This is the five-star animation in my mind. Since I discovered its trailer, I have no hesitation and must go to the cinema to see the effect (high-definition is already available on the Internet). The trailer for "Song of the Sea" appealed to me, but I hesitated for a few days before giving up; the trailer for "Big Fish and Begonia" had no content, so it wouldn't be a watchable movie, and it really did. As for the trailer of "Legend of Magic Strings", I was attracted by the pure Japanese folk customs in the picture at first glance, and was captured by the music in an instant. I can't find a reason not to watch it.
The picture of the film is abstract and succinct, which is indispensable for animation, and does not ignore the beauty of lines. If the highest goal of animation is simulation, then with the current CG technology, why bother to make animations? Real-life scenes are always more layered and richer than the beauty of animation. Therefore, the advantages of animated films are not only, or even should not be cute cartoon characters, but should be used to depict and express a simplified subjective world with lines and color blocks.
Origami is the highlight of the picture. Novel and full of national characteristics; all used to describe the past, and to distinguish it from the normal picture. The simplified shape of the origami figures can also symbolize the spiritual power sublimated from life, just like the little samurai, guiding the way forward.
As for the stop-motion animation in terms of production technology, the picture of the film is so smooth and beautiful that people can ignore this technology, and it is on an equal footing with ordinary animation. So if you add technical points, this should be a super five-star animation.
The music of the film is full of oriental meanings, without losing the burning feeling of the Japanese, and the key instrument shamisen in the film is also used, which is completely natural to the whole film. The ending song is a re-arrangement of an old Beatles song, the finishing touch. The lyrics are so intertwined with the content of the film that I almost doubt that the main creator's synopsis is based on the Beatle song. This just right ending song is a summary of the film, and it is also the theme that reminds the audience of "love" again.
From the pictures to the music, there is a strong Japanese style; the folk customs expressed are also the most traditional Japanese town market. Even people like me who are immersed in Japanese comics are almost deceived; only the core of its story reminds me that this should not be a pure Japanese comic. But when I knew that this was entirely produced by an American company, I couldn't help feeling a little bit of fear: mastering technology is terrible, and vividly painting the culture of other peoples is even more terrible.
But what attracted me most was the tone of the film's narrative and the themes it conveyed. The narration of the film does not take the slightest sensationalism, and always maintains blandness and restraint. Behind the bland narration, there is determination and loneliness that go hand in hand: Kubo grew up in a single-parent family and lives with his mother in a cave far away from the village; every day only in the evening, his mother is awake and can talk to Kubo, and he has to rely on Kubo to take care of him the rest of the time. . Kubo is going to the market to tell stories to make money. This is his short happy time, but he can't even stay to watch the brilliant lights after sunset. After a brief treasure hunt, Kubo just learns that the Beetle Samurai is his father, but immediately loses him. When the audience saw the warmth of the family of three and Kubo's strength, and couldn't help but give birth to a little hope, the end of the film did not leave a trace of leeway, allowing his parents to pass away, leaving Kubo alone to reminisce. The whole story seems happy and fulfilling, but it is bleak and cruel in nature.
But this essential determination and loneliness always appears in a warm face, soothing people's hearts. Kubo is burdened with the burden of life, but he is also happy when he is with his mother at dusk; everyone in the town likes to listen to his stories, and some people care about him; not to mention Kubo's adventure journey is happy, tense and full of family triviality little happiness.
All of these convey the film's attitude towards life: the determination in plainness, the warmth behind loneliness. Life is flat, its essence is so cruel, but the short-lived illusion is so warm, so people are nostalgic. Life has changed from generation to generation, and after the short company of parents, there is only one person who walks alone.
The theme of the film is family, love and growth. The whole film revolves around the family. The main conflict is family conflict. The origin is that the grandfather does not recognize Kubo's father; the adventure is also completed by a family of three. In the later stage, it can even be clearly felt that the film has no interest in the adventure itself, and instead spends more plot and time to show the trivialness of a family of three. These trivialities are so vivid that it almost makes one forget that an adventure is going on. For example, the monkey mother's sternness, impatience, helplessness and warning after being teased make people laugh; from the first sentence she said, probably all mothers can recognize: Isn't this the tone of a mother to her son? Such as the bickering between the monkey mother and the beetle father, arguing for the child while the child has completed the task on his own (Kubo built the leaf boat); and the embarrassment and pretending that nothing happened to the parents when they woke up early in the morning, and the parents discussed about the child after the child fell asleep. The weighty subject of the story, the centrality of the monkey mother in the family, the reprimanding and speechlessness of the beetle father, are all commonplace scenes of everyday life. It is these family scenes that reveal the American character. It's hard to imagine that in East Asian culture, the father of the protagonist of the adventure would be so cute.
The love behind the family is portrayed more abundantly. Love manifests in different ways: there is normal family love, there is the disappointment and anger of the younger sister at the betrayal of the older sister, there is the strict love of the grandfather and the grandson, and there is tolerance between relatives ("David Copperfield" said in : I'm looking for you to tell you, I forgive you) - all these, just to let the other party return to this or that family. Love is also embodied in memories - this is a surprising East Asian element - relatives will eventually leave, but they leave behind nostalgia and memories, which become the source of the child's independent survival. This power finally solves the main contradiction of the story: after discovering that he cannot defeat his grandfather, Kubo abandons the outer magical armor that represents violence and his father searches for a lifetime, gathers the power of memory, and pulls the shamisen, which represents the complete family, and the inner Courage triumphed. With the thick foreshadowing of love and memory, Kubo's final loneliness is not so unbearable, and the audience has reached an agreement with the film: Kubo has grown up enough to be independent.
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