Kubo and the Two Strings

[Razade]

Spoiler: Harm by magic

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The two sisters used their mists to destroy the entire village.

Did they? The mist covered the city. Not only that, only the sister with the Pipe had power over mist. The other one doesn't display such a power outside being able to move around.

[Grey Watcher]

Spoiler: Harm by magic

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The two sisters used their mists to destroy the entire village.

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I meant harm to a person, rather than property damage. The Sisters, for example, are only pushed back by the Mother's shockwave.

[Rodin]

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The strings represent the bonds of family. The spirits represent the same thing. It ties into "the helm is where you call home". Kubo incorrectly interprets the Moon King to mean his ancestral home when in fact it's the village he lived in with his mother. The village is Kubo's family. It's all part of the narrative with the Obon Festival that the whole story is told within.

Spoiler: The Helm

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Actually, Kubo didn't mis-interpret the Moon King. His ancestral home was a trap, a way to get him to where his second aunt could ambush him. The Moon King explicitly tells him how to find his ancestral home (follow the setting sun), and when we wakes up he stuffs "Hanzo" into his bag...as "Hanzo" is frantically pointing in the opposite direction.

Remember kids, nothing good ever comes from following directions given to you by the Big Bad.

[Ravian]

Spoiler: The Helm

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Actually, Kubo didn't mis-interpret the Moon King. His ancestral home was a trap, a way to get him to where his second aunt could ambush him. The Moon King explicitly tells him how to find his ancestral home (follow the setting sun), and when we wakes up he stuffs "Hanzo" into his bag...as "Hanzo" is frantically pointing in the opposite direction.

Remember kids, nothing good ever comes from following directions given to you by the Big Bad.

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To be fair, he didn't realize it was the moon king when they met. We the audience can make the connection based on narrative tropes (you don't just introduce a spirit guy that's blind over half way through the movie and not expect him to be the villain we've heard so much about.

I also really liked the bit with "Hanzo" pointing, it's a nice bit of foreshadowing that's just hard enough to notice that the target audience can reasonably spot it and feel smart for doing so without it being too obvious.

[Flickerdart]

Did they? The mist covered the city. Not only that, only the sister with the Pipe had power over mist. The other one doesn't display such a power outside being able to move around.

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When Kubo comes back for the Helm, the village is in ruins. It didn't happen that way by itself, I would think.

[Rodin]

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To be fair, he didn't realize it was the moon king when they met. We the audience can make the connection based on narrative tropes (you don't just introduce a spirit guy that's blind over half way through the movie and not expect him to be the villain we've heard so much about.

I also really liked the bit with "Hanzo" pointing, it's a nice bit of foreshadowing that's just hard enough to notice that the target audience can reasonably spot it and feel smart for doing so without it being too obvious.

Spoiler

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It still felt a little bit weak to me. Kubo accepted it really fast, and didn't have any indication that it was a prophetic dream rather than a regular one. I can just about accept that the prospect of seeing his ancestral home robbed him of common sense, and Beetle/Hanzo is such a happy-go-lucky guy that he wouldn't question it either.

No, the person I was disappointed in is Monkey. She was shown throughout being very cautious, and she of all people would know the Moon King's abilities. I was very surprised that she raised no objection, and didn't ask to confirm that the helmet was there using the Dragon Radar origami puppet. A little scene of her questioning the dream and being overridden by the others would have gone a long way, I think.

Still, it's a super minor complaint. Definitely one of the best movies I've seen all year, either #1 or #2, with Civil War being the other contender.

[Ranxerox]

I went to see this movie today. Loved the movie and loved the ending.

Spoiler: Joining discussion already in progress

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The usefulness or lack thereof of the sword, breastplate and helmet. These items are Macguffins, and while Macguffins sometimes can do stuff, there real purpose is drive the plot forward. By giving Kubo something to search after, and keeping him from just hiding in a cave somewhere, they fulfilled this purpose nicely. Also at the end they gave him a choice. All three of them were with him when he sat down to string his shamisen. He could have elected to go on fighting, and hoped that through courage, ingenuity and luck to beat the big bad like the overmatched protagonist in countless movies before. Instead he made a conscious choice to face his grandfather as the storyteller that he was and not the warrior that he dreamed about. Without the items he would not have had a choice and would have had to gone with his magic and storytelling because the plot left him no other options.

The Moon King's dragon form. The Moon King could have faced Kubo in any form that he desired, and only chose the monstrous dragon form because he felt that Kubo wanted an monster to fight. For that reason, he turned himself into the living version of the dragon that Kubo had Hanzo fight in the in the puppet show that he put on for the villagers.

The villagers lying to the Moon King at the end. This was the payoff of one of the movies big themes, the power of storytelling. Kubo and the villagers elected to change the narrative from something horrible into to something good. A practice that is morally quite debatable when done in real life, but in the context of mythic beings who are as much story as anything else it's completely kosher.

[Ruslan]

Here's something I just realized - every single Laika movie was nominated for Oscar. (Corpse Bride, Coraline, Paranorman, Boxtrolls). And Kubo probably will too. An admirable consistency which even Pixar can't boast...

[cobaltstarfire]

I've been thinking about the design of the two sisters...and there's been something bugging me.

Not in a bad way, more in a ahh- dejavu kind of way. Like I've seen this kind of two cold evil magic sisters, with horse hair hats, doing wire-fu....

But I can't for the life of me figure out what is causing it, I talked to the guy about it, and he had a similar feeling but also couldn't put his finger on what it was, other than that there being two was just as important as the other parts.

Did anyone else get this feeling? Any ideas what they might be reminding us of?

[Fawkes]

Here's something I just realized - every single Laika movie was nominated for Oscar. (Corpse Bride, Coraline, Paranorman, Boxtrolls). And Kubo probably will too. An admirable consistency which even Pixar can't boast...

This has been a good year for animation. Kubo, Finding Dory, and Zootopia are all likely Oscar contenders. I imagine Moana may be, too. Sausage Party may also factor in. There's also dark horses like Magik, and festival darlings like The Girl Without Hands and My Life as a Courgette. If Breadwinner gets a 2016 release it'll also be one to watch.

Of course, it can be difficult to predict the animation Oscars sometimes because of how many Oscar voters don't take the category seriously.