Pom Poko tanuki is slated for release next week and I’m having a curiosity about its release. being that alot of the humor revolves around the animals testicles i cant help but wonder if anything will be missing if i buy a copy… Anyone know? I’ve searched for dvd reviews but cant seem to find anything out.
No way! Holy shit, you just made my day. This is my favorite Studio Ghibli movie and I’d always assumed that it would never, ever, ever, ever, ever get released in the US now that Disney owns the rights. But apparently, I was wrong. And from Disney, no less!
According to Amazon.com, it was given a PG rating. The Official Site has news about the releases (you have to turn off your pop-up blocker to get it to work), but makes no mention about any possible edits.
Most encouraging is this interview with the people in charge of the dub. Sounds as if they left it unedited, but just refer to the scrotum as a “pouch.” Sounds like Disney is finally showing some balls of its own! After all, they already released Princess Mononoke unedited (I think), and it was pretty violent and gory for a “Disney cartoon.”
When you think about it, since Pom Poko is one of the least known of the Ghibli movies, it’s probably going to fly under everyone’s radar. And since the movie has so many shots of testicles, and since they even form two relatively major plot points towards the end, it seems like it’d be more expensive to release the movie in its eunuch form than it would be just to release it as is with a dub.
I can’t wait! I love this movie. I don’t get all the criticism of it; I think it’s fascinating and profound, and the ending makes me blubber like a baby every damn time I see it. (Until now, I’ve had to make do with the legitimate copy I bought in Tokyo but can’t watch on my American DVD player, and the not-legal fansubbed version to actually see the movie.)
Amazing! It is a great movie. Humour is spot-out (it had me in stitches frequently), the theme is sad but good (very Bambi-like). I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s my favourite, but it’s certainly up there.
The testicles can be a little odd for a Westerner to deal with first time you see the movie, but that’s more puritan cultural prejudice than anything else, and best overcome. It’s not just that they’re visible, but that they frequently transform, inflate, etc.
I’m stunned Disney is releasing this. I’m actually impressed.
i might be… if its unedited.
Interesting. For Princess Mononoke, Neil Gaimon worked in explanations of neccessary Japanese culture into the dub. I wonder if this dub will have a testicle explanation? It’d be odd to watch it without knowing the mythology behind it. (It was odd watching them attack buses with their testicles anyway, to be honest. Of all things to use as a weapon…)
It’s been too long since I saw this, but I too remember the ending being sad and making me want to go play in the park.
okay so now its out… and surely SOMEONE on the dope has bought it… so whats the prognosis?
I got my copy today and watched about half of it so far. Looks like it’s been left untouched. The English dub (which is pretty good, and I usually hate dubs) calls them “racoons” throughout, and the elder tells the males that they can transform using their “racoon pouch.” It’s all pretty tastefully done, and best of all, the movie hasn’t been butchered up.
There’s an entire second disc of bonus material; I haven’t checked it yet to see what’s on it, in particular if there’s any more detail on the folklore than what’s in the movie.
So far, I have to say kudos to Disney for an excellent release. (And I’m relieved, mostly because it would’ve been really hard to defend Disney for releasing an edited version.)
Sorry for the double post, but I just finished watching the DVD and had more to report, and a question for those more knowledgeable about Japanese folklore.
First, the US release does have the entire movie unedited (at least, it’s the same as the Japanese laserdisc version I’ve seen). Bonus features are the original Japanese movie trailers and a short promotional film, also in Japanese. The second disc only has the entire movie in original storyboard format. There’s no background material or explanation for US audiences, other than what’s already in the movie. There are a few familiar voices (if you follow animation voice actors, anyway) on the English dub , including John DiMaggio, Brian Posehn, Olivia D’Abo, Clancy Brown, and J.K. Simmons.
Overall, I think they did a fine job with the release, and it’s amazing to see Disney release it at all.
Now my question:
The translators in the interview I linked to above said they were confused by the sequence showing what happens to Gonta’s troops after they attack the police force.
The way I always interpreted it was this: the sailing ship that the eldest tanuki created was taking all the tanuki who couldn’t transform to the afterlife; it’s kind of like the ships to the grey havens in The Lord of the Rings. So Gonta’s troops had died in the battle, and the shots of their turning into a giant head and heading towards the water, only to get hit by a truck, were “allegorical.” In other words, humans kept them from even reaching the afterlife. Is that a fair interpretation?