#Kubo and the two strings theory full

There is texture that could never have been depicted before that you can now see, there are nuances and depths and shadows and lights that are available to you for the first time now, because of that 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, because of these major advances in projection technology.įor a film like Kubo, those new colors and that new depth, the brightness and the shadows, all of it significantly alters your experience and your appreciation of what the filmmakers have achieved with this stop-motion animation. That contrast ratio I mentioned matters, because there are literally colors you haven't seen before on the screen that are now possible. Immersion is an overused word these days, but there are certain instances where no other word properly applies. A film changes, and how it affects us changes, depending on how we experience it. I say this because it really, honestly matters. There's no comparison, the simple fact is that this is the single best viewing experience for cinematic images. With Dolby Vision, the contrast is 1,000,000:1. The contrast ratio in actual film projection is about 8,000:1, and for regular digital projection it's about 2,000:1 (which is one of the reason some filmmakers still insist on using film, by the way). The distinction between how you see a film anywhere else and how it appears in Dolby Vision is important for you to understand, particularly with films such as animated features or other pictures in which visuals and color are vastly important. I've been a major proponent of 3D, I love IMAX, and in particular I fell in love with Dolby Atmos a few years ago and now have developed a deep love of Dolby Vision as well. I watched Kubo and the Two Strings at a Dolby Cinema, and here I'll include my usual note to readers that I'm a rather fanatical fan of technologies that go into how we experience film.

#Kubo and the two strings theory full

Whimsical yet mature, fantastically magical yet full of realistic emotions and a simple, earthly plea for redemption, it goes beyond childish notions of resolution and 'victory' toward a far more moving and poetic destination.

We fill in many blanks for ourselves, and sometimes the precise details might differ from one viewer's impression to the next, but that's okay and enhances the experience.īeneath the family-friendly nature of the story - and rest assured, despite a few scarier moments plus familial sadness and loss not uncommon in a typical Disney children's film, this is a film the whole family will love - is a serious, often downright somber presentation of a young boy's isolation and intense desire to connect with his parents even at the possible cost of his own life. We wind up carried away on an adventure that asserts itself with the presumption we will follow along without question, and the characters wind up remarkably well-defined and emotionally compelling despite often lacking much knowledge about their past beyond what we need to know for the current story. Magic is taken at face value, sudden realizations of seemingly illogical or mysterious conclusions or courses of action come nonstop, and certain 'fairy tale ending' expectations are subverted. It defies our modern expectations for children's storytelling in many ways, most obviously in its willingness to simply present a fantastical concept without a lot of explanation. In those moments when an image or sequence particularly dazzled me ,it was shocking when I would suddenly remember this is all the work of delicate hands, one frame at a time. It is easy to forget you're not watching computer animation, but rather intricate stop-motion effects. Kubo is a gorgeously realized artistic achievement. It certainly deserves to, because Kubo and the Two Strings is unlike any other animated film released this year, and it deserves to find a big audience. Kubo looks headed for a typical LAIKA opening somewhere in the $15 million range, give or take a couple of million bucks, and a final box office total in the $110 million range. However, it could play much stronger overseas than previous LAIKA productions, so I think there's a chance we might see this one climb toward the higher end of the studio's past box office performances, maybe in the $120 million range if it enjoys enough attention in international markets.