Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), PG, ★★★1/2

The feeling I had when I look at great animation.

I have to admit...despite a disappointing year so far, it has been a solid year for animated films financially and critically. To wrap up the summer movie season, I wanted a fresh story that can persuade me to come out of the theater and say, "Wow!" Now, granted with LAIKA Studios, they have made two of the most vibrant animated films of recent years, Coraline and ParaNorman, and I knew going into this, I would get something special. And after my experience with Kubo and the Two Strings, I got something out of that movie, maybe even better.

Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) has been caring for his ill mother (voiced by Charlize Theron) for some years. His mother suffered an accident, as with her child, as one of his eyes has been taken away by his grandfather. Kubo heads to the village with several origami figures he created. He usually tells villagers some stories while he strums his magical guitar, getting them to be imaginative and taken to another world times. Kubo is a creative storyteller. When Kubo returns home, his mother tells him a story about his father, who happened to be a samurai named Hanzo. Her father, The Moon King, and her evil sisters wanted to kill him but the mother interfere and had The Moon King remove Kubo's eye.

Later, the villagers are attacked by Kubo's aunts (both voiced by Rooney Mara). As his mother transfer her spirit into a monkey charm, she battles her sisters and disappears. Kubo awakens to find Monkey (also voiced by Charlize Theron) standing over him, saying that his village is destroyed. Monkey is there to protect Kubo and guide and help him to find his father's armor in order to bring down The Moon King and The Aunts.

Wow! Look at the colors.

This movie is a palette of vibrant colors and magical animation that is reminiscent of some of the greatest paintings ever constructed in a museum. The movie is the definition of magical artistry because it is rich in texture. The animation blends in with Kubo's journey as the theme of loss and family transcends his character into a portrait of a potential samurai. The loss of a village motivates him to find his courage and defeat whoever was behind it in order for him to be a person of character, maybe a legend that people will tell in the future.

With the combinations of magic, monsters and samurai, adults and children will go inside a creative director's and animated artists' imagination and transform the stop-motion animation into a fantasy adventure that takes the genre onto another level. I have to say that this is one of the darker animated movies in the animated genre alongside The Lion King and Bambi. Adults will have to answer children's questions regarding random metaphorical images and its narrative scope. Will it confuse children? Yeah, sometimes. But, the humor especially between Monkey and Beetle (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) balances the deep meaning well enough.

I felt emotion while looking at the vibrant animation but I felt there was a lack of emotion regarding the tension that sets up the narrative and the narrative itself before the ending. Nevertheless, director Steven Knight has made an outstanding and supreme film of deep themes of grief, death and power to translate into a story of somewhat epic proportions that will engage you in a grand adventure. This is a perfectly visualized movie but regarding its narrative, you have to fully understand what you are getting into when carefully examining what Kubo is going through and taking on. Watch out, Pixar and Disney, you may have another Oscar contender for best animated film. It's going to be tough competition.

***1/2