Kubo & The Two Strings | 8/19/16 | LAIKA | Early Reviews are Very Positive

[Jayhawk the Hutt]

1 minute ago, JohnnyGossamer said:

Yes! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! What a great month for movies.

The August dumping ground has become the best month of the summer.

[AniNate]

You can all thank this for the movie

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

1 minute ago, Jayhawk said:

The August dumping ground has become the best month of the summer.

It's nuts. At least with critics this season. Even the critical dud, Squad, exploded. And, now, Sausage Party seems to be making name for itself. Pete's Dragon looks to play to families. Laika's on the scene with Kubo, maybe their best yet. Mad Mel's back in action in blood, guts and sweat thriller. An uncompromising indie darling like Hell or High Water is getting LOUD buzz. Good stuff.

[Jonwo]

if Kubo breaks out then the great year for animation will have spread to stop motion. 

[Cmasterclay]

1 hour ago, JohnnyGossamer said:

It's nuts. At least with critics this season. Even the critical dud, Squad, exploded. And, now, Sausage Party seems to be making name for itself. Pete's Dragon looks to play to families. Laika's on the scene with Kubo, maybe their best yet. Mad Mel's back in action in blood, guts and sweat thriller. An uncompromising indie darling like Hell or High Water is getting LOUD buzz. Good stuff.

It makes sense, in a way. Studios now are trying to pump the prime summer months full of safe, cookie cutter "stop the orb" CGI blockbusters that they can "brand". So now the good stuff is getting more backloaded to August and even September. I'm more excited for September than I was for any single summer month. 

[JohnnyGossamer]

4 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

It makes sense, in a way. Studios now are trying to pump the prime summer months full of safe, cookie cutter "stop the orb" CGI blockbusters that they can "brand". So now the good stuff is getting more backloaded to August and even September. I'm more excited for September than I was for any single summer month. 

Good thought. I think you're spot on.

 

Suicide Squad, Sausage Party, Pete's Dragon, War Dogs, Ben-Hur, Kubo, Mechanic all pose more risk. Add in stuff like Sully, Blair Witch, Snowden, Magnificent Seven and Miss Peregrine in September too. Yeah, much more refreshing. Even the sequels/retoolings seem more alluring but, months and months out, none of them seemed a sure thing.

Edited August 12, 2016 by JohnnyGossamer

[JohnnyGossamer]

1 hour ago, tribefan695 said:

You can all thank this for the movie

 

His son's one the founders along with him, no?

[AniNate]

Travis wasn't born yet when Phil Knight founded Nike, but I'm sure it indirectly led to his marriage/children

[kayumanggi]

.@kubothemovie Review: Laika's Latest Stuns Visually If Not Narratively https://t.co/zakMyMNNi8 pic.twitter.com/peIVQEvRAJ

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) August 13, 2016

[cannastop]

Might not be the RT juggernaut you were looking for.

 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kubo_and_the_two_strings_2016/

 

TOMATOMETER 

88%

Average Rating: 7.1/10

Reviews Counted: 8

Fresh: 7

Rotten: 1

 

[Ethan Hunt]

My mom asked me today of I'd hears of that two string movie

[Jason]

1 hour ago, cannastop said:

Might not be the RT juggernaut you were looking for.

 

So the one negative review of Kubo so far is centered on a complaint that about the film's message, that is not mentioned in the other reviews. I'm always a bit suspicious of reviews that focus on one aspect of a film that other reviewers don't even mention, it suggests to me a very personal reason for not liking the film.

 

Spoiler-tagging it because it's not something in the marketing and I know some people prefer to not even read reviews before watching.

Spoiler

Quote

Some of the scenes that show Shinto (or Shinto-inspired) rituals concerning deceased elders and the acceptance of mortality are, admittedly, interesting, but I’m not inclined to give a pass to a family film that indoctrinates an irrational belief system just because it’s novel.

 

 

I suspect that the reviewer is reading too deeply into Kubo's treatment of the subject, as a depiction of a culture is not necessarily attempting to "indoctrinate" that culture's beliefs.

 

The average rating of Kubo without this outlier would be 7.9/10, so it's still quite probable that Kubo's final RT score will land above 90%.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Jason

[kowhite]

1 hour ago, Ethan Hunt said:

My mom asked me today of I'd hears of that two string movie

 

My Mom asked me when I was getting married.

 

You win.

[The Futurist]

The prejudice towards CGI is real.

 

 

[AniNate]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I suspect that the reviewer is reading too deeply into Kubo's treatment of the subject, as a depiction of a culture is not necessarily attempting to "indoctrinate" that culture's beliefs.

 

 

Generally it's not worth it to get hung up on some vaguely ignorant-sounding blurb. He clearly had broader problems with the film as well.

 

Anyway, Metacritic's still in good shape, but this may end up falling into typical Laika territory

[Jason]

Just now, tribefan695 said:

Generally it's not worth it to get hung up on some vaguely ignorant-sounding blurb. He clearly had broader problems with the film as well.

 

Yes. He did have other problems, but the problem no one else is mentioning is also how he introduced his review, not just a single blurb. That's a red flag for me - it suggests his review is not likely to be representative even among the less favourable reviews for Kubo. His rating is 4/10, that's an outlier at this point. My bet is that it will remain an outlier, and that the final average rating will end up closer to 7.9 than 7.1.

 

To be clear, I don't actually care whether the average rating for this ends up being 7.9 or 7.1. Just pointing out that the sudden decrease in Kubo's rating and RT score is due to a probable outlier.

[Spidey Freak]

 

[Hiccup23]

I really want this to do well but I see it struggling to pass $30 million domestically. 

 

OW: $8 million

Domestic:  $27 million

[CelestialFairyIX]

My prediction; it'll open fairly small compared to recent animated juggernauts, but will have better legs with great word-of-mouth and it's probably, if not the most accessible Laika Animation film to date.

 

- Opening Weekend: $16 - 22 million

- Final Domestic Gross: $80 - 100+ million

- Overseas: $50 - 80+ million

- Worldwide Gross: $130 - 180+ million 

[FlashMaster659]

That top critic average rating tho...

 

TOMATOMETER 

100%

Average Rating: 10/10

Reviews Counted: 5

Fresh: 5

Rotten: 0