Hope this hasn’t been mentioned here before, but Turner Classic Movies will be featuring 9 Miyazaki films on Thursdays in January:
I think it’s especially cool that they’re showing both English-dubbed and English-subtitled versions. I prefer the subtitled, but for little kids, dubbed is better.
I totally agree with that when it’s real people, but for animation do you think it’s as important?
I consider voice to be a part of an acting performance, but with a cartoon, it doesn’t matter to me at all.
Well, with real people, their actions will always be the same no matter what country a movie is shown in. I’m sure you’ve seen badly dubbed Chinese martial arts films like Jackie Chan’s earlier stuff. I know it may sound implausible, but yes, some anime dubs sound like that. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that in raw anime, many Japanese voice actors sound the same - there is much more variety in voices in English dubs.
Man, I wanted to be the one to launch this thread! I started a bloated OP a couple weeks ago, and haven’t gone back to it. Some real masterpieces coming up.
As to the “dubbing” thing, I won’t watch a dubbed live-action (well, except for Iron Chef; that’s part of its charm), but I have less problem with dubbed animation. I mean, it’s all dubbed, no matter what the language is. Reading subtitles can distract you from the visuals, which are essential to the Miyazaki experience. On the other hand, bad dubbing is bad dubbing. Phil Hartman ruined Kiki’s Delivery Service for me; for that, I pull out my 13-film box set and watch the subtitled version. Most of the others–those that HAVE been dubbed in English–having seen both, I usually prefer the dubbed.
Some specific notes:
This retrospective should more properly be called a Studio Ghibli retrospective; three of the titles were not directed by Miyazaki. Also, *Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley, Castle in the Sky, and My Neighbor Totoro have been extensively discussed here. These others, less so:
[ul][li]Whisper of the Heart, while not directed by Miyazaki (though he wrote it), is a beautiful, beautiful masterpiece. I’m looking forward to the dubbed version, which I’ve never seen. A relative rarity, so don’t miss it.[/li][li]Porco Rosso is utterly unique, and ever more astonishingly brilliant from frame to frame and scene to scene. This movie makes me want to nominate Miyazaki for the Nobel Prize for literature. Serious. Also never seen the dubbed; TiFaux is charging.[/li][li]Pom Poko will leave you blinking in bewildered awe. Directed by Isao Takahata, who directed the conspicuous-by-its-absence Grave of the Fireflies. Miyazaki and Takahata share an ability (shared also by novelist Russell Hoban) to mine the mundane for the mythological. The hallmark of a Ghibli film, for me, is the sense that the mythological is always present, in the natural world as well as the man made world; that any distinction between the mundane and the divine is an illusion. Even a delusion. In Ghibli’s universe, the membrane that separates the two world falls away to reveal a single whole universe. In Pom Poko, even raccoon testicles take on a mythological significance. A LOT of mythological significance. Man, those are some mythological testicles.[/li][]Only Yesterday is the only title in this retrospective that I don’t own and have never seen. I’m thinking of buying a backup TiFaux, just in case. If my posting history suddenly stops dead the day this airs, you’ll know my TiFaux broke and I killed myself.[/ul]
Boy, you just summed up a LOT of what I love about these movies in a couple of sentences. Thanks, lissener!
One thing folks should know is that these are not “art” films. They were made to entertain people, and they are immensely entertaining. Also, Miyazaki is one of those geniuses who transcend the genre they work in … I have very little use for most non-adult anime, but Miyazaki … wow. He can tell a story.
Actually, I think voice matters MORE in animation. Animation can’t capture the subtly of facial expression that you get in live acting. Good voice work can fill that gap.
Most of Miyazaki–most of Ghibli–is very much “adult” in my opinion. This side of Totoro and Kiki, I strongly encourage parental guidance.
Oh, unless you mean “adult” in video-jargon, as to opposed to standard English.
I watched “Spirited Away” on the Thursday night presentation. I didn’t INTEND to watch the whole movie, but it was just incredibly good. I’d forgotten how good. It reminds me of Tim Powers’ novels … they way the mundane melts away into the fantastical in such easy, unassuming transitions. I’m thinking Thursday nights I’d better not count on getting a lot done for the next few weeks.
I’m really looking forward to some of the ones I haven’t seen. Since I work Thursday nights, I’m going to have to use my rusty VCR skillz so I don’t miss anything.
I wonder if it was left off because thematically it doesn’t match the other films. Of the nine, those I’ve seen are all primarily fantasies, and Grave of Fireflies is a “real” story. A real, very sad, story supposedly based on someone’s actual experiences.