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.
In ancient Japan, Kubo is a young boy who lives wih his ill mother in a cave on top of a mountain. Every day he goes out to a nearby village to tell stories using pieces of paper that form into origami that moves under music played from Kubo's shamisen. He tells tales of great warriors seeking revenge while battling monsters, primarily of a samurai warrior named Hanzo who is Kubo's missing father. Every day he quickly returns to his mother when the town bell chimes signaling sunset, as she instructs him not to stay outside after dark or her sisters, his aunts, and his grandfather, the Moon king, will come to take his remaining eye, as he took one of his eyes as a baby.
The next day Kubo arrives to a cemetery where late loved ones are honored and spoken to from family members, but he leaves in anger when his father does not respond to him. Because he has stayed outside after the sun sets, his mother's Sisters find him and try to take Kubo's eye. After they destroy the village, his mother arrives to fend off her sisters. His mother sends Kubo away by touching a beetle crest on his robe which gives him wings, forcing him to fly away from his mother. She tells him to find his father's armor in order to protect Kubo from his grandfather's evil spirits. He takes a piece of her hair before she is seemingly killed by her sisters.
Kubo wakes up in a snowy blizzard, and meets Monkey, who had been a little wooden monkey charm for Kubo before she was brought to life by his mother's magic. Monkey tells Kubo that she is going to help him find his armor. Kubo and Monkey ae greeted by "Little Hanzo", one of Kubo's origami that is modeled after his father. The origami shows Kubo and Monkey the way to his father's armor, where they are greeted by Beetle, a samurai who claims to have been an apprentice of Kubo's father. Beetle was cursed to take the body form of a beetle-like man, despite not having any memories of his past. He discovers that Kubo is the son of his master and vows to help him in his quest.
The origami show them the way to an underground cave where they can find Hanzo's sword. They are soon attacked by ahumongous skeleton as they try to reclaim the sword buried on the top of his skull. They do so, and the skeleton collapses to the ground where Beetle files them out of the cave. They arrive at a beach where Kubo uses his magic to create a boat out of fallen leaves, and they set sail. The trio arrive above the next piece of Hanzo's armor, the breastplate. The breastplate lies below the sea in the Garden of Eyes, where intruders are entranced and paralyzed before they are eaten by a toothed monster. Beetle and Kubo dive in to retrieve the breastplate. Kubo recovers the breastplate, but is immediately entranced. In his entranced state, Kubo has a revelation. Monkey is in fact his mother , reincarnated into physical form. Beetle rescues Kubo before he i eaten, as Monkey encounters one of the Sisters who destroys Kubo's boat. Monkey kills the Sister but is badly wounded in the process.
After arriving ashore on a nearby island, the trio rest in a cave as Monkey tells a story to Kubo with his shamisen and origami. She explains that before she met Kubo's father, she and her Sisters were sent to kill Hanzo. Instead, she fell in love with him, and they gave birth to Kubo. Her Sisters and Kubo's grandfather felt betrayed and have since branded her as an enemy. After Kubo is sent to sleep by Monkey, she tells Beetle that she will gone soon and feels that Kubo will be alone when she leaves,but Beetle promises that he will protect him. Kubo has a dream in which he greeted by a ghost who shows Kubo the last piece remaining of his father's armor, which is his samurai helmet.
Kubo tells Monkey and Beetle of his dream and they head to his father's damaged fortress to reclamim the armor, However, it is a trap and the trio is greeted by the remaining Sister who reveals that Beetle is Kubo's father, Hanzo. The Sister destroys the origami and atacks Kubo's mother and father.
Beetle is killed, and Monkey sacrifices her life to allow Kubo to obtain his shamisen and kill the remaining sister with it. Kubo emerges from hiding and mourns the loss of his mother and father. Using the beetle crest, he flies away to his village to retrieve the helmet, the final armor piece, whice is the village's bell.
At the village, he is able to reclaim the helmet and puts it on. He is greeted by Raiden, the ghost that appeared to Kubo in his dream. Raiden is revealed to be his grandfather, the Moon king. The Moon king tells Kubo that he needs his eye to raid Kubo of all his powers and memories. Kubo refused and the Moon king in anger transforms into a moon beast and fights Kubo. Kubo is defeated and tossed into the cemetery where the Moon king corners him as well as the surviving villagers. Kubo retaliated by taking off the armor and using his shamisen to recruit the spirits of the villagers' decreased, showing that memories are the strongest form of magic and can never be destroyed. The Moon king is defeated and becomes mortal, and in his human form has bo recllection of who or what he was. The villagers make him believe that he is a good man. After the villagers set their lanterns near a lake, Kubo is able to speak with his parents and make peace with them, saying that he is happy, he was able to go on a journey with them. They ten appear beside him in the form of spirits.
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