![]() ![]() There is a spectacular ocean fight scene that took the animators a year and a half to complete, but it was less than 15 minutes in the film.ĭuring the production of Kubo, Laika pioneered stop-motion animation techniques in creating the characters. The movie has a star-filled cast, including Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron, and the animation and art production is beyond beautiful. The trio has to travel across ancient Japan to defeat an evil god all while being followed by a set of evil twins. ![]() ![]() There is tension in Kubo’s family that forces him to flee his home and it’s then that he meets a Samurai beetle and a monkey. The film follows a young orphan boy, Kubo, who can create characters out of origami paper that comes to life. It still has a cult following, especially during Halloween.Īnother popular Laika film is Kubo and the Two Strings. The movie was a box-office hit and won many awards, including an Academy Award nomination for best animated film. In fact, you can see many clay and plastic versions of Ashland streets and scenes that are featured in the movie. The story takes place in Ashland and fans can see the new official movie sign located near the Oregon Shakespeare Festival explaining how our town became a part of Coraline. Coraline alone had 6,000 expression changes made from clay and plastic molds. it took about a year and a half to make, and the clay creators had to make more than 15,000 faces for all the characters. ![]() I have an undying love for Laika and stop-motion animation in general, and because this year marks the 15-year anniversary, I would like to take this opportunity to take a closer look at the studio’s breakthroughs and what it took to make these films.įirst, let’s talk about the 2009 classic, Coraline, which is based on the book by Neil Gaiman. In a pop culture landscape that’s increasingly about sequels, prequels, and seemingly endless franchises, it’s nice to know there’s a place to go for an alternative.Over the past 15 years, Portland-based Laika Studios has produced a few successful animated movies, such as Coraline, which is set in Ashland, and Kubo and the Two Strings. They’re about giving children (and adults!), stories that are meaningful and substantive. However, it’s also a testament to the quality and caliber of story they try to tell. Granted, Kubo and the Two Strings‘ opening weekend box office wasn’t huge (get on that, people! That movie is so good!), and LAIKA’s films generally aren’t blockbusters that most studios would think deserve a sequel. I want to tell new and original stories.”! If that’s your point of view, your sequel is automatically either going to be (A) a diminishment of that – is it the second most important experience of your protagonist’s life? Or, (B) you’ve got to crank up the volume so much, everything’s sensory overload, and becomes comical how much you have to ratchet it up to justify its existence. But I think if you look at where our industry is going, it’s dominated by franchises and brands, re-dos, re-makes, sequels and prequels, where all these old presents are re-wrapped and offered up as new gifts … The way we approach our stories is we imagine each film as if it’s the most meaningful experience of our protagonist’s life. My industry brethren are a little shocked at how firmly I’m committed to not doing sequels. ![]()
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