Kubo and the Two Strings (Steelbook)

A nice Shout Factory release of a beautiful Laika production. Kubo often gets recommended in movie circles as a film that was criminally under-watched during its original box-office run. According to some, it's the best movie Laika has ever made. Given the only other movie of theirs I've seen is Coraline, I can't comment on that, but as an adult who watched it for the first time 9 years after it's original release, I came away happy. Kubo is economical. Like a lot of animated movies it clocks in somewhere around the 1.5 hour mark. Framed both in and out of the narrative as something akin to a bard's heroic tale, focus is kept on the bare essential characters, taking what little runtime it has to thankfully prioritize developing its central trio of likeable heroes, though maybe to the detriment of its villains. You could at least argue that for this movie, that was actually a thematically consistent choice. For most of its runtime I'd say the story is a straightforward tale of a boy's journey to come into himself as he struggles to deal with the consequences of his less than human heritage. It's almost like a magically-flavored piece on generational trauma where the reason your grandfather and aunts are callously indifferent monsters is because they're holier-than-thou deities and not just - you know - miserable. Despite that last sentence, the sincere emphasis here is on family, with consistently tasteful and grounded dialogue bringing some much needed levity and heart to what ultimately ends up being a somewhat sad story, before ending with a genuinely compassionate and thoughtful ending that I think manages to carry this film into the recommended section of my watch list on story merit alone. The real meat of the film here though is in its visuals. Laika as a studio is a stop-motion powerhouse. One of the few still in the business. Each and every frame is a physically hand-crafted diorama meaning extreme attention to detail is the only way you can make a film like this. Every slight twitch of the characters. Every simulated breeze. Every little detail. It's all deliberate. Even if for nothing else, I think anyone of any age could admire this movie for the sheer quality of its visuals alone. Even so, I still have to give a special shout out to the film's papercraft. Kubo's magical abilities allow him to manipulate paper and having the brightly colored texture of paper throughout the film really helps provide Kubo with a clear visual identity of its own even among Laika's other works. It's convincing and captivating, never faltering in its flow no matter how dense and ambitious in scale it becomes. Stunning ultimately is the word here with a quality encode printed on a full triple-layer 4K BD-100 disc and an HDR presentation that really helps bring its rich palette to life. A 1080p BD with special features is also included and the whole package is encased in a steelbook with beautiful artwork adorning its entirety. Wonderful all around.

The steelbook arrived in perfect condition at a great sale price. As for the movie itself, the animation is great, and the story is very fun and entertaining, especially coming from Lakia, which has a reputation for making great films like Coraline, Paranorman, and the like. I would 100% recommend this steelbook on sale. If not, the standard 4k would also be a great option.

Cool unique steelbook from Laika!

Great movie and animation. Steelbook looks great too and happy to have it on 4k

is a beautiful story and amazing quality

Thank you for making sure that it was not dented you guys have been doing good so far keep it up

Beautiful 4K Steelbook of my favorite Laika film. Stop motion is a dying art form, and nobody does it better than Laika. A poignant and emotional film, definitely worth your time.

I love this film! I do love Coraline more, but this is such a wonderful film. It is a beautiful story that is beautifuly animated. It is absolutely stunning in 4K and the steelbook is wonderful for collecting.

The 4K movie looks amazing, and is actually noticeably better than the regular Blu-Ray. The steelbook is also one of the prettiest I've seen.

This is the third or fourth copy of this movie I have ordered and every single one has arrived damaged. I finally gave up and ordered from Zavvi in the UK. It will cost more, but they package properly and handle things with care and as a result steelbooks rarely if ever arrive damaged. It is sad when I have to start ordering my movies from a foreign country so that I can get them in an acceptable condition. I know Walmart wants to keep costs low, but they are starting to get a very bad reputation in the steelbook collecting community.