No idea why I never watch any of Miyazaki's films but i'm about to dive into his movies. I have one question for those already seen his movies. Should I watch it dubbed or subbed?
I can't remember ever watching a movie dubbed if I could watch with subs. The tone and voice never matches the dubbing.
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even though with animation its less of a distraction - always watch a movie in its original language with subtitles -- you tend to read them after a while subconsciously fast enough. the emotion and feel is never properly conveyed through with dubbed shows/movies. thats why its hard for me to watch anime on netflix since they have them all dubbed (though i think they may have changed that now on a few shows)
I've watched some dubbed versions with nieces or nephews and thought they did a great job on them. The two I remember was Kiki's Delivery and Ponyo. It's harder to get a 5-10 year old to get immersed in that world if they go in knowing they also have to read. These are Disney dubs anyways, they don't half-ass things.
i've seen them all, and they're fantastic; the kids love them too. Spirited Away is particularly magical. We watched dubbed, and with anime, I wouldn't think there'd be an issue. in any case, i found the slight disconnect, worked to heighten the overall nebulousness of the settings in the films. Howell's Moving Castle for instance, looks like it's set in some sort of futuristic swiss canton, and kiki's delivery service, could be set in San Francisco. don't sweat it.
I clicked dubbed because recently Disney has been doing some of the Dubbing and in my opinion it has been pretty good like tales of earthsea which is by his son but still under the same studio. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fvEsh-KVin4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Anyways..... Either subbed or dubbed, WATCH EM!!! Especially Howls Moving Castle and Spirited Away....
Depends on the movie. You're always safest starting with subbed. The exception is Nausicaa, which is incredibly well-dubbed. Patrick Stewart is perhaps THE great voice of our generation. Mark Hamill's in there. Whoever Alison Lohman is she did a superb job as Nausicaa. And there's no one else that would really get in the way of your enjoyment of the movie. I didn't like the dubbings of Howl's Moving Castle or Princess Mononoke for the most part. Cloris Leachman as the old woman to whichever British lady they got to do the young girl was just a nonsensical transition...they're supposed to be the same person! I did like Billy Crystal as the Flame though. Sometimes you need a kooky personality for those roles. Worked for Eddie Murphy in Mulan, or Robin Williams in Aladdin.
At the risk of repeating myself, please read this post of mine. I have strong opinions on this issue, and they haven't changed since I wrote that about four months ago. Speaking more specifically to the Miyazaki films, they are some of the better dubs around. Disney did a fantastic job with them. I haven't yet seen a Ghibli dub that I didn't like, and I would absolutely recommend watching the dubs, since (as I explain more fully in the above-referenced post) having to read subtitles can potentially decrease your enjoyment more than you may even be conscious of. Spacemoth, where are you getting Cloris Leachman from? The voice of old Sophie was the late great Jean Simmons, not Leachman. And as far as the two actors matching up, I'd rather have two good voices than sacrifice the quality of one just to match accents and tones perfectly. I quite liked the dub for the Howl's Moving Castle overall, and they had some amazing talent between Simmons, Crystal, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Emily Mortimer (young Sophie), Blythe Danner, and even a brief cameo by Crispin Freeman! As for Princess Mononoke, it probably wasn't the strongest of the Ghibli dubs, but it certainly wasn't bad.
We should really do a poll on favorite Miyazaki films. I think I'd rank them something like this: Howl's Moving Castle Spirited Away Princess Mononoke Porco Rosso My Neighbor Totoro Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Kiki's Delivery Service Ponyo Castle in the Sky The Castle of Cagliostro ...pretty hard to rank them, though. The only thing I'm sure about is that Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite and Castle in the Sky and Castle of Cagliostro are my least favorites. The others are pretty fungible.
The dubs are good too - with great actors, as in Christian Bale did the dub for howl's moving castle!
I like to 'watch' anime while I do other things like playing a PC game, so my answer is dubbed since I can't read the screen the entire time.
Same here, this has actually become a big factor for me. Whenever I first see a movie I generally want to pay attention and so it doesn't matter so much, but whenever I'm re-watching I tend to also be working or doing something else at the same time. If you watch stuff in that way, subs don't really cut it. Oh, I should probably mention one other thing that is probably obvious but really isn't talked about very often: whether you watch the sub or dub of a film/series, you tend to "bond" with the version you watch for the first time. Your head assigns those voices to those characters, and then when you switch to the other version it usually seems strange/worse. That's just the way it is. Take it for what it's worth. I'm not sure if that's an argument for watching the sub or the dub first. But it's just another reason why it's hard to be objective with this stuff, it all ultimately comes down to personal preference.
Subbed, all the way. If I wanted to watch a Japanese film, I want to hear Japanese dialogue. Same with every foreign film, I want to hear and feel the nuances of the native language as it is spoken. I believe that films are snapshots of our culture and times, however fantastical the subject and world portrayed in the film maybe. Somehow the idea of linking an American or British English voice with a Japanese character with their unique cultural actions/behavior does not sit well with my mind. BTW, Princess Mononoke will always be my favorite Miyazaki film. What a mind-blowing, epic film!
