Kubo and the Two Strings is the newest Laika Studios movie that came out on Friday Aug. 19. It was well awaited by fans of the studio like Canaan Karr who is excited for the movie because he is a fan of Laika and loves stop-motion.

This movie is animated with stop-motion, but with a twist. Mrs. Panagos, a teacher here at Bob Jones said, “I think that is the perfect blend of art and engineering.” Kubo and the Two String’s stop-motion animation is special because it includes CGI and 3D printing as well as the traditional stop-motion. Read more about the fantastic process of Kubo and the Two Strings’ animation here.

The time that the crew took to make this movie look great was worth it. The movements of the characters was smooth and very pretty to look at. I really liked the texture of the clothing and hair of each characters, and I was impressed with all of the expressions the characters made. They made the experience feel very real.

Kubo and the Two Strings is set in feudal Japan and it is about a young boy named Kubo who needs to find a magical suit of armor that was worn by his late father, the greatest samurai ever known, in order to survive. The beginning starts slow and did not quite pique my interest at first, but as the movie progressed I grew more and more engrossed. The action scenes excited me and the emotional parts really pulled at my heart strings. The twists in the plot also made for an interesting experience.

The soundtrack adds to the movie and enhances the mood of each scene. Most of the tracks include the shamisen, a three stringed Japanese instrument that Kubo plays to do his magic. The soundtrack is completed with a shamisen cover of While my Guitar Gently Weeps originally by the Beetles and covered by Regina Spektor.

On IMDb this movie gets an 8.4/10, on Rotten Tomatoes it gets 96%, and on Metacritic it gets 83%. I think this movie deserves a 9/10 and I certainly recommend it.