Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) is a stop-motion film from LAIKA you can watch online on iFILM. It marks the directing debut of Travis Knight, with voices from Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Rooney Mara and Ralph Fiennes.

Kubo is a one-eyed boy who keeps his seaside village spellbound. He plays a three-stringed shamisen, and his origami springs to life and acts out the stories he tells. One rule shapes his days: be home before dark. He breaks it once. That single slip lets the spirits of his own family find him, and the boy is sent running after the armor and sword his samurai father left behind. A stern Monkey and a forgetful Beetle warrior travel at his side.

Every frame was built by hand, puppet by puppet, the painstaking method LAIKA is known for. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for its animation. Underneath the adventure sits a quiet thread about memory and the people we lose. Stream Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) online on iFILM.