The Animated "Kubo and the Two Strings" is too Beautiful for Words

The new animated movie "Kubo and the Two Strings" is visually stunning from beginning to end.  It raises animation to another plane as the Chinese film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" ('01) did for Samurai action odyssey films.  Travis Knight (b. Amer '73) is an award winning animator making his directorial debut with this animated work of art set in Japanese folklore.  Knight can come out from under his father's shadow, Phil Knight (Chairman, Nike, Inc. Founder.)  Travis' use of origami, stop action puppetry & animation is very appealing.  It makes a sappy "Circle of Life" story with campy comic relief into a film that will win the hearts of young & old alike.  (And, an Oscar nom for best animated feature.)  Parents be warned, some scenes may be to frightening for young children.  The opening tempest is harrowing.  The tzunami hurls a lone woman against boulders leaving her marooned onshore.  She is alerted to an infant's wailing & desperately crawls towards a bundled baby.  The story picks years later, Kubo is now a young boy with an eye patch,  He loving tends to his catatonic mother.  Kubo has magical skills for creating oragami figures and a garrulous gift for gab.  He's a revered raconteur for the local villagers.  It appears there is magical powers found in other sources.  Evil also lurks in the lecherous hands of his eery aunts and evil grandfather determined to take Kubo's remaining eye.  When they find Kubo he flees on a mystifying odyssesey that is fraught with both magnificient & frightening images.   Matthew McConaughey & Charlize Theron voice Kubo's faithful traveling companions.  Both actors are off-key & the heavy handed moralizing towards the end weighs down visual feats of the feature.  "Kubo and the Two Strings" imagery left me speechless.  Perhaps the movie would be better served, viewed without words.