Kubo and the Two Strings - Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray [4K UHD]

This animated feature is an excellent movie and fully enjoyable and satisfying for both kids AND adults. This movie doesn't have any of the adult TV show/movie or new references that animation movie makers seem to have to put into an animated movie to get adults to watch with their kids and it doesn't need them! This movie may look like a completely CGI animated movie, but it is NOT! The majority of this movie is done "Old School" with different types of clay and mechanical puppets in a more modern style of Ray Harryhausen OR Nick Park/Aardman (Wallace & Grommit) stop motion animation! This movie amazes on sooo many levels! The modern and old style Asian soundtrack is another really imprressive part of this movie that really helps to propel this feature to another level of interest as another element and plot supporting device! The attention to the tiniest of details and a very well thought out plot is what helps keep your interest in this movie, as highly fictional and fantastical as this animated feature is. I never saw this movie in the theaters (I really wished I had), but watching this movie with my wife on our 50 inch screen TV gave us a real great sense of what this movie was like in the theaters. Our interest in this movie was piqued when we seen excerpts of this movie in commercials for "Save our Forrests" ! This movie is an impressive feat that you should either rent to watch or own! If you are a big fan of animated feature films, this is a must have to own feature worthy of being added to your animated movie collection! This IS an excellent and wonderful movie to watch and experience!

Until it was recommended to me by a friend, I'd always assumed based on the thumbnails I'd seen of it that this was going to be some 3D animation melodramatic ripoff of a Dreamworks or Disney/Pixar film. Oh, boy was I wrong! First, the studio, Laika, goes out of its way to make as much of the film using practical effects and stop-motion. I was lucky enough to catch a Laika exhibit at my local art museum where much of it was on display. The amount of detail that goes into everything is amazing. How they managed to transfer the ocean/sea effect from the physical effect to the way it appears in the film still boggles my mind. Second, the storytelling is masterful. (I'm not going to spoil any of it, so it's safe to read this before watching.) Of course, certain story/plot elements in this movie fall into the same kind of Joseph Campbell's "Hero of Thousand Faces" territory that we're all used to seeing, but I think it does a good job of weaving in unique elements that are enhanced by the framework rather than limited by them. They make some really interesting choices that work really well. I also appreciate that there's not too much hand-holding exposition involved. There's some, naturally, but most of the world and its rules are shown rather than told. There are aspects of the world that are just mysterious and left to the viewers' imagination, but not in anyway that feels frustrating or out of place. The only technical thing I would recommend to anyone watching is to make sure their monitor or television or whatever they intend to watch it on has a really good light/dark balance. Certain scenes are better with the clearer contrast. Still a gorgeous film regardless. I was very impressed by this film overall and I highly recommend it as well to anyone looking for beautiful visuals and a story that's engaging and told well. That'll teach me to dismiss a film just because of the thumbnail.

Wow, this is Laika's best film yet. What an amazing and talented studio. I'm nearly envious of their creation here! That should tell you just how technical and intricate this stop-motion/cgi picture is. Not only is it culturally arresting with the Japanese influence, it's also a natural and satisfyingly human trip through a boy's adventure in life and death with his family. It has all the tones and emotions one expects from a great picture, and I am stricken with heartache that this one is not more popular than it is. But this is a mass of people that will take a random and terrible comic book film to 500m easily. Whatever. While the script here isn't quite as funny or clever as say Moana, the soul that went into this is perfectly clear for anybody with an artist's heart and mind. Kubo rings true at every angle for me. And wow what a beautiful interpretation of Japanese fantasy. One thing everyone needs to do is watch all the documentary videos. It is entirely fascinating how they put these films together. It takes a lot of work. On a busy day they were doing almost 20 frames. ALMOST. The large and complex puppets have rarely been used in this type of animation, and the team wholly succeeded with infusing the story with a perfectly molded visual style that captures so many moving details you will want to watch it twice to take in everything. The 3D bluray has a nice lenticular cover and comes with a normal bluray as well. I enjoyed this film in both formats. What a great film. It didn't do quite as well at the box office, but to me marketing for this was extremely poor. I hope for their next film they find a better service to get the word out. Laika is an extremely talented studio ever since their first release with Coraline. You got to see this one too. It's an even better film.

Pure magic, a stop-motion animation masterpiece. The best film (animated or live action) in 2016. A sad, beautiful, funny and inspiring story of a boy's journey to manhood. Particularly touching is the fact that Kubo has a disability as does the mother he cares for so lovingly. Accompanying Kubo on his journey are Monkey (voiced by Charlize Theron), a fierce and rather bossy champion and Beetle (voiced by Matthew Mcconaughey) a charmingly goofy character who has lost his memory but none of his bravery of devotion to Kubo. Lots of action, lots of humor (the jokes are always witty and the humor never crude) and lots of moments where you may have to rewind to catch all the dialogue because you were sobbing too loudly. A stunner.

I was a bit skeptical on purchasing this movie but after I watched it, I was really satisfied with the film. It gave some good plot twist and certainly kept me interested till the end. This film follows the classical adventure film a young boy goes on and accompanied with him are his companions that is either sent by or brought to life to help him along his journey. There are many comical scenes in this movie which is good for an adventure film to have comedy. The animation were easy on the eyes, I can't say it was really a cartoon but maybe a still frame? However, regardless of the style of art the film has adapted to, the movie itself and its plot line will certainly captivate you during your time.

This movie was a very artistic movie. The artwork and stop motion photography were absolutely beautiful! Amazing work. I loved and appreciated all the work that went into this movie. I didn't really like the story, and definitely would not want to recommend it to families with children younger than perhaps 10-15 years old. The story is very dark, and full of a lot of symbolism, and really rather confusing. One wonders what you are watching and why you are watching from the very first scene. It is a coming of age story, where a boy cares for his parent, and then in an attempt to further protect himself and his parent goes on a quest. The confusing and dark part of the story is the quest, and all the interesting people he meets. and the family history he discovers. Really, this is movie is one that you will want to watch for the art and the story telling, if you don't mind dark tales. In the movies I enjoy (including a lot of sci-fi and fantasy) the goal of the protagonist is clear, and his or her growth is measurable. And yes, in reading my above comments, I will admit, I like everything to come out ok in the end. Life is too hard to be seeing movies about more hardship! But that aside, this was a well done piece of art!

We live in the future, and it is incredible. I’ve found stop-motion animation to be a fascinating medium, not only for its “dirtiness” when compared to CGI, but also because of the painstaking care it takes to produce a full-length feature with this process. Animation studios like Aardman and Laika are really starting to take advantage of all the tools at their disposal to create some awesome stop-motion movies. We’ve come a long way since the films of Henry Selick, the most famous one being The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Through Selick, we now have a handful of fantastic films through the Laika brand. While their previous work, The Boxtrolls (2014) had started the trend away from more morbid themes and plots, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) shows just how capable the stop-motion medium is to tell a fantastic story. With an origami motif existing throughout, Kubo and the Two Strings is a fantastic example of what 3-D Printing can do for the stop-motion animation industry. In fact, the almost transparent qualities of the characters allowed the light to more realistically interact with their bodies, immersing the viewer even further into the story. People who haven’t had much interaction with 3-D printing probably didn’t notice it, but I certainly did. Even though the plot may have been a bit “video game”-ish at times, the structure was almost faithfully that of a classic fairy tale. The themes of love, loss, family, duty, and honor are all present in this Japanese setting, thus hammering home the emotional impact of the characters’ actions with each turn. I was certainly in tears during several segments because of how touching they were. With this plot, the style of animation, and the technical achievements to make it a reality, I would be shocked if Laika does not win their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature next year because of this film. A visually stunning, modern fairy tale that shows off the amazing talents of the Laika team, I give Kubo and the Two Strings 4.5 stars out of 5.

I loved this movie in the theatres, I wasn't expecting anything of it and I didn't read anyreviews.It was just playing at the right time and looked better than the fare in the theatre. It sublime from the first second to the last. Soafter I saw it, I wanted on DVD as son as possible. I've shown the Dvd to my fiance who called the story telling Binary rather than linear. You only get small glimpses of backstory with each scene, but each has a before, event, and result. The star was Laika's passion for stop motion animation...it has become so rare in our CGI glutted cinema, that I had a hard time discerning whether it was stop motion or CGI. It was rather like Burton's the Corpse Bride. I fell in love with the characters and the Colors of the scenery. Excuse me while I gush, but as an artist colors strike me first into sensory happiness, not overload. It almost seemed hard to watch it on a small screen after the 3D movie experience though.

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.

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.

Lindísimo, fue regalo y le encantó, la película también está buena!

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