Kubo and the Two Strings
Short description
Kubo and the Two Strings is an animated adventure from Laika Entertainment, set in a fantastical version of Japan. Kubo, a young boy, supports himself and his mother in a quiet coastal village by telling stories, using a shamisen and folded paper figures that move as he plays. When a vengeful spirit from his family's past returns, Kubo's life is upended, and he sets out to find the magical armor once worn by his late father, a legendary samurai. Accompanied by unlikely companions, he must understand his own inherited abilities while evading the forces pursuing him.
The film was directed by Travis Knight and written by Chris Butler and Marc Haimes, with Knight and Arianne Sutner producing. It was Knight's first feature as director. Art Parkinson voices Kubo, alongside Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Brenda Vaccaro, Ralph Fiennes and Rooney Mara. It runs 102 minutes.
Released in August 2016, Kubo and the Two Strings had a budget of 60 million dollars and took about 76 million dollars worldwide. Its ratings are strong and closely aligned: 7.7 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 146,000 votes and 7.6 out of 10 on TMDB from just under 4,000 votes. Critics were more enthusiastic still, giving it 8.4 out of 10 across 229 reviews, so the film's reception among reviewers stood above its already favourable audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The release of the cartoon in Japan was dedicated to Shigeru Mizuki, the author of the manga GeGeGe no Kitaro (1960-1969), which served as a source of inspiration for the creators of "Kubo and the Two Strings".
- As with any film from Laika Entertainment, this one includes a short clip about stop motion in the credits (this is a technique of frame-by-frame shooting, where objects are moved in a specific sequence and photographed at each stage). The clip from this cartoon shows the work on a giant skeleton.
- The film consists of at least 145,000 photographs.
- The storyline in the boat was filmed over 19 months.
- One of the demons (whose image was based on Gassodokuro – a character from Japanese mythology, a giant skeleton) became the largest puppet constructed for stop-motion animation. Its height exceeded five meters.
- The boat was covered with approximately a quarter of a million leaves, applied by hand.
- The sisters' names translate from Japanese as "crow" and "eaglehawk".
- A cover of the song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles, performed by Regina Spektor, can be heard in the trailer.
- Kubo's face could express over 48 million shades of expression; 23,187 face sketches were created for this character.
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