Kubo and the Two Strings | 97% RT | $63 million WW
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Kubo and the Two Strings is a 2016 American 3D stop-motion fantasy action adventure film directed by Travis Knight, written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler, and produced by Laika. The film features the voices of Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara and George Takei. It was released by Focus Features in the United States on August 19, 2016.
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Laika Entertainment, LLC. is an American stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos and short films. It is best known for its stop-motion feature films, Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls as well as Kubo and the Two Strings.
Filmgoers who've suffered through a summer of superheroes, supervillains and sequels/snarky reboots, we now have something that genuinely casts a spell on viewers.
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Kubo is a lovely, unforgettable film about creativity and storytelling - about creating one's own fate by taking charge of one's story. And about learning to love others by sharing in their stories.
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Despite the occasionally labored writing (with attempts at humor that are dry and distancing), Kubo and the Two Strings is swoonworthy in its vibrant visuals that span across unruly seas, lush landscapes and vivid seasonal colors.
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Whimsical yet mature, fantastically magical yet full of realistic emotions and a simple, earthly plea for redemption, it goes beyond childish notions of resolution and "victory" toward a far more moving and poetic destination.
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Y'all need to go see this movie. It's amazing and the stop-motion animation is absolutely gorgeous.
It's projected to make $15 million in its opening weekend (US domestic) which sucks because it deserves more
This looks SOO niceee!!
It is a pity sausage party had a similiar score..it didn't deserve it imo...
but hope this does well in box office!Imagine doing so much work
A bunch of white people on the crew + the only actors with noteworthy roles being white. How nice for this "Japanese-inspired" film. Deserves being the lowest opening for a Laika film.
A bunch of white people on the crew + the only actors with noteworthy roles being white. How nice for this "Japanese-inspired" film. Deserves being the lowest opening for a Laika film.
What kind of flawed logic. Should people also complain about studio Ghibli did not hire western voice talent and crew for Howl's Moving Castle, when it was released in Japan?
Different cultural, race and nationality can interpret different culture, as long as the interpretation is treated with respect.
LAIKA tried to stay true to the culture with multiple Japanese story and production consultants. It's not like they are trying to create the film without any care to the appropriate cultural context.
What kind of flawed logic. Should people also complain about studio Ghibli did not hire western voice talent and crew for Howl's Moving Castle, when it was released in Japan?
Different cultural, race and nationality can interpret different culture, as long as the interpretation is treated with respect.
LAIKA tried to stay true to the culture with multiple Japanese story and production consultants. It's not like they are trying to create the film without any care to the appropriate cultural context.
This buzzfeed article goes into detail about about why it's not really an issue of just 'white voice actors', but prominent hollywood celebrities getting hired more for animated movies.
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“Due to the fact that [animated] characters feel more lifelike than they used to feel, the voices have to sound more familiar and nuanced than they used to sound,” she told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. Unlike Mickey Mouse’s high-pitched mouse squeak, for example, characters now “have to feel like they’re part of your family,” which is one reason celebrities have taken over the world of cartoon voice acting. “The family that we know sonically [are] … people like Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson.”
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Furthermore, Knight revealed that Laika struggled to find a distribution company to finance the studio’s first film, Coraline, due to the nature of its heroine: “Nobody was interested in our film, and the reason that we heard over and over again was [that] you cannot have a female protagonist in an animated film unless she’s a princess.” Although Knight acknowledged that the film industry “has not been a particularly welcome medium for divergent points of view” historically, he said that he has tried to be inclusive in all of Laika’s creations.
With that said, I do agree fridayteenage's overall sentiment. The imdb cast list may look diverse at first glance, but the majority of the poc voice talent were assigned to background roles (George Takei deserved better ). We need POC to voice more prominent roles not just in movies as thematically embedded in another culture like Kubo is, but in general.
Well, Exhibit A for the reverse is Big Hero 6 which is even just in a hybrid of SF and Tokyo.
Actors for prominent characters include Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada, Daniel Henney as Tadashi Hamada, and Jamie Chung as GoGo. Then the diverse character cast also included a diverse voice cast with Damon Wayans Jr. and Génesis Rodríguez.
Contrast to: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey as the central Japanese family.
Another good one: Up, where one of the two main leads is Jordan Nagai.
Well, Exhibit A for the reverse is Big Hero 6 which is even just in a hybrid of SF and Tokyo.
Actors for prominent characters include Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada, Daniel Henney as Tadashi Hamada, and Jamie Chung as GoGo. Then the diverse character cast also included a diverse voice cast with Damon Wayans Jr. and Génesis Rodríguez.
Contrast to: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey as the central Japanese family.
Another good one: Up, where one of the two main leads is Jordan Nagai.
That's one of the reasons why I loved Big Hero 6 so much.
Princess Kaguya should have won the oscar that year tho
The movie rose up a spot this weekend to third place in the US domestic box office to gross $7.9 million. Internationally the movie is now open in 16 territories and made $1.5 million.
). We need POC to voice more prominent roles not just in movies as thematically embedded in another culture like Kubo is, but in general.