Kubo and the Two Strings [Blu-ray]

A new stop motion movie from Laika Studios. Who also brought us 'Coraline.' 'Paranorman.' And 'The Boxtrolls.'This is a wholly original story, with an oriental setting.The main character is Kubo. A boy who starts the film washed up on a shore with his mother. They come to live on the edge of a village. Where he grows up entertaining the locals with his storytelling, music, and amazing origami skills.But his mother can only tell him so much about his past. And he would love to know who his father was.When the village is attacked, it's the start of a remarkable journey that will change his life forever...The stop motion in here is simply stunningly well done, and gorgeous to look at. It even manages scenes set at water that look convincing. The score is also superb, fitting the setting of the tale perfectly.It's a film of sections. The opening has a lot to set up and is a bit of a slow burner. But once the action gets going it's initially unclear as to certain things that are going on. But then Kubo is on a quest with two special beings, Monkey [Charlize Theron] and Beetle [Matthew Mcconaughey]. The three form an excellent grouping giving some very funny bickering and character moments. Matthew Mcconaughey in particular is superb at playing his character for intended laughs.The final quarter of the film does change direction slightly to go a little darker, but it does deliver memorable action and good answers. And has a brilliant emotional depth to it. Leading to an ending you won't forget in a hurry.Through the narrative Kubo has an excellent character journey, and you can really feel for him and relate to him all the way. Its a great journey to take. The film might be a bit dark at points for some of the very young, hence the PG certificate. But ultimately it's a charming fable and a great watch and well worth five stars.The disc has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic.Subtitles: English, Arabic, Hindi, Icelandic.It also has English audio description.The disc begins with some trailers and ads, that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.It contains the usual flyer with code to use to download a copy of the film to a digital device.Extras:Kubo's Journey. A making of documentary, which is split into six parts. Which can be watched individually or all in a row. If doing the latter it runs for twenty seven minutes in total. This is a good and in depth look at the production and an excellent watch.There's also Corner of the Earth, a three minute look at some of the settings in the film. Which is a bit too short to have much impact.

I won't review the film itself (so there's no spoilers) as it has been done plenty of times before, I will do an overview of the merits of the studio and the film, with a review of the actual disc at the end...This is probably my favourite animated movie of 2016, my favourite Laika animation and I would say easily in my top 5 all time animated movies. If you're unfamiliar with Laika, they make stop-motion animation movies. In fact all of their films are stop-motion, however you would never guess it to look at them.I have all of their movies on Blu-ray and quite frankly as a studio, their quality of output is up there with Disney and Pixar. One of the key things with Laika is that they don't treat their audiences like idiots. Their stories are relevant, meaningful, and engaging for children and adults alike (and in the case of this particular movie, there are definitely some scary scenes). I have taken life lessons from all of their films and I'm certainly not a child!Not only are their storylines engaging/exciting/fun/intelligent, the quality of the animation is astonishing. You never run out of things to look at and there is always something new to spot each time you re-watch a film.As for the Blu-ray itself, the transfer is excellent, lovely crisp picture with bright and vivid colours. The sound quality is also superb. The digital and DVD copy is always a nice bonus, I use the Ultraviolet download code with my Flixster account so there was no issues there. The extras are a bit thin on the ground, however the addition of the digital copy and the DVD copy partially make up for this. Also, the Blu-ray disc is region free which is always nice. Not sure about the DVD though.If you have never seen anything by Laika and want something a bit different to Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks etc. then get this, I can't recommend it enough.

Loved this film, loved the art style of the company for years