In my observation to be a good kid’s movie you need to have several elements come together. You need a great story, memorable characters and top-notch animation. “Kubo and the Two Strings” has all of that and so much more. Parents would enjoy themselves right along with the kids in this engaging film.  It’s family movie, but mind the younger viewers as some scenes are quiet intense. Sword fights can get dangerous, but all of the violence happens off camera and is artfully expressed so it is not overly graphic.

Kubo (Art Parkinson), a street performer with magical powers, is set on a quest to find magical armor to help protect himself from the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes). With the help of a Monkey (voice of Charlize Theron) and a Beetle (voice of Matthew McConaughey) Kubo flee a pair of witches called The Sisters (both played by Rooney Mara) who are trying to take him to the Moon King.

An entertaining movie is fun ,but a memorable film makes a connection. This story is intertwined with lessons about family and relationships. Everyone can relate to the characters in some way. I truly loved the resolution to the conflict; it does not take your normal kill the bad guy route it’s more wisdom over strength kind of a film.

Stop motion films seem to have more work involved in them than other animated films.  Every second of film has hundreds of elements. Each element needs to be manipulated to give it a life like feel. There is a glimpse at this process during the credits that shows you a bit of what goes into a few seconds of film. I recommend you stay and watch how labor intensive a film like this is. It’s a truly fascinating process.