Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

I'll come right out and say it, Kubo and the Two Strings is the best looking movie of the year. In fact, it might be the most visually impressive animated film ever made. The action scenes are exciting, the character designs are unique, and overall the scale and scope of the stop-motion is insane. Considering this movie was a box office flop we will probably never see stop-motion animation of this caliber ever again. The story though is just garbage. It tries way too hard to be funny. Way way way too hard. I can't lie, I didn't laugh a single time throughout this whole movie, and I'm not exactly the hardest person to make laugh. I can't imagine I am the only person who felt this way either. Beetle might be the worst comedic relief character I have seen in a film in a long time, and him being voiced by alright alright alright Matthew Mcconaughey, whose voice doesn't match the character he is voicing at all. Monkey is also a really weak character, and her relationship with beetle is one of the most unbelievable and forced friendships in an animated film this year. It's sad really, because this movie starts out with such a harsh and depressing tone rarely seen in kids movies, yet it slowly devolves into pure clichéd and unfunny (for lack of a better word) crap. Still, the action scenes as well as the quality of the animation and excellent sound design make this movie worth the watch. 7/10