Trailer: 'Kubo and the Two Strings'

Kubo and the Two Strings is a movie that managed to keep its furry aspects under Flayrah's radar until its first trailer began appearing before more obviously furry movies like Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia. Turns out the movie from stop motion specialists LAIKA was keeping a samurai sword-wielding snow monkey voiced by Charlize Theron hidden from us. A second trailer has just been released, showing off the aforementioned monkey, as well as LAIKA's trademark virtuoso use of stop motion.

Kubo and the Two Strings centers around a boy in a fanciful version of Japan who has the power to animate inanimate objects by playing a guitar. This movie could very well be Zootopia's biggest competition in the Best Animated Feature race at the Oscars and various other movie awards this year; though LAIKA has yet to win that Oscar, every single movie they have put out has been nominated in the category. In addition to Theron, the movie features the voice work of Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, Matthew McConaughey, George Takei and, in the title role, Art Parkinson. The movie is directed by LAIKA veteran Travis Knight and will be hitting U.S. theaters August 19.

Oh, and in case you're wondering where you've heard the music from the trailer from, it's actually an orchestral cover of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".