KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

With so many summer movies being franchises, fluff, or bogged down with special effects, it's a nice change of pace to see a movie that's quieter, self-contained, and quite beautiful.  Kubo and the Two Strings is a Japanese folktale from the stop-motion experts from Laika Studios that's both touching and harsh.

The movie opens during a storm, as Sariatu (Charlize Theron) is traveling in a small boat with her baby Kubo.  The journey isn't easy -- Sariatu is thrown out of the boat and hits her head on the ocean floor, while the baby is missing an eye -- but they make it to a cave in a giant mountain.

Years later, Kubo (Art Parkinson) is a young boy who supports by his mother by going into town, telling stories, and playing a guitar that brings sheets of paper to life.  Sariatu has memory lapses and periods of catatonia, but she still tells Kubo stories about his past.  His father, Hanzo, was a samurai whose love was an insult to Saraitu's father the Moon King and Sariatu's evil Sisters.  They killed Hanzo and the Moon King stole Kubo's eye -- and he wants the other one, which is why Kubo must always return home before night.

Of course Kubo winds up in town after dark, which brings the creepy Sisters (voiced by Rooney Mara).  Sariatu sacrifices herself to save Kubo, telling him to find a magic armor, sword, and helmet to protect himself.  Kubo's little figure of a monkey has come to life, and Monkey (also voiced by Charlize Theron) is a humorless guardian of Kubo.  A paper samurai acts as a guide for the pair, and they're joined on their quest by Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), a samurai turned into a human-insect hybrid with amnesia but a certainly he served Hanzo.  Together they face a giant skeleton, hypnotic sea monsters, Kubo's truly scary relatives, and revelations (including a twist I saw coming) and loss.

Kubo and the Two Strings is a very impressive movie.  The animation is stunning, from the largest stop-motion puppet ever to the emotional expressions of the characters (and the creepy still faces of the Sisters).  Unlike many other animated movies, this one has genuine loss and tragedy, and it's not magically reversed or changed at the end.  The voice talent is very good, and kids and adults alike will enjoy the bickering between Monkey and Beetle.  Kubo and the Two Strings may be a little scary for really young kids, but it's a delight for fans of both animation and originality.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011 movie)

Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a brilliant, brutal, and popular mystery. It makes sense that the American film adaption would be directed by David Fincher, whose work includes Seven, Fight Club and The Social Network. This film of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo loses none of the tough hits of the original book -- though some of the changes lessen the final impact.

The film follows the format of the book closely. In Sweden, financial reporter and publisher Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has just been convicted of libel against businessman Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg), resulting in his reputation and finances being ruined. At the same time, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) is an asocial, possibly insane punk -- who's a brilliant researcher and hacker -- who prepared a background check on Mikael. This leads both of them to the Vanger family.

Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) is the elderly patriarch of the declining, but still powerful, Vanger industrial organization; he hates most of his family, yet lives with most of them on their private island. Forty years ago, during the Vanger family board and family meeting, an accident completely blocked the bridge that is the only way onto and from the island. At about the same time, Henrik's beloved niece Harriet (Moa Garpendal) vanished. No body was found, nor was any sign she was still alive. Henrik was obsessed with her disappearance, and he is convinced someone in his family killed her during the accident and snuck her body away. In addition, someone has sent Henrik a pressed flower in glass every year on his birthday -- something Harriet did before she disappeared. So Henrik hires Mikael to live on the island, ostensibly writing the history of the Vanger family but actually investigating what happened to Harriet. If Mikael can solve the case, he'll get twice as much money as if he doesn't; he'll also get the evidence proving Wennerstrom is corrupt.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth has do deal with a truly disgusting lawyer who controls her money, as well as her personal demons. She eventually gets drawn into the Harriet case, as a research assistant for Mikael. They find the Vanger family is truly corrupt -- from the greedy to a former Nazi -- and the case goes well beyond what happened to Harriet.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a solid adaption of a mystery that began forty years ago and has a firm impoct on the present. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara are both very good as the leads, two very different types of people who actually mesh well together, both personally and professionally. Fincher does a good job creating an atmosphere of degeneracy, whether in Lisbeth's life in the city or in the isolated Vanger homes. While the movie is pretty faithful to the novel, some of the changes weaken the story somewhat (like an image in the window in Harriet's room on the day she vanished; that is forgotten about quickly), and the final revelation is blunted by an unnecessary foreshadow. There's also an unfomfortable juxtaposition of erotic nudity in the latter part of the movie with some brutal sexuality in the former part. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is flawed, but it is also intense and entertaining.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch