

When Disney acquired the distribution rights to Miyazaki’s oeuvre of films in the mid 90s, Pixar chief (and devout Ghibli fanboy) John Lasseter ensured that the films would each be meticulously restored and sought out all-star talent to re-record the soundtracks to films that already had American releases. I think it’s this aversion to watching dubbed entertainment that prevented me, at a young age, from completely embracing anime or martial arts films 2 like many of my brethren. I could never tolerate watching a film in which a character’s voice was disconnected from his or her lips. That’s the thing that always took me out of watching dubbed movies. Hell, one of my favorite pastimes is watching The Dark Knight Rises on HBO Latino because Latino Bane is the best Bane 1.Īnimated films are even more susceptible to being dubbed since they’re, ya know, animated and all, and you don’t have to worry about matching the voices to the mouth movements. Just watch “Let It Go” in 25 different languages. As much as we may bemoan a studio’s decision to release a martial arts or anime film with an English soundtrack as an appeal to the lowest common denominator, the fact is that every country engages in this. Now, I know that dubbing a film is common practice the world over. Before I get into that, though, I want to talk about what’s wrong with dubbing foreign movies in the first place.

Of all the Miyazaki movies that have been dubbed in English, I believe Howl’s Moving Castle is the only one that works. And unlike most Americans, I actually don’t mind reading my movies if subtitles are required.īut let me get back to my original point.

When Disney scours Hollywood for top-level talent to overdub their vast catalog of Studio Ghibli titles, I’m not their target audience.
#THE HOWLS MOVING CASTLE MOVIE MOVIE#
Look, like any good nerd, I normally prefer watching a foreign movie as it was originally intended.
