Kubo and the Two Strings

This movie managed to do something very rare: Be engaging throughout. There was never a point where I was bored. I tend to appreciate stop-motion films more because of how much more time and effort they require. This film is visually astounding! There's a sequence with a giant (and I mean GIANT!) skeleton that's particularly impressive, especially since it wasn't CGI, but was in fact hand-crafted and operated through puppetry by someone on a ladder. And it really was that big in reality. Now that's dedication! The characters of the monkey and the beetle samurai were hilarious sidekicks and at times reminded me of Disney characters. I also have to applaud how original the plot was. I didn't feel like I'd seen it before. It had some twists and surprises I didn't see coming. This film is reminiscent of the best films of the Disney Renassaince era. The villains in this movie were also really great. I was disappointed they were seldom seen, because they were part of the reason the film was so interesting. I do wish they had explained the villains' motivations a little better, because I was just confused. And this film brings something that's very rare in animated films nowadays: it has complex and sometimes dark themes and doesn't talk down to kids, or try to do nothing more than distract them with pretty colors instead of trying to write a good story. This is one of the best films (animated or otherwise) of 2016!

Grade: A+  10/10   5/5 stars