Kubo is the heir to a great family, but when the spirits of the past returned, eager for revenge, only a strange pair of guardians dared to stand in his defense. Now Kubo’s only chance for salvation is to find the magical armor of his father, a legendary samurai.
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Against the background of Hollywood giants like Pixar and DreamWorks, the modest animation studio Laika does not look like the most impressive fighter, and yet, thanks to its professionals, viewers were able to see a number of truly extraordinary works that deserved a long standing ovation. Organized in 2005, experimental Laika made a world-wide splash with Tim Burton’s astonishing Corpse Bride, a grotesque theater of macabre madness. Without changing the successfully tested technology step puppet animation, the creators of the studio began to develop no less ambitious projects, taking a hand in the eccentric and somewhat disturbing ‘Paranorman’, as well as the surreal ‘Coraline’, still causing shivers just thinking about the eye sockets with buttons for eyes. Every cartoon studio always has an extraordinary enveloping atmosphere of a strange tale, from which it is not so easy to take your eyes off. The fearlessness of Laika’s writers, directors and animators sometimes affects the box office of the studio’s creations, and nevertheless the masters of the puppet extravaganza are not going to stop there. In 2016, a decade and one year after the release of ‘Corpse of the Bride’, a fifth full-length animated film from Laika snuck into theaters, continuing the wave of endless creative experiments and trials. We’re talking about ‘Kubo. Legend of the Samurai’, a story steeped in concentrated Japanese flavor, skillfully combining features of independent cinema and entertainment available to all viewers without any exceptions.
As for the plot of the cartoon, it takes us to the old days, when legends still had a tendency to come to life. The main character of the adventure is a little boy named Kubo (original voice of Art Parkinson). Living in a small village with his mother, he is known among the villagers skillful storyteller breathtaking legends. As the heir to a great warrior of the past, Kubo prepares himself for the greatest achievements, but in order to do so he must grow up and put on the impenetrable armor of a valiant defender of the poor and needy. But fate itself throws a sharp challenge to Kubo, and he simply has no time to wait for adulthood, because his actions directly depend on the well-being of his family and friends. A dangerous enemy coming from beyond threatens to turn peaceful Japanese lands to ashes, and only a possessor of Kubo’s father’s armor can give him a worthy response. The only person capable of coping with the clan’s power is, of course, our Kubo. He is the only person capable of fighting with the clan’s power, and it doesn’t matter that he has never held anything but a musical instrument in his hands. With the help of unexpected comrades ready to die for the boy, Kubo embarks on a long and dangerous adventure through mountains, rivers and plains to justify the proud title of the son of a majestic hero and, as a consequence, to become a hero himself, which will be composed of legends.
One of the main ideologists behind the creation of ‘Kubo. Legends of the Samurai” was the studio’s producer Travis Knight, previously involved in the development of ‘Paranorman’. What’s remarkable about Laika’s work is that it’s a relatively small close-knit team with no clearly defined responsibilities. The director of a cartoon is not averse to substitute hard-working animator, and he, in turn, does not miss the opportunity to give the director a couple of sensible tips. Do not stand aloof from the direct creative process and producers, among the camp which just is Travis Knight. With the office located in close proximity to the studio premises, Knight did not miss the opportunity to penetrate into the very essence of the proprietary turn-based animation and still felt the strength to take on the project with a pronounced Japanese style. Under the direction of the debutant director of ‘Kubo. Legend of the Samurai’ somewhat lost its pervasive mystique, inherent in the soul of ‘Corpse of the Bride’ and ‘Paranorman’, but at the same time, the cartoon has become much more colorful, rapid and technically advanced past works of the studio. It is noticeable that the creators have paid a lot of attention to the recreation of more moving and fluidly moving dolls. Budget ‘Kubo’ still varies in a fairly modest for Hollywood, but it did not stop the animators to open a wonderful new world, full of color, dizzying action and colorful characters with memorable visual details.
Moving from the chair of the producer to the director, Travis Knight proved that the sense of beauty is not alien even to professional cabinet officers. Somewhat different is the case with the semantic component of the cartoon. Although tangible failures in it still can not be observed, and this fact can not but rejoice. ‘Kubo. Legend of the Samurai” borrows not very well known to the mass Western audience legends, tales and beliefs originating from ancient Japan. Viewers are generally accustomed to watching the valiant adventures of valiant warriors of honor with a katana at full stretch without the slightest intervention otherworldly forces, and when the story creeps into the original Japanese mystique, the picture can be expected to very cool reception in view of the aversion of alien mythology audiences. The recent failure of ’47 Ronin’ with Keanu Reeves at the helm showed that some stories have not yet come to their time, so it is better to keep them in the closet for the right occasion. But unlike a massive game blockbuster, Travis Knight’s ‘Kubo’ smoothes out the sharp edges with a cheerful spirit of enthusiastic animation. Traditionally, cartoons can contain any outlandish elements and present them in an incredibly appealing way, capturing the attention of viewers with a wide variety of tastes. In ‘Kubo’ the authors have tried to moderate the degree of eccentricity, combining in the story both Japanese coloring and Western humor and manner of narration. The desire to please everyone leads to a partial loss of Laika’s unique creative vision, but in terms of conquering new heights ‘Kubo’ has taken a serious step forward.
The original voicing of the cartoon also deserves special attention. With all due respect to the masters of dubbing, but the director has invited the studio recordings of prominent stars of our time in the face of Rafe Fiennes, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (how could it be without him in the movies about Japan?!). In some cartoons notable names of celebrities involved in the voicing, are only for promotional purposes. In ‘Kubo’ stars have to try hard to bring their characters to life and give their characters a sparkle. Judging by the intonation and emotion that Fiennes and his comrades uttered in front of the microphone, they thoroughly enjoyed working with Travis Knight and endeavoured to the very end to delight the audience with excellent adventures which riveted their attention from every angle they turned their gaze to.
In the end, I would like to say that ‘Kubo. Legend of the Samurai’ is a true pleasure to watch. Maybe the cartoon lacks a specific manner of presenting the plot in the style of the studio’s previous works, but what it cannot take away, it is colorful, spectacular and true experiences of the soul. Under the debutant Travis Knight was born extraordinary animated film, stands out great against the background of stamped rivals from the computer animation, and this means that the release of ‘Kubo’ beyond the attention is not recommended. It’s not often that animated adventures hit theaters that aren’t going to slip out of your memory so quickly. Enjoy your viewing pleasure!
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (85.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish (Latino): DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Japanese: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish.
