Kubo and the Two Strings Review(Heavy Spoilers)

Kubo and the Two Strings was a movie that had potential. This being said, I was not jumping out of my seat to see it. I have to admit that any story about Japan and its culture automatically peaks my interest. Right off the bat, I'm going to start this review by saying that I'm not going to give a score to this film. After leaving the theatre, I really thought about it and decided that this is probably going to be one of those movies that grows on me and i enjoy more on repeat viewings. The reason behind this is mainly the way the story structure is laid out. Most of the information on Kubo's past and the meaning behind his origin and powers is revealed towards the end of the film. While this did lend to an extremely solid last half of the film, it also caused a lot more confusion at its beginning. All those unanswered questions detracted from my enjoyment of certain action sequences and the meaning behind a few lines of dialogue. Since I now know where the story ends and all the details behind Kubo's background, I feel that if I watched the movie again I would like it a lot more. This isn't to say that I did not enjoy a lot of the film on my first viewing. First off, I want to commend Laika(the studio behind the film). They really deserve a lot more praise and recognition as a company than they get. Also, claymation is so so tedious and I can't even imagine how arduous the process was to bring this story to life. The flying origami scenes must have been so hard to pull off and they ended up great.  Focusing on the actual movie... I was slightly confused through the first 2/3rds of the film. The thing I always say that makes me really enjoy movies is when they are able to resonate with me emotionally. At the beginning, this wasn't happening for me. I'd say that things started to turn around after Kubo woke up from his dream focused on the last missing piece of armor; his father's helmet. That's when Kubo's backstory was thoroughly explained and the main message of the film was revealed. As Beetle's body lies flat on the ground, motionless it gives off an extremely eerie tone of death and despair. That's the first scene of the film that hit me with a ton of emotion. The ending of the movie was amazingly strong. I enjoyed how the Moon King wasn't a flat out villain but instead a man who has allowed death and the pitfalls of life transform him into a bitter and violent person. Kubo's journey shows that through all the tragedies of life, we must remain hopeful and find happiness in life. The memories we have of our deceased loved ones will never leave us. We can always find joy and the human spirit will forever live on. The two things I would have liked to see different are the opening of the movie and the portrayal of the two sisters. I wish that the film had opened in the middle of the action and used flashback sequences to show the death of Kubo's mother. The first few scenes were somewhat slow and I was not very interested in them. Focusing on my second gripe, I did not like how the two sisters were portrayed as malicious figures that only sought out death and destruction. I wish they hadn't done this because a thing I really liked about the film was the Moon King's complex and layered character arc. I wish they hadn't made them such one note villains. To finish up, Kubo started off slow but built up to and epic and very impactful finale that leaves me urging everyone to see the film and support Laika's vision.