Kubo and the Two Strings

(Image credit: © 2016 Focus Features LLC and T)

A spellbinding stop-motion animation celebrating the art of storytelling set in a mystical ancient Japan

A spellbinding stop-motion animation celebrating the art of storytelling set in a mystical ancient Japan.

Art Parkinson voices 11-year-old hero Kubo, who supports his sickly mother by telling stories in his village. But he has powerful foes - his vengeful grandfather, the Moon (Ralph Fiennes), stole one of his eyes when he was a baby and won’t rest till he has the other - so to stay safe Kubo must return home before dark.

However, one day he stays out after sunset and his evil aunts strike.

Kubo flees, accompanied by a monkey (Charlize Theron) and an amnesiac, half-human half-beetle fallen samurai (Matthew McConaughey).

The trio’s adventures are by turns comical, gripping and creepy, but what casts the film’s most potent spell is the exquisite, bewitching animation.