Kubo and the Two Strings

Technically impressive film Kubo and the Two Strings is set in medieval Japan

On the plane I watched an animation feature called Kubo and the Two Strings that won a Bafta for Best Animated Feature earlier this year, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the Academy Awards, but lost out to Zootopia.

Kubo has magical powers playing the shamisen

Technically it's an amazing film as it is a stop-motion animation, and embellished with computer animation, but many would mistake it for being a computer generated animation because it looks so slick.

It's about a 12-year-old boy called Kubo who earns a living in a small Japanese town by telling stories with his origami paper that magically transform into all kinds of characters as soon as he starts playing his shamisen.

We later learn he lost his left eye to his grandfather, and how his mother is trying to protect him from her two sisters who are coming for his other eye. As a result Kubo goes on a quest that leads to him finding out more about his missing father.

George Takei voices one of the characters in the animation

Aside from the amazing special effects, the dialogue is fun too, with one of the characters voiced by Star Trek star George Takei saying his signature line, "Oh my!" and the witty repartee between a monkey and a giant beetle.

There's lots to love about Kubo and the Two Strings, particularly about its message about family and being brave to overcome obstacles in life.

Review: Moana

Moana is another fun action adventure about finding your calling

I had extra time off for Lunar New Year and decided to check out another movie, Moana with YTSL at The One in Tsim Sha Tsui. This mall is so narrow that it really shouldn't be a mall, as the space is very awkward, and also manoeuvering to get around is tedious going up and down several escalators, or waiting for lifts.

Anyway Walt Disney seems to have ursuped Pixar completely, as the preceding credits made no mention of the plucky desk light that jumps on the letter "I" in Pixar.

A short film advising to follow your heart for some fun

And now, like Zootopia, there is a short animation completely unrelated to the feature film as a warm-up act. For Zootopia, it was a love story between two Hawaiian volcanoes, which now in retrospect was a hint of Moana, and this time it was Inner Workings.

It's a hand drawn animation that at first looks like a biology lesson in how the human body works (albeit very simplistic), how the brain, heart, lungs and bladder function. The body we see belongs to a young man who rushes to work, but along the way he is distracted by a delicious pancake breakfast, the beautiful beach, and an attractive sunglass stall owner.

However his brain puts his heart, or emotional side in check before arriving just in time to work at Boring, Boring & Glum. It's another reminder to not have a boring job -- how many people in the audience would be nodding? -- and to find your passion in life.

Moana is a strong-willed determined character in the film

Does this mean the next feature length animation will be similar to Inside Out? Stay tuned.

Moana is a great girl power story -- seems like Disney is keen on female heroes these days, as boys don't seem to mind characters like Frozen's Elsa, Merida in Brave, and bunny rabbit Judy Hopps in Zootopia.

Here Moana is the daughter and heir to the chief of the Polynesian island of Motonui, and even as a child she has an adventurous spirit, keen on going into the ocean. However, her father forbids not only her but everyone else from going past the reef, following his own scary experience when he was younger.

But the island's natural environment is deteriorating, so there is not enough coconuts, fruits or fish to feed on. Moana's grandmother tells her she must save the island by taking a green stone that is the heart of goddess Te Fiti and return it to her. It was stolen by a demi-god called Maui, and he must help Moana bring it back to Te Fiti.

Does Maui (left) look like Dwayne Johnson (right)?

It's not clear how old Moana is in the film, but probably a teenager. It's interesting she was not drawn to have the old school Barbie doll shape, but a very sturdy and strong-looking young woman who is also strong-willed and clever.

There's some hilarious scenes involving a really dumb rooster, a very shiny crab with a huge ego, and an army of evil coconut creatures.

When the characters sang, particularly Moana, they felt like they were written and staged to look like a musical. Is this something in the works for Moana, the Musical? Perhaps it has something to do with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame for writing the lyrics.

Heihei the Rooster is Moana's sidekick, but not that helpful

In any event, girls will enjoy watching the film, boys will get a kick out of Maui, played by "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson -- and yes he can sing! His tattoos are fun too.

The animation here is really impressive. As you watch each successive feature, the computer generated images become progressively more sophisticated. This time the focus was on the hair, the sea, the details of feathers and skin. Even compared to Inside Out, Moana has far more detail that is really exciting to see and appreciate.

Moana

Directed by Ron Clements and Jon Musker

Co-directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams

Auli'i' Cravalho as Moana

Dwayne Johnson as Maui

Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa (the treasure-hoarding crab)

Alan Tudyk as Heihei, the rooster

Knick Knack to Zootopia

Zootopia is the latest Pixar movie that takes animals to greater sophistication

Many moons ago -- in the late 80s in Vancouver, there used to be a movie theatre called The Ridge on Arbutus Street where it showed a balance of arty and blockbuster films. And it was also the place that hosted the Festival of Animation each year in the fall.

I was a fan already in senior high school and to be honest most of the cartoons were not the Walt Disney type. There was a really gory one called Lupo the Butcher who would be carving meat and mistakenly cutting up his digits and other body parts...

Toy Story was Lasseter's break out box office hit

These were perfect for the high school and university crowd looking for edgy stuff that was completely unconventional.

Oh yes, and Godzilla Meets Bambi...

But I digress.

One year a guy called John Lasseter designed the poster for the animation festival and was there signing autographs if you bought the poster. I got him to sign it and loved one of his first CGI cartoons called Knick Knack that was a lot of fun, and a precursor to Toy Story.

So every time a new Pixar movie comes out I'm reminded of briefly meeting Lasseter many moons ago in Vancouver and the latest one Zootopia is a feel-good movie that teaches the importance of perseverance, but also size doesn't matter as long as you use your brains.

John Lasseter continues to have fun on the job

Zootopia is a metropolis where animals all live together, and a determined rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) from a small town wants to make a name for herself as the first rabbit officer there.

She has 48 hours to crack a case that hasn't been solved in the past two weeks and she enlists the help of a con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to find the clues.

Along the way some of the characters they come across are hilarious, like the sloth Flash and Mr. Big.

Looking at Zootopia and Lasseter's stuff in the 80s, you can see how far CGI has gone, and of course having a lot of resources behind you.

Apparently the animal hairs in each character in Zootopia are many times more than what was shown in Elsa's hair in Frozen.

Fans will never let go of Frozen...

We're glad to see the quirky and witty humour is still there, as there's one scene where Pixar pokes fun at itself.

Now where is that poster I had over 25 years ago? I could have sworn it's in my closet somewhere...