50 Fun Facts About Kubo and the Two Strings

Which studio produced Kubo and the Two Strings?

It was Laika's fourth stop-motion feature, after Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls.

Who directed Kubo and the Two Strings?

It was Knight's directorial debut; he had been lead animator on Laika's earlier films.

Which animation technique was used to make the film?

Laika blended stop-motion puppets with computer-generated backgrounds, which the New York Times called seamless.

What magical instrument does Kubo play?

The shamisen is a three-stringed Japanese lute, and its strings give the film its title.

Who took Kubo's left eye when he was a baby?

The Moon King is Kubo's own grandfather, and he wants the second eye too.

Who voices Kubo?

Parkinson was best known at the time as Rickon Stark in Game of Thrones.

Who voices Monkey?

Theron's Monkey is stern and protective, a long way from the sweet sidekick the design suggests.

Who voices Beetle?

It was McConaughey's first animated feature role.

Who voices Kubo's grandfather?

Fiennes had previously voiced Lord Victor Quartermaine in Aardman's Wallace & Gromit film.

Who voices the twin Sisters?

Mara voices both sisters, who wear expressionless noh-style masks.

Brenda Vaccaro voices which character?

Kameyo is the elderly villager who acts as a grandmother figure to Kubo.

Who does Monkey turn out to be?

Kubo learns the truth while entranced by the Garden of Eyes under the Long Lake.

Who is Beetle revealed to be?

The surviving Sister reveals it as she kills him in the fortress trap.

Which festival does Kubo attend, hoping to speak with Hanzo's spirit?

The film calls it the Bon Festival; the real-world Obon honours ancestral spirits each summer.

The blade Kubo takes from the giant skeleton's cave carries which epithet?

The other two pieces of armor are the Breastplate Impenetrable and the Helmet Invulnerable.

Which piece of Hanzo's armor turns out to be the village bell?

Little Hanzo, the origami figure, is the one who works it out.

Where do Kubo and Beetle find the Breastplate Impenetrable?

They cross the Long Lake in a leaf boat and dive for it.

What kind of creature is the Garden of Eyes?

It hypnotises victims with visions of secrets and eats them while they are distracted.

The Moon Beast resembles which prehistoric creature?

Dunkleosteus was an armoured fish from the Devonian period with bony blade-like jaws.

In the final scene, the villagers' lanterns transform into what?

The cranes carry the spirits back to the other world as Kubo speaks with his parents' ghosts.

Who pitched the film to Laika's CEO as a samurai epic in the studio's signature medium?

Tindle was Laika's production designer and later left the project over creative differences.

Which 20th-century Japanese graphic artist did Knight call the film's visual "touchstone"?

Knight admired how Saito fused eastern and western styles in his woodblock prints.

Laika wanted the whole film to look like a moving print in which Japanese style?

Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, ink wash painting and origami were all cited as influences.

Which 3D printing firm lent Laika its newest technology in exchange for feedback?

Laika 3D-prints thousands of replacement faces for its puppets.

Which Japanese animator's work did Knight say partly inspired the story?

Knight also named the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa as an inspiration.

How tall was the giant skeleton puppet built for the film?

Laika claims it is the largest stop-motion puppet ever made, weighing about 400 pounds.

Where did the team at one point buy an industrial robot to move the skeleton?

It would not work with their setup, so Laika ended up designing its own robot.

Who composed the film's score?

Coulais scored Coraline and Brion scored ParaNorman; Marianelli had done The Boxtrolls.

Which Beatles track does Regina Spektor perform on the soundtrack?

Marianelli's arrangement includes a shamisen solo and ends with a piano coda.

Who performs the instrumental cover in the Japanese dub of the film?

The shamisen-playing duo replaced Spektor's vocal at Laika's request.

Which company released the soundtrack's vinyl edition in October 2016?

The 2LP set was pressed on 180-gram coloured vinyl and reissued in 2018.

Which earlier Laika film had Marianelli also scored?

He later reunited with Travis Knight for the live-action Bumblebee.

At which festival did the film premiere in August 2016?

It opened in US cinemas six days later, on August 19.

Which company distributed the film in the United States?

Focus, a Universal specialty label, released all of Laika's first four features.

What was the film's reported production budget?

It grossed about $78 million worldwide, making it a box office disappointment.

Which film opened in US cinemas on the same day as Kubo?

Kubo finished fourth that weekend, behind War Dogs, Sausage Party and Suicide Squad.

Along with Animated Feature, which Oscar category was the film nominated in?

Only one animated film had been nominated for Visual Effects before: The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Which film beat Kubo for the Best Animated Feature Oscar?

Kubo did take the BAFTA for Best Animated Film that same season.

Kubo was only the second animated film nominated for the VFX Oscar; which was the first?

Henry Selick, who directed that film, also directed Laika's first feature, Coraline.

Which major award did the film win for best animated feature?

It was nominated at the Oscars and Golden Globes but lost both.

What was the title of the tie-in mobile game released in 2016?

It was removed from the App Store in October 2017.

The film's director is the son of the co-founder of which company?

Phil Knight bought the struggling Will Vinton Studios in 2002 and it became Laika.

Under what name did the film's director release a rap album in 1993?

The album Get Off Mine was produced by Public Enemy's Bomb Squad.

The studio Laika takes its name from what?

Will Vinton Studios was rebranded as Laika in July 2005.

In which US state is Laika's studio located?

The studio sits in Hillsboro, in the Portland metropolitan area.

Who shared Knight's Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination as Kubo's producer?

It was Knight's second nomination; the first was for The Boxtrolls.

Whose print Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre inspired the giant skeleton?

The 19th-century triptych shows a giant skeleton summoned by a witch.

Which Estradasphere musician played the Japanese lute cues for the score?

Kmetz's band is called Monsters of Shamisen.

Where does the surviving Sister spring her trap on Kubo?

The Moon King planted the idea in a dream, promising the helmet was there.

Along with George Takei, who was the only other cast member of Japanese descent?

The casting drew criticism for whitewashing, since the leads were voiced by white actors.