By Laika is a studio we at Flixist gladly pay attention to. Thanks to ParaNorman and Coraline, they’ve earned our respect with their stop motion craft coupled with fine storytelling. Even their weaker entry, The Boxtrolls, ended up on the better side of good. So did you hear they’ve assembled a huge name cast (which includes the likes of Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey) to tell the story of a young boy named Kubo and his magical shamisen in ancient Japan? I can’t believe this exists.
This first trailer’s absolutely catching. From its Beatles cover, to its art style (that stop motion ocean!). and to Kubo controlling little origami animals with his music. Sign me up yesterday.
Kubo and the Two Strings releases August 19th.
