Member review

This comes with a bit of a story, you see, I was writing a story for a friend (it isn't published yet, but the friend wants to help with it) and when I finish one of the later drafts, I decide to listen to the Kubo soundtrack. I had watched the film when I was much younger, but I didn't fully appreciate it like I do now, but I knew that eventually I would appreciate this film. When I had listened to the soundtrack, I was determined to get it on Blu-ray, which eventually I did. So that story of my life had a happy ending.

I love this film. It is a stop motion masterpiece, it's clever, witty and sincere. It alludes to an elusory world that we only see the surface of and don't fully understand the rules of, and even Kubo notes this being true. To emphasise my point, the movie teases you with a world beyond true comprehension while rewarding you with a satisfying tale about a half blind kid thrown into a dangerous world because his aunts and grandpa were mad at his mum for falling in love.

There's a realism to Kubo, I'm not saying it's a dark story. I don't know why people talk about realism when they mean stories that are dark, gritty and have their superpowered characters with brightly coloured underwear and magic staff from another world feel so bad about stuff it could be considered terminal. When I talk about "Realism", I mean the ideas, story and characters are tackled realistically even if they're an amnesiac beetle who eventually fights a gigantic skeleton who I could only presume would be from Hell (The Skeleton I mean, which was 16 ft tall and took 27 days to make, with figures like those it makes me wish we had capital numbers). While it's made for kids, it's mature. That is what I mean by realism.

From an animation sense, this is a marvel. I would've loved to see how this was done behind the scenes.

This is where I go into deep spoiler territory, in the film The Monkey and Beetle I reference, happen to be Kubo's mum and dad. And I feel that this twist was rather well written with The Beetle's and The Monkey's dynamic as a sort of bickering couple. And the idea of souls being a part of a cycle of reincarnation allows the twist to be presented.

I feel Kubo's grandfather was a fear inspiring villain, when Kubo eventually fights him, I felt a kind of fear. This is a true terror to Kubo's life, the Moon King had killed his mother and father and now wants to take the only eye Kubo has. And as a plus, The Moon King's monster side was a inspired design.

I did a little digging, and the director said that he is not doing a sequel. To Movieweb he expressed that he feels sequels ruin the film industry, he explains how while there are good sequels - for example the Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II - the film industry is tending toward making re dos franchises and sequels. Which I feel is true, while cynical, still true. But I feel Kubo could really do with a spin off, maybe surrounding more around Kubo's parents. Kubo's story is done, but there is still more to discover.

I think I should rewatch the film eventually.