Fans of LAIKA were in for a treat this week as a full trailer and new character posters were released for their latest feature Kubo and the Two Strings.

If you were already impressed by its first teaser trailer, then surely this trailer will blow you away. The trailer opens with the very enticing line, “If you must blink, do it now.” Then your eyes are treated with stunning stop-motion visuals. It’s the first time we hear Charlize Theron voice the character Monkey and Matthew McConaughey, who voices Beetle. There is also the perfect song choice for this trailer. The featured song is an excellent rendition of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” All of this adds to one of the best animated film trailers you’ll see this year:

Want to get to know the characters? LAIKA released three character posters along with mini bios to get us pumped for this movie.

“The son of a legendary samurai and goddess, Kubo is a scrappy 12-year-old with magical powers he’s only beginning to understand. A born storyteller, he learns his origami reenactments of his father’s past quests are actually real and he must embark on an epic quest beyond his wildest imagining and become the hero he was born to be.”

“This is Monkey (voiced by Charlize Theron) who is Kubo’s sworn protector brought magically to life by Kubo’s mother. She has one mission: protect Kubo at all costs. As skilled with a sword as she is with her razor-edged wit, Monkey is a no-nonsense fighter with little patience for monkeying around.”

“A skilled archer and brave warrior, Beetle (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) once served in the army of Kubo’s father, the legendary samurai Hanzo. Or at least he thinks he did. Stricken by a mysterious curse, Beetle’s memories were stripped away and his body transformed into a hard-shelled, oversized man-bug. Beetle eagerly joins Kubo on his quest after learning about the boy’s relationship to his former master.”

Kubo and the Two Strings will clearly be an excellent addition to LAIKA’s library. Its previous success with Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls is surely enough to tell us its latest feature will not disappoint. Kubo will be released in the US on August 19.