Today was movie day with my dad. Like the last three weeks we go on Tuesday to see a movie shown at one of the local theaters. Today’s pick was between Ben-Kur and Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo won based on the reviews we read.
Now we showed up to the theater a little later than we meant to and that meant that we had to find seats in the dark. I did not mind, but my dad likes specific seats in the Sam’s Town theater.
We sit down and watch the last five minutes of previews. Nothing all that wowing to see coming up on the big screen.
The opening scene was very dark, but set the mood for the movie. This is a tragedy, but it has a sort of happy ending.
Kubo’s mother is a daughter the Moon King. His father’s name is Hanzo, a samurai who won his mother’s heart, only after she had been sent to kill him. A minor detail, but I digress.
Kubo’s mother is fleeing from her father and two sisters. Her father has stolen Kubo’s left eye out of rage. Apparently falling in love with the guy you were ordered to kill by your father is a really big no no in this family.
Eleven years pass, though we don’t have a very stick idea of time. The movie shows an older boy, one who can walk, talk, and play a three stringed guitar. Oh by the way the guitar or Kubo, I never really figured out which, has the power to make origami come to life and help him act out stories.
Kubo’s mother is not well, after she escapes she has trouble remembering who Kubo is and the story of her husband Hanzo. She tells the stories of his daring deeds, but she cannot remember the ending.
She warns Kubo, he must never loose his monkey charm, never stay out past sunset, and always come home.
Kubo is a good son, but one day, he breaks his promise. He learns about the festivle in the village. The people make lanterns and pray to the souls of those they have lost. Them they help send them on to the next place.
Kubo hopes that he can talk to his father this way, but when it does not work and he stays out too late, his aunts find him.
Kubo inadvertently destroys the village by not listening to his mother. Also his mother dies protecting him.
Kubo wakes to a talking monkey. Very strange, but it is a story so I guess anything can happen.
The monkey explains that the only way to keep him safe from his Grandfather and Aunts is to find his father’s armor.
Seems easy enough, but this armor has been lost and split up for years. When he asks the monkey where it is, the answer is, I don’t know. Helpful, I know.
A shadow has found them and steals Kubo away, or so we think.
The Monkey finds a Beetle who cannot remember anything talking to the oragmi man Kubo made who is supposed to be his father.
Beetle and Monkey help find the armor, but at the cost of something so dear.
Kubo must fight his grandfather, The Moon King. Who is a jealous and cruel man. But when Kubo wins, the Moon King does not die. He becomes a man, lost and confused. The villagers help to tell a new story instead of telling him who he had been. They help him write a new story.
Kubo helps as well. He may not have a lot of family, but he at least has his grandfather.
Now, I enjoyed the story. It was well paced and well told. I enjoyed that not everything was explained. The reader has the ability to imagine what might have happened after the end.
Now that being said, I do not believe that this is solely a children’s movie. I am not a child and neither is my father. We both enjoyed the movie for what it was. A great story.
The plot is easy to follow and the darkness of the Moon King and the Aunts is a little terrifying, but not overly scary. You understand that the darkness is also a play on what the Moon King and the Aunts are incapable of. They cannot see the light or love. All they fear is death, why they want to be blind to the soul.
Kubo, though so young, shows that being hard and cold leads only to being alone. Truly the Moon King, as he had been, was alone with all of his daughters gone. He tries to control Kubo the same way he controlled them. With fear.
Kubo is too strong for that. He has seen the power of love and understands that love is the most powerful way to live. To see humanity and be a part of it. That is worth more than immortality.
This is a wonderful story about becoming who you want to be, even against what appears to be impossible odds. Truly a marvelous story.