This animated film that can be nominated for the 2016 Oscar for Best Animated Feature, let's start with its "ugly" character setting. The trailer of this cartoon is not very good, and I can't see the direction of the story. At first glance, it is an adventure story of a little boy and two small animals. The jokes edited in the trailer are not funny at all. . As for the characters with black hair and long faces in the film, some people even asked Xiao Xuaner if this was a Korean cartoon. "Kubo and the Two Strings" is a large production of stop-motion animation (big project, not big budget), as an animation under the Lycra company, in fact, the style has always been Jiang Zidi! The most famous should be the gothic "Zombie Bride" in 2005, the "Ghost Mom" in 2009 has been regarded as a cute protagonist, and in 2012, there is also "Psychic Boy Norman", in short, the company produced The theme of the story has never been separated from ghosts and weird ones. The same is true for "The Box Monster" in 2014. The character setting is still the line of "ugly and cute". Looking at it this way, it is actually not difficult to understand the character setting of "Kubo and the Erxian Qin", also known as "The Legend of Magic Strings". The character design of this animation is not only biased towards the real character image, but to put it more bluntly, the character image not only does not follow the cute line, but what is even more terrifying is that when the male protagonist: Kubo, one eye is missing ! It is estimated that the children have to swallow their saliva here. The childhood of the little boy Kubo can only be described by the word "miserable", and it is still that kind, which is unbearable to look at. At the beginning of the movie, the mother used her last strength to let Kubo survive the shipwreck, but the mother lost her normal sanity. Every day, Kubo took care of her mother's daily life. Only a short time after sunset, the mother would tell him about those things. , a fragmented and unending story in memory. As for his father, Kubo had no way of knowing. His special background made him feel lonely. In order to protect his mother and prevent the enemy from taking his other eye, he was ordered by his mother: "You can't stay in the wild after sunset." This is how this cartoon started, with great pain and crippling, so that audiences of all ages will instantly immerse themselves in all their emotions and take what will happen next seriously. This kind of beginning is very different from the previous cartoons. There are too many issues of life and death and difficult life at the beginning. The little boy Kubo in the story is not trying to fulfill a dream, but is strong to live. Looking at the poor one-eyed Kubo, it reminds me of Caroline in "Ghost Mom". The company's story setting is always difficult to get along with the "eyes" of children. It's really unusual. I believe people who like it will like it very much, and some people may simply not accept it. The combination of western culture and oriental elements This cartoon has applied the traditional oriental culture, specifically Japanese culture, to the extreme. The most bright spot is also eye-catching. It is the "Two Strings" included in the film's name. The charm of traditional Japanese three-stringed strings makes the soundtrack of the film soar to a lot of levels. The film uses eastern elements and western forms to make the story design move towards the effect of combining the east and the west. The retro shamisen + family magic = Kubo's legendary ability, which is eye-opening. At the same time, the film also visualizes the magic of music, not only the flashing special effects of the past, but also Japanese origami elements. I still remember that a few years ago, the post of Japanese origami artist: Tetsuhi Kamiya swept the Internet. All kinds of giant beasts and modern machinery can be folded with a piece of paper, which is amazing. In the film, accompanied by Kubo's two-stringed violin, there are cute paper figures dancing, who can switch between floating paper and vivid images at any time, which is simply the most suitable subject for stop-motion animation. And the image of the magic origami samurai in the film, in the follow-up plot, follows the characters on adventures, is responsible for the work of guiding the way, jumping up and down in the desert, wielding swords, it is like seeing the boys when they were young. Playing in the dirt pit, the feeling of a pocket soldier toy. In the story scene, in addition to imitating the environment settings and female characters of Ukiyo-e, the film's villain killer design is worth pondering. In the film, chasing Kubo and his group of killer sisters along the way, voiced by Rooney Mara. The setting of the female villains, the weapons and the number of attacks are all Japanese ninjas, and the design of the mask is very similar to the feeling of "V for Vendetta", once again full of the intimacy of the combination of the East and the West. What is even more amazing is the main line of the story, which is also the legendary story that Kubo told and experienced. The Japanese samurai fought three battles, dueling different monsters, just to win three treasures: the indestructible sword, the invulnerable breastplate, and Impeccable helmet. This is also a Western legend, carried on the elements of the East. This is the way the film tells the story of a Western magic war on the basis of traditional Japanese culture. It can only be said that the screenwriter of this animated film is too good at telling stories. It not only connects the East and the West in the cultural elements, but also allows the stories to be nested in the story, which maximizes the charm of the story. While telling the story to the audience with the cartoon, it also allows the characters in the cartoon to tell the story to the audience. . The little boy Kubo made money by telling stories in the village. In the cartoon, it is so interesting to have the characters tell each other stories, just like the narration at the beginning of the film, which is also the opening line of Kubo's performance: "If you want to blink, take advantage of it now, every detail that follows, you You have to see it clearly, no matter how unusual they are." And what he told was the story of Japanese samurai fighting monsters and seizing treasures. The imagination of art + original story = eternal theme The film In addition to the style of Ukiyo-e on art, the elements of origami, and the tension of the sanxian soundtrack, some intriguing narrations are constantly repeated in the story: each Stories have ends, but the end of every story is the beginning of another. The stories of the previous generation will always be passed on to the next generation, generation after generation. As the protagonist, the little boy Kubo is the storyteller, the experiencer of the story, and the inheritor of the story. The film "Kubo and the Two Strings" represents him and his missing family, like a three-stringed piano with one string missing, and when he gathered his mother's hair, his father's bowstring, and finally added his own hair, the climax In part, the re-use of the shamisen is actually predictable, but still moving. It is the long-awaited process of turning grief into strength. The process from two-stringed qin to three-stringed qin is also a process from missing to filling the heart. In the film, the main villain is the moon monster transformed by Kubo's grandfather, and the scene of the child fighting against the grandfather really doesn't end well. In the end, it can only be turned into a battle of inner strength. And the whole film has been telling, the lost relatives have not left, their stories will be passed on infinitely to the next generation, memories will become the eternal power in the heart, the perfect ending makes the film move towards the growing care for the missing children in the family. When people lose those beautiful memories, they will become blind monsters, and the way to face the pain in the past is not to blame others, but to cherish the beauty that they once had. When the political correctness of racial discrimination has been rotten by various films and cartoons, the theme of this better and pure cartoon is not Disney's Prince and Princess Ball, not a political and social innuendo, but a simple family journey. In fact, it can move people's hearts more, and it is more in line with the healing meaning of children's animation. Finally, let me mention the dubbing characters of the film. Uncle Matthew's voice is so special that it makes people dance. And Theron really is full of maternal voice, intoxicating. Many big scenes of this stop-motion animation are computer-controlled mechanical devices, shot frame by frame. The behind-the-scenes team, in today's technologically developed state, insists on traditional animation, and applies new technologies to the maximum extent, so as to reduce the cost 's stop-motion animation brings even greater surprises and excitement. This "Kubo and the Two Strings" may not be all that perfect, but it deserves praise for its insistence on different styles and the craftsmanship of constantly evolving stop-motion animation. The director of the film, Taravis Cornett, who previously produced "The Box Monster" and "Psychic Boy Norman", is also the CEO of Laika. In an interview, he said that Laika does not have the three-choice set of Pixar. The story lore, but making the only one they love. I feel that the last time I was moved by such music and magic was this Disney cartoon. Here I bet on an Oscar nomination for best animation, and I hope to win it.
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