ltd. is an American-Israeli manufacturer of 3D printers, software, and materials for polymer additive manufacturing as well as 3D-printed parts on-demand. The company is incorporated in Israel. Engineers use Stratasys systems to mod ...
who allowed Laika to use their newest technologies in exchange for feedback on them. Knight mentioned that the story for the film was partly inspired by works of Japanese animator
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...
and filmmaker
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
. The art of Kiyoshi Saito was a strong influence on the style of the animation. In an interview, director Travis Knight described Saito's work as being the "touchstone" and the "one key visual artist" that inspired the film. Knight also describes being profoundly affected by the artist's interest in both eastern and western art styles and fusing them together in his works. This artist's combination of different styles across cultures inspired Knight and his film crew in the creation of ''Kubo and the Two Strings''. For the giant skeleton, the team created a giant , 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 A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
. For movement, Laika had to design a robot to easily manipulate it. The team at one point purchased an
industrial robot An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes. Typical applications of robots include robot welding, welding, painting, assembly, Circu ...
from
eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
, but found that it would not work with their setup. A small portion of the production was released on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.


Casting

On December 22, 2014, Art Parkinson,
Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
,
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 201 ...
, Rooney Mara,
Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...
and Brenda Vaccaro joined the voice cast.


Music

Dario Marianelli Dario Marianelli (born 21 June 1963) is an Italian composer. Early life Marianelli was born in Pisa, Italy. He studied piano and composition in Florence and in 1990 he moved to London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall Sch ...
composed and conducted the score for the film. The soundtrack album featuring 16 tracks—including a rendition by
Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian Americans, Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's Indie music scene, in ...
of
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
's track, "
While My Guitar Gently Weeps "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles (album), The Beatles'' (also known as the "White Album"). It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist, as ...
" from the 1968 double-album ''The Beatles'' also known as "The White Album"—was released by
Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
on August 5, 2016.


Release

''Kubo and the Two Strings'' was first screened at the
Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...
on August 13, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 19, 2016.


Box office

''Kubo and the Two Strings'' was released in the United States on August 19, 2016 alongside '' Ben-Hur'' and '' War Dogs''. The film was projected to gross $12–15 million from 3,260 theaters in its opening weekend with some projections going as high as $17–20 million. It made $515,000 from its Thursday night previews and $4.1 million on its first day, going on to gross $12.6 million in its opening weekend—just meeting its target—finishing 4th at the box office behind ''War Dogs'', '' Sausage Party'', and ''
Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...
''. The film grossed $48 million in North America and $29.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $77.5 million, against a budget of $60 million.


Critical response

Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gives the film an approval rating of 97% based on reviews from 228 critics, with an average rating of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Kubo and the Two Strings'' matches its incredible animation with an absorbing—and bravely melancholy—story that has something to offer audiences of all ages." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 85% overall positive score and a 63% "definite recommend".
Christy Lemire Christy A. Lemire (née Nemetz; born August 30, 1972) is an American film critic and host of the movie review podcast ''Breakfast All Day''. She previously wrote for the Associated Press from 1999 to 2013, was a co-host of '' Ebert Presents at ...
of RogerEbert.com awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, saying that "one of the most impressive elements of ''Kubo and the Two Strings''—besides its dazzling stop-motion animation, its powerful performances and its transporting score—is the amount of credit it gives its audience, particularly its younger viewers."
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
's Samantha Ladwig gave the film 7.5/10, stating that the film is "Dark, twisted, and occasionally scary, but also with humor, love, and inspiration." Jesse Hassenger, of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', praised the film, saying that "no American animation studio is better-suited to dreamlike plotting than Laika, and the animation of Kubo is truly dazzling, mixing sophistication and handmade charm with inspired flow." Michael O'Sullivan of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' gave the film four out of four stars, stating that the film is "both extraordinarily original and extraordinarily complex, even for a grown-up movie masquerading as a kiddie cartoon (which it kind of is)." In ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Glenn Kenny said that "the movie's blend of stop-motion animation for the main action with computer-generated backgrounds is seamless, creating what is the most visually intoxicating of all Laika's movies." Peter Debruge of '' Variety'' wrote that ""Kubo" offers another ominous mission for a lucky young misfit, this one a dark, yet thrilling adventure quest that stands as the crowning achievement in Laika's already impressive oeuvre." Jordan Hoffman of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' was more critical of the film, giving it a two out of five stars and saying that "Older kids, except for a few teacher’s pets, will soon realise that this is hardly a fun action-adventure cartoon at all, but a plate of vegetables." Jonathan Pile of ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'', wrote of the film: "Yet another success for stop-motion giants Laika … boasts big laughs and effective scares in a typically gorgeous animated tale."


Casting criticism

While the film received critical acclaim for its craft and story, it was criticized for its perceived whitewashing as a movie set in ancient Japan but featuring a centrally white voice cast. George Takei and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa were the only actors of Japanese descent, and both played minor characters.


Accolades

At the
89th Academy Awards The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2016 in film, films of 2016, and took place on February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Californ ...
, ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' was nominated for two awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects, but lost to two
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
films respectively: '' Zootopia'' and ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...
''.


Home media


Video game

A game called ''Kubo: A Samurai Quest'' was released for iOS and Android on August 20, 2016, and was removed from the App Store on October 17, 2017.


Notes


References


External links

* * * *
Official screenplay
{{Universal theatrical animated features 2016 3D films 2016 American animated films 2016 films 2010s fantasy adventure films American action adventure films American 3D films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated fantasy films American fantasy adventure films Anime-influenced animation Anime-influenced animated films Annie Award–winning films Best Animated Feature BAFTA winners Films scored by Dario Marianelli Animated films about music and musicians Animated films about talking animals Films about shapeshifting Films produced by Arianne Sutner Films produced by Travis Knight Films set in feudal Japan Films with screenplays by Chris Butler Focus Features films Focus Features animated films Universal Pictures films Universal Pictures animated films Laika (company) animated films Films about magic Moon in film Fiction about origami 2010s stop-motion animated films 3D animated films Films directed by Travis Knight 2016 directorial debut films Japan in non-Japanese culture Casting controversies in film American animated feature films Race-related controversies in animation Race-related controversies in film 2010s English-language films Animated films set in Japan Films about dysfunctional families Historical fantasy films English-language action adventure films English-language fantasy adventure films