A young boy must find his father’s armor to avenge himself against a mystical spirit in the latest stop motion animated film from Laika, the producers behind Coraline & Paranorman. Check out our thoughts after the jump.

Laika specializes in making amazing stop motion features. From horror-inspired pieces like Paranorman to the critically acclaimed Neil Gaiman adaptation Coraline, Laika’s name on a film means a quality film that took time, craftsmanship and creativity to reach our screens. Kubo and the Two Strings is no different and could be this year’s best animated film.

The film follows Kubo, a young one-eyed boy who lives in the mountains with his mother. Kubo was saved from death as a baby by his mother and father from his grandfather who took his eye in the process. Kubo supports his mother by playing his shamisen, a 3 stringed instrument, for the villagers in the town below the mountain. Kubo’s shamisen magically naimted paper into origami and he regales the villagers with tales of his father Hanzo and his quests to gather up his magical armor to defeat the Moon King. However, before he can finish his tories, it turns dark and he must return home and tend to his mother. One night, the villagers convince him to stay after to participate in a ceremony where family members communicate with deceased loved ones. He stays for the hope he can speak to his father, but his actions lead to his villainous aunts (both played by Kate Mara) returning to chase him and present him to his grandfather and his life is changed forever. Kubo finds himself on the run along with a magic monkey (Charlize Theron) sent by his mother to protect him and they befriend a samurai turned bug named Beetle (Matthew McCoughnahey) to help complete their fellowship to find Kubo’s armor.

To further spoil Kubo and the Two Strings would be acrime. The story is beautiful, empowering and melancholy at the same time. It has a fairy tale like quality behind it. The character design work by Laika is impeccable, with Kubo’s aunts depicted wearing smiling masks with dark empty sockets for eyes. The rich texture behind the origami and character and world design bring to mind the Japanese puppet theater of bunraku. Laika’s technical work in this film is really something, from underwater eyeball creatures to a sixteen foot skeletal puppet, its hard to believe what you are seeing isn’t CGI.

However, the film’s true strength is the strong storyline that reminds me of 2014’s Book of Life. Mortality is a difficult issue to tackle in children’s films and writer’s Marc Haimes and Chris Butler present this theme early on in the film. They speak of the afterlife as living on in people’s memories. We see spirits of loved ones coming to help people in their time of need. But most importantly, we see the importance of friends and family. Laika often deals with heavy themes in their films but to their credit they do so in a way to touches your heart and makes you think.

Kubo and the Two Strings is a must see film and one of the true gems released this summer. It will touch your heart and make you reflect and that is the hallmark of true film.