Had it been too
desperate and hopeless, ANT-MAN would have shrunk its way for admission
to the almost-complete, Avengers team. But neither such concern nor
saving the world from an impending catastrophic destruction, holds
weight heavy enough to pull this miniature superhero from his top
priority: winning back his daughter. The emotional weight of the
narrative comes across as an anomalous content to the generally comedic
structure of the film, but they serve purpose for the overall flow of
the proceedings, nonetheless.
The film follows Scott Lang (Paul
Rudd), who has just been released from prison after committing burglary.
He has been prohibited to see his daughter due to his inability to
provide financial support, no thanks to his being an ex-con that keeps
hindering him from getting a job. He meets the highly-intellectual yet
solitary scientist, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who has a job for him:
pulling off a heist on his ex-protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who
is in possession of a size-changing prototype, that poses massive amount
of threats to worldwide security. Using a military suit that allows him
to shrink back and forth, in size, Lang carries on with the mission
with the hope that by doing so, he would be able to reclaim and earn the
reputation and respect he lost, especially his daughter's.
It's
easier to see Ant-Man as a beautiful mess, rather than a well-crafted
superhero flick with profound depth and sense . There's a lot of
illogical nonsense that always nearly sends the film to wreckage, but
there's also so much of the fun side to make up for the eventual
narrative shortcoming. At the center of its comic efforts, Paul Rudd's
Scott Lang/Ant-Man shines with his general amiability, pulling off his
role with credible wit and comic allure. Rudd is such a delight here,
and his presence and effortless take on his character make the mostly
messed-up flow of the events, extremely palatable. There's also much to
say about Michael Douglas, how his character, Pym, easily integrates
well with Lang and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lily) , to provide a
firm and well-knitted character framework. Corey Stoll, on the other
hand, is less impressive, barely providing the needed threat to make his
presence felt and his belligerence imminent. But on moments where he
and Lang engage in beautifully-choreographed fight scenes, the
ineptitude gets relegated below the more important aspects of the
proceedings, and once it does, the breathtaking visual schemes work
under the spotlight, capturing Lang's size-changing skill with epic
elaborateness. There's magic in every size shift, and the visual
artistry is at its peak to deliver the moment.
Perhaps, one of
the most immediately-noticeable difference of Ant-Man from its Marvel
fellows is that it doesn't engage, nor rush too much, to explosive
battles that generally results to immeasurable destruction. It is
noticeably evident on the fact that its most interesting and most
jaw-dropping action setpiece, happens in a toy train set. Most
importantly, this new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe places
its comic prowess at the center of its general effort to validate its
entry to the franchise, and that is achieved without putting the natural
action/adventure tendency of its superhero, nor the inevitable
emotional nature of its characters, at risk of getting overshadowed by
the rudimentary elements of the narrative.
It's actually hard to
gauge ANT-MAN using the same measure that made the rest of its pack,
mammoth and omnipotently powerful. But in its own right, and sub-atomic
scale, this microscopic superhero is clearly a power behemoth, and it
will surely spring back to its even bigger form, once the Avenger call
is delivered.
A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
The filmmakers let the characters explain when they need to, yet when they do it's done in the form of storytelling - at one point when Monkey is finally pressed by Kubo (and Beetle too) to say what is going on with his otherworldly grandfather and his Aunt who is out to, well, kill him and what Monkey has to do with it, she can only tell it as Kubo plays his guitar and the papers for his origami go into the air to show as she tells. This is a film that loves storytelling and storytellers, and yet never forgets that this is a full-bodied CINEMATIC experience.
I can't remember the last time I've recently seen so much imagination and visual invention in one fantastical animated film, stop motion or otherwise (not even Finding Dory, which certainly has both humor and some heartfelt moments, got to that this year). The story involves a little boy, who we are introduced to at the start as being saved/protected by his mother as a baby (with an eye cut out, by his grandfather), that is at the start making money by performing with his flying/magic origami in a village while tending to his mother who seems to be suffering from amnesia (as an aside, I knew I would love this movie about five minutes in when the filmmakers show us what this dynamic between son and mother is as the latter stares off into space with a haunted, sad look as the son tries his best to care for her, all without words, a perfect moment that I'd never expect to see in a kid's film in a multiplex kind of environment).
But Kubo can't be out after dark, the evil sister of his Mother - with a black hat and white mask that makes her creepy past Burton-type standards - attacks, and Kubo is sent away and is knocked out. When he awakes Monkey is there and, soon after on this quest to find items that will help him face his evil Aunt and grandfather, the Beetle guard, and it becomes a hero's journey story. And what a hero and journey! There's a lot of action that the filmmakers pack into this movie - it is a Japanese fantasy-inspired film, so there may be some violent imagery that may scare the wee ones like under four of five, but most kids should be able to take it and, if I remember how I was at that age, love it - and it involves things like a giant skeleton monster that comes to life with swords stuck in its skull (and the three characters have to find which one is their unbreakable one), and, my favorite weird and wonderful creation, a group of underwater eyeballs that, when one looks too long at them, puts the person in a trance leading down to a... well, don't want to give it away.
The voice-work is a delight which, as I said, McConaughey really digs into being a character who is the faithful protector though has some 'off' memory problems at times and a looser way of looking at protecting a child than Monkey (Theron plays the strict motherly figure as good as she's played any role, including Monster or Furiosa), and it becomes this story that's as much about family than it is about revenge or other petty things. You do have to pay attention, this isn't a movie that you can throw on for your kids and they can act crazy or get distracted: it asks that you watch it and take in a story that at its core isn't too far removed from Joseph Campbell, but does so many twists that it becomes its own original entity.
Kubo and the Two Strings gives you all that you could want in a family animated movie, but more than that is a splendid, heart-rending fantasy epic in under 100 minutes. It brings me back to when I first saw something like The Dark Crystal and was amazed at what creators can do when they embrace really creating a WORLD that their characters can inhabit - not to mention keeping any humor to the situations or behavior, nothing that dates it at all. I can't recommend it enough.