Review: 'Kubo and the Two Strings' strums stop-motion wonder

Early in "Kubo and the Two Strings," our hero meekly strides into an ancient Japanese village marketplace the way Toshiro Mifune might have entered a Kurosawa film, but with greater bustle.

A yellow chicken, flapping its wings; Kubo's samurai father, in red, slashing his little sword.

The scene typifies the wonder of "Kubo and the Two Strings," the latest from the Oregon animation house Laika, whose president and chief executive, Travis Knight makes his directorial debut with the stop-motion animated film.

[...] the handcrafted textures and wry self-awareness of "Kubo and the Two Strings" make Knight's film resolutely its own tale, one that folds into its own exotic shape.

Kubo and the Two Strings," a Focus Features release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "thematic elements, scary images, action and peril.