This is my 300th review. I usually reserve this kind of milestone for a film that has made a big impact on me and is responsible for me becoming the film lover that I am. I juggled several possibilities, some of which I saw almost a decade ago. However, I rather decided to take a fresh approach – to review a film that I only just saw recently, but one I think is an utter masterpiece, and one that deserves every bit of acclaim it has received. That film is Kubo and the Two Strings, a film I could easily consider as being one of the greatest animated films of all time, and a film that is unlike anything achieved in animation prior to this, and represents a massive step forward in the incredible progression of what animation can do.
I don’t hate Pixar or Disney in any way, but as I have said on so many occasions, they are resting too much on their laurels, and depend on the fact that people will come and see their films, regardless of the quality. Luckily, the films aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I have been somewhat disappointed of late – Finding Dory was a lovely sequel, and Zootopia was a brilliant social commentary, but neither of them were animation achievements, and they were both pretty unoriginal and unremarkable, and I can easily see the studios making films of this quality, with these just simply joining in with the rest of the wonderful Disney and Pixar movies, but not standing out at all. This is where Laika comes in – the independent animation studio that previously made three very good stop-motion animated films – Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls, all of which slipped relatively under the radar. However, Kubo and the Two Strings is their latest offering, and it is far better than those films combined, and it is destined to become a classic of animation, mainly because of how utterly brilliant it is, and how it is one of the most beautiful films of the year, and perhaps of the decade.
Seemingly influenced by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (but who in animation these days isn’t influenced by Hayao Miyazaki?), Kubo and the Two Strings takes place in Ancient Japan, and centres on the titular Kubo, a young boy who finds his calling in telling stories with the help of his magical shamisen, which brings the origami to life. After an attack by his mother’s evil sisters, Kubo is forced to fight for his life. His mother dies, and he is accompanied on his journey by a talking monkey, who serves as his guide and mentor, and they encounter another warrior, a beetle-man hybrid, that claims to be the student of Kubo’s late father. Together, the trio go in search of Kubo’s father’s armor, which Kubo will use to defeat his grandfather, The Moon King. This is a story that tells a non-stereotypical story of Japanese culture and traditions, and despite being made by Americans, it handles the culture of Ancient Japan with remarkable class and restraint, keeping it free from any hackneyed portrayal of the nation, which is one reason why I thought Kubo and the Two Strings is a masterpiece, because it is such an original take on Japan. It may very well be the most accurate Western representation of Japan in years.
Kubo and the Two Strings boasts a tremendous cast, and unlike many mainstream animated films, this film has some A-list talent, but rather keeps the ensemble small and meaningful – there are only a small handful of characters in this film. The lead role of Kubo is played by Art Parkinson, a young breakout star of Game of Thrones. There isn’t much to say about Parkinson’s performance, but he does make the best of the character. Monkey is voiced by Charlize Theron, who I felt was not a suitable fit for the character – she didn’t fit the mould of a motherly character, and her voice often felt very harsh and sharp at times. However, it wasn’t a complete travesty, and it is wonderful to see her do some interesting projects. Matthew McConaughey is still on a roll, and for an actor who has such an oft-parodied voice, it is surprising that this is his first animated film role (I am still waiting for Al Pacino to make his voice-acting debut). Ralph Fiennes has a smaller but substantial role as one of the main antagonists. I know I sometimes blindly praise actors, but Fiennes was really good here, inhabiting the mystical quality, as well as the deep villainy of The Moon King. Rooney Mara is suitably terrifying in dual roles of The Sisters, who are perhaps the scariest characters of the year. The cast is solid and do what they do well, and I am impressed at how they brought the characters to life.
Putting everything I have said aside, Kubo and the Two Strings is just astounding in terms of animation. I had absolutely no idea that stop-motion animation could be used to do what was done here. Kubo and the Two Strings is truly an animated marvel – I am still in shock at how beautiful this film was. Stop-motion animation has been done very well in the past, mainly to tell smaller, more intimate stories, but never before to tell such an epic story – and despite being a stop-motion animated film, Kubo and the Two Strings was not any less epic than the live-action samurai films that inspired it. The animation was truly on another level, and it just proves that while Disney and Pixar may have the money, the best animation will always be found in the independent studios, where innovation is paramount above all. Every animated film that comes after this will have to live up to the extraordinarily high standard set by Kubo and the Two Strings.
Kubo and the Two Strings could be the best film of the year – personally, right now I am torn between this and Everybody Wants Some!! for the top spot on my list – and while the year is far from over, I am having a notoriously difficult time thinking any film is going to top what I saw here. Kubo and the Two Strings is just on another level – it has one of the best soundtracks of the year, and is overall just an exquisite film. Unfortunately, it is also a film that will remain almost completely underseen unless the word-of-mouth is good – so I absolutely implore everyone to go and see this film and spread the good word – you will not see a better animated film this year, and I am doubtful we will see one this good for many, many years. I am so happy that I got to choose this film as my 300th review, because it is certainly one of the most extraordinary films I’ve seen in a long time.
The Postmodern Pelican 
This movie is something special. I sat astonished at the quality of animation here. Travis Knight, making his directorial debut, and his crew have been able to capture tenderness on film. I was deeply moved by the plight of this young boy. If you haven’t seen the movie, please don’t assume it is sentimental. The story is dark. The story opens immediately following a young mother escaping with her infant son after her father has removed his grandson’s eye.
Yet, as much as I admired the quality of filmmaking, I was frustrated, too. Though this was produced by Laika films in Oregon, this is an Asian story, set in ancient Japan, and features Japanese characters and customs. The effort to create this world appears to be quite accurate and respectful. I am not Japanese, but I saw nothing that seemed out of sorts. Well, that is till the characters opened their mouths and spoke.
Who would cast Matthew McConaughey as a Japanese samurai beetle? Are there no Japanese or even Asian actors who can provide the voices for major characters? At least female lead Charlize Theron attempts to measure her words to deemphasize her Anglo inflections. Frankly, I grew increasingly frustrated by this beautiful film with American voices emanating from exquisitely created Asian faces.
I am torn. On one hand, I am so impressed with the mesmerizing artistic sensibilities that brought Kubo to life, that I sat in the theater thinking during various sequences that this would not only win the Oscar for animated film, I would like to see Kubo and the Two Strings nominated for Best Picture. However, the failure to cast the film with Asian voice over artists ultimately distracts from the beauty of the work.
American movies do not cast Asian people in movies, even when the characters are Asian, as Kubo and the Two Strings attests. Scarlett Johansson starred in the live action Ghost in the Shell, Masamune Shirow’s popular manga series. When the casting was first announced, Twitter generated approximately 40,000 posts of outrage over the casting of a white woman with a black wig in the beloved Japanese epic. More alarming was the reported consideration of studio heads at Paramount and DreamWorks to respond to the anger by digitally altering the features of white actors to appear Asian. This is little progress from 1944 when Hollywood put a black wig on Katharine Hepburn and taped her eyes to star as a Chinese woman battling Japanese invaders in Dragon Seed.
The absence of Asian movie stars who can open a big budget film is not difficult to understand. When producers will not cast Asian stars in big budget pictures, there are few opportunities for Asian actors to become movie stars. Sadly, unknown white actors regularly are cast as leads in such and subsequently touted as “the next big thing.”
Rather, Asians people appear to be considered as “exotic.” Casting reinforces this perception. In the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender white voice over actors portrayed the heroes and heroines while an Asian voice over actor portrayed the villain. The live action version of The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan was cast similarly. Late critic Roger Ebert wrote, “Shyamalan has failed. His first inexplicable mistake was to change the races of the leading characters; on television Aang was clearly Asian, and so were Katara and Sokka, with perhaps Mongolian and Inuit genes. Here they’re all whites. This casting makes no sense because (1) It’s a distraction for fans of the hugely popular TV series, and (2) all three actors are pretty bad.”
In Hollywood, Asians are them, not us, eternally different from whites. Failure to cast actors of color and their absence from popular entertainment diminishes the opportunity for audiences to move past the suffocating adjective “exotic.”
Only rarely, this can be seen to change. The animated series Jackie Chan Adventures featured a cast of Asian voice over artists. Of course, we must assume that recent Honorary Oscar winner Jackie Chan who served as an executive producer of the series played a major role in that decision.
The Hollywood Diversity Report from UCLA reported that in 2013 94% of executive at the film studios were white. Executives will employ talent with whom they are familiar. Kubo and the Two Strings producer / director Travis Knight’s casting decisions are self explanatory