Kubo and the Two Strings [DVD] (English audio. English subtitles)

A new stop motion movie from Laika Studios. Who also brought us 'Coraline.' 'Paranorman.' And 'The Boxtrolls.'This is a wholly original story, with an oriental setting.The main character is Kubo. A boy who starts the film washed up on a shore with his mother. They come to live on the edge of a village. Where he grows up entertaining the locals with his storytelling, music, and amazing origami skills.But his mother can only tell him so much about his past. And he would love to know who his father was.When the village is attacked, it's the start of a remarkable journey that will change his life forever...The stop motion in here is simply stunningly well done, and gorgeous to look at. It even manages scenes set at water that look convincing. The score is also superb, fitting the setting of the tale perfectly.It's a film of sections. The opening has a lot to set up and is a bit of a slow burner. But once the action gets going it's initially unclear as to certain things that are going on. But then Kubo is on a quest with two special beings, Monkey [Charlize Theron] and Beetle [Matthew Mcconaughey]. The three form an excellent grouping giving some very funny bickering and character moments. Matthew Mcconaughey in particular is superb at playing his character for intended laughs.The final quarter of the film does change direction slightly to go a little darker, but it does deliver memorable action and good answers. And has a brilliant emotional depth to it. Leading to an ending you won't forget in a hurry.Through the narrative Kubo has an excellent character journey, and you can really feel for him and relate to him all the way. Its a great journey to take. The film might be a bit dark at points for some of the very young, hence the PG certificate. But ultimately it's a charming fable and a great watch and well worth five stars.The disc has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic.Subtitles: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic.It also has English audio description.The disc begins with some trailers and ads, that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.It contains the usual flyer with code to use to download a copy of the film to a digital device.Extras:Kubo's Journey. A making of documentary, which is split into six parts. Which can be watched individually or all in a row. If doing the latter it runs for twenty seven minutes in total. This is a good and in depth look at the production and an excellent watch.There's also Corner of the Earth, a three minute look at some of the settings in the film. Which is a bit too short to have much impact.

I won't review the film itself (so there's no spoilers) as it has been done plenty of times before, I will do an overview of the merits of the studio and the film, with a review of the actual disc at the end...This is probably my favourite animated movie of 2016, my favourite Laika animation and I would say easily in my top 5 all time animated movies. If you're unfamiliar with Laika, they make stop-motion animation movies. In fact all of their films are stop-motion, however you would never guess it to look at them.I have all of their movies on Blu-ray and quite frankly as a studio, their quality of output is up there with Disney and Pixar. One of the key things with Laika is that they don't treat their audiences like idiots. Their stories are relevant, meaningful, and engaging for children and adults alike (and in the case of this particular movie, there are definitely some scary scenes). I have taken life lessons from all of their films and I'm certainly not a child!Not only are their storylines engaging/exciting/fun/intelligent, the quality of the animation is astonishing. You never run out of things to look at and there is always something new to spot each time you re-watch a film.As for the Blu-ray itself, the transfer is excellent, lovely crisp picture with bright and vivid colours. The sound quality is also superb. The digital and DVD copy is always a nice bonus, I use the Ultraviolet download code with my Flixster account so there was no issues there. The extras are a bit thin on the ground, however the addition of the digital copy and the DVD copy partially make up for this. Also, the Blu-ray disc is region free which is always nice. Not sure about the DVD though.If you have never seen anything by Laika and want something a bit different to Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks etc. then get this, I can't recommend it enough.

Back in 2015, Mark Kermode, one of Britain's top film critics, asked an interesting question to fans of cinema - Are we in a new golden age of animation cinema? Besides Disney and even DreamWorks, there have been other studios (not just in the US, but all over the world) that have been producing some truly great animated films. And even if they don't match the box-office grosses of those produced by Disney and DreamWorks, they certainly make up for in quality of the material.Last year was no exception. Disney delivered a double-whammy with ZOOTROPOLIS and MOANA, while a new anime movie, not produced by Studio Ghibli (who are currently in hiatus), has taken Japan by storm, YOUR NAME. Another animated film that came out in 2016 was KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, the fourth feature from the stop-motion animators of Laika, who came into the spotlight with their excellent adaptation of Neil Gaiman's CORALINE (2009).KUBO follows the story of the titular character, a young boy who's eye went missing as a baby. When the evil Sisters appear and wreck havoc on the village where he lives nearby, Kubo must flee and embark on a journey to find the missing armour that his mysterious father once wore if he is to defeat the sinister Moon King, Raiden. But he is not alone - accompanying Kubo are Monkey (Imperator Furiosa herself, Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey, who has truly had a career comeback over the past five years).What I really like about KUBO is that it doesn't follow the same trends that some animated films are doing to death - no dated pop-culture references, no romantic subplots, no Oscar-bait songs and no obvious comedy sidekicks (there is some humour, but it's handle rather well). It's also a strong example of you don't have to do just CG animation in order to make a great animated film. The Skeleton Demon is the largest stop-motion puppet to be built (sixteen feet tall!), while the boat sequence took 19 months to shoot. But all the effort was worth it, because the animators cared about the story and the characters.It's a shame that KUBO only did marginal business at the box-office ($70 million worldwide to it's $60 million budget). It should have been one of the highest-grossing animated films of the year alongside ZOOTROPOLIS, MOANA and YOUR NAME. But with it gaining several awards and a possible nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at this year's Oscars, maybe more people will become aware of this wonderful and beautiful gem.If the legendary Ray Harryhausen was still alive and he decided to do a Japanese-themed animated film, then I'm pretty sure KUBO would be that type of film. It deserves to be regarded as one of the highlights in this new golden age of animation cinema.Reviewer: Ben David W

It feels nice to have an additonal dvd to my colelction of Laika Films.

Best Stop-Motion Animation Movie from Laika since Coraline!~ 5/5~ PLOTKubo lives a quiet, normal life in a small shoreside village until a spirit from the past turns his life upside down by re-igniting an age-old vendetta. This causes all sorts of havoc as gods and monsters chase Kubo who, in order to survive, must locate a magical suit of armor once worn by his late father, a legendary Samurai warrior.~ SPOILER FREE REVIEWI loved this film so much. The Plot is unique and can be so flexible to anyone's understanding when watching this film as it's just so easy to understand how these characters react to things. The Journey plays so well for these characters and you can just see how you can relate to these Characters you've only known for less than 20 minutes. The overall stunning nature of the work cannot be ignored and the Animation... It's just so incredible that it robs you of your breath over and over and over again!You can clearly see that they're offering a uniquely textured style of animated excellence which blows your socks off. But that's not all.. What makes it an incredible movie that makes it worth your attention is the fact it's a grand adventure that's full of heart and sadness.

I love animated films - especially Aardman, Ghibli and Laika (some Pixel, but I'm not a Disney fan to say the least). Saw this film a year or so ago on TV (missed the beginning of course) and was captivated. So imaginative, clever and inventive. And there's a cameo from George Takai, so what's not to love? The story doesn't follow the usual pattern of European fairy tales (things happen in threes, etc) and so is more likely to surprise you with the next plot twist. I was sent a gift card by my brother or I would have bought this from an actual shop (because we weren't locked down when I ordered it); saying that, I gave a copy of it to a neighbour last Christmas and it took quite a while to find anywhere which stocked a copy. Arrived quicker than I'd expected. and hasn't disappointed.

This is easily one of (if not the best) animated movie I’ve ever seen. The stop motion animation is artwork in itself but this is backed up with an engaging storyline and I enjoy watching this film with my children. Even for the 3rd time in the same day. The film is also not afraid to depict difficult topics such as disability and death but in a way that is age appropriate without being condescending.

Haven't finished it, but great so far!I know I'll watch again straight after it's done.

merci rapide et en bonne état

Little Kubo sets out to solve the mystery of his samurai father. A magical adventure with stunning visuals make this wonderful film a pleasure to watch.

Très bon film j'adore

Una de las mejores películas del estudio de animación Laika, el exterior, un steelbook precioso en su diseño, el interior, una joya de la animación que todo el mundo debería de ver.El remasterizado a 4K Dolby Vision es sublime, colores sobrios y definición superlativa, lo malo es que esta remasterización es exclusiva de Shout! Factory, por lo que es exclusiva del mercado americano, es decir que no lleva castellano, viene una pista en español, pero es, evidentemente latino, yo las películas las veo en su inmensa mayoría en en V.O. por lo que en lo personal no me afecta, aunque he de decir que, el doblaje latino, es excelente, y además es 5.1, por lo que es muy disfrutable.En definitiva, nos encontramos antes un UHD de una enorme calidad en todos sus apartados, y cuya única pega, es que no viene doblada al castellano, si no os importa en demasía este aspecto, es una compra muy recomendable, hay que tener en cuenta que una versión UHD con castellano ni existe, ni se la espera.

Great movie and great price, at least before the Aussie government changed the rules for amazon.