Highest Rated Comments


JTurner8239 karma

"Ideally you want to give the audience that doesn't speak Japanese the best possible experience. To do that you can't help but make compromises."

I realize that this is a very tough balance to do whenever translating anything from one language to another. Nonetheless, I have to commend the job you and everyone did for translating and dubbing these movies. There's a good reason I cite these dubs as some of the best around. I love watching these films dubbed and I have you and everyone involved to thank. Kudos.

JTurner8232 karma

Apparently according to your book, Miyazaki "vetoed" Hisaishi's new score for Castle in the Sky. However, this seems to contradict an interview that Joe Hisaishi made in Keyboard in 1999. In his words Miyazaki was apparently pleased with the rescore. (See link for proof). Are you sure about your claim? http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Laputa:_Castle_in_the_Sky_(Rescoring)

JTurner826 karma

Only Castle in the Sky has a rescore by Hisaishi. (Even then there's an option to view the Disney dub with the original score. Kiki once had a rescore, but that film has since been reverted to its original score.) The other films have no such rescoring. The best reason I can give is complex. One, at the time, Disney was considering bringing the film to theaters in the late 1990's, and they felt they needed to update the sound elements, hence why Hisaishi was brought on to rescore it (and he actually was enthusiastic about doing it). Part of the reason was because there were concerns about Miyazaki's style of silence clicking with audiences back then, but nonetheless, Hisaishi did say that Miyazaki was pleased with the new score (according to an interview he did back in 1999). Even so, the GKIDS BD, as mentioned, still offers both scores for the dub. The other movies don't have any major differences in their scores. Hope this helps, because I have a feeling Mr. Alpert may be out of time.

JTurner824 karma

I DID see the film one time in Japanese, and while I liked it then, I wouldn't say it's better or worse than the Disney dub, only different. The use of silence in the film is interesting and it works well in certain sequences (like the storm passage sequence and I agree with keeping Pazu's trumpet solo just that -- a solo). However, I really, really loved the rescore that Hisaishi did, especially for bits like the destruction of Laputa at the end. That really sold the rescore for me.

And yes, I too liked James' Pazu. Was he my favorite dub VA? No, but he brought a certain energy to the role that ultimately overshadowed the maturity issue. I have no major probelms with the dubs.

Howl's Moving Castle's dub was good, but I wouldn't say it's better or worse than the Japanese, only different. It's certainly not my favorite Miyazaki dub either, and it's partially on account that I'm not a huge fan of that movie. It starts off great, but I felt it lost steam for me at the end. At least in my opinion.

Like I said, though, I like the dubs for these movies and that's how I watch them. The fact that Ghibli OKed them also makes me stand by them.

JTurner822 karma

Well as someone who does love watching these movies dubbed, and as a fan of that particular dub (aside from the rescore, Hamill really sold it for me), I hope I didn't give any misinformation, because I would feel mortified if I did. Nonetheless, Mr. Alpert did say that his AMA would be from 1-3 and it's past 3PM by now, so as someone who is knowledgable I hoped I could provide some info. (And in case you're wondering, I don't work at Ghibli. I'm just a fan like everyone else here, but I have done some occasional virtual panels on some of these movies.) EDIT: Looks like he's sticking around a bit longer. What a surprise.