“Kubo and the Two Strings” is a fantastic movie that will really tug your emotions. There is just something about stop-motion that just makes movies look amazing and you know that it will age better than any other animated movie.

While animation and computer generated images tend to advance faster and improve in quality as time goes on, stop-motion on the other hand uses physical figures to create the animation, so each face and motion has to be formed for the movie.

Because the creators use actual figures and the same techniques still hold true from when it was established, stop-motion has a consistent look and will have the same quality over time. Beyond the look though, the story was just as strong.

“Kubo and the Two Strings” is about young story teller, Kubo, in his village, where he uses a shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese instrument) to magically manipulate origami characters to tell stories of how a great warrior fought the Moon King with magical armor.

However, he never had an ending to the story because he had to get back to take care of his ill mother, who would then tell him stories of his great warrior father. When Kubo found out that the stories his mother was telling him were true, as she passed away, he then goes on a journey looking for magical armor to defeat the Moon King.

With Kubo on a journey set on revenge against the Moon King, he is lead by Monkey, voiced by Charlize Theron, sent to protect him when his mother passed away, and was joined by Beetle, voiced by Matthew McConaughey on the journey as they were looking for the armor.

Kubo learns on his journey that he did not want revenge on the Moon King, but he just wanted to know his parents and that Moon King needed to learn that compassion for other is greater than being heart less and isolated. In reality, there is less stigma now, growing up with a single parent or not having any at all.

Kids who have or are growing up with one or no parent will be able to relate with the main character very well. The movie shows the struggle for Kubo to find parental figures in Monkey and Beetle. The theme of searching for parental figures is nicely portrayed, for kids and adults.

The only thing that was somewhat problematic was that the pacing of the movie. It was quite slow at times. However, even at those times there were scenes that tug at your emotions.

“Kubo and the Two Strings” is a movie for children that can reach a broad audience, with a deep emotional tone that can teach everyone life lessons. It is a movie that can stand the test of time both emotionally and visually.