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How Do You Bastardize Miyazaki?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (28)

ponyo.jpg

I’ve seen a couple of Hayao Miyazaki’s films (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle), and while I appreciate the genius involved, they’re not really for me. That’s certainly not a judgment — the man’s a goddamn national treasure in Japan, and deserves to be. And I completely dig the politics of his films, even if the medium is a little inaccessible to my tiny, tiny brain.

But it’s awfully weird to see one of Miyazaki’s films framed by the old school Disney logos and the traditional advertising that the studio generally uses for one of its Disney classics. And though I’d previously felt that English voices are suitable for Japanese films, it’s jarring here. The film just doesn’t line up with either the voices or the marketing. All of which is to say: I’m feeling it even less than normal.

The English voices include Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Betty White, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, and (don’t kill the messenger), as the title character, Miley’s little sister, Noah Cyrus. Here’s the trailer for Ponyo. It sure is purty.










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Comments

Noah Cyrus is a girl (hangs head in shame for knowing this).

Really?! Noted and corrected. -- DR

Posted by: Patti at June 23, 2009 11:40 AM

DVD has original japanese voice track.

So there are no problems.

I kept forgetting about this one. Fucking excellent!

Posted by: twig at June 23, 2009 11:44 AM

Yeah, I'm not even gonna lie: I just peed myself a lil. Tina Fey? Be still my beating heart...

Posted by: Jeremy Feist at June 23, 2009 11:44 AM

Wow, that looks gorgeous... yay for original voice tracks on DVD!

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at June 23, 2009 11:53 AM

Noah Cyrus is a girl (hangs head in shame for knowing this).

Posted by: Patti at June 23, 2009 11:40 AM

I guess it makes sense that Billy Ray would name his daughter with a boy's name. After all, "Miley" sounds like the name you'd give a dog... Or a slang word for yeast infection.

"Yo, that bitchy was all miley... Fo' rizzle!"

Posted by: Bane at June 23, 2009 11:57 AM

It was on screen a few month ago here in France, saw it with japanese original voices. But even with that, and despite granting Myazaki the status of a genius (Mononoke Hime is a masterpiece), I cannot but think Ponyo is awfully bad. It's like "An unconvenient truth", but for children 3 or less, with a condescending tone and mermaid.
Ponyo is cute though, and every girl will love being offered the poster.

Posted by: Ju/ at June 23, 2009 11:57 AM

the shot at the end looks a lot like the one they used for the finding nemo poster.

Posted by: jasper at June 23, 2009 12:04 PM

Oh, fuck no. I'm watching this in the original or not at all.

Really, what's the problem with subtitles? I've been watching subtitled films since I was a little kid, and if anything it just helped me improved my reading. So stop being lazy and stop bastardizing the genius of these movies.

And Spirited Away is one of the best movies of all time. So, there.

Posted by: figgy at June 23, 2009 12:06 PM

What, Larry the Cable Guy wasn't available?

Posted by: UncleJR at June 23, 2009 12:39 PM

Well, it looks awesome, and since the DVD has the original Japanese voices and English subtitles, I'll be good to go.

Posted by: tamatha at June 23, 2009 12:43 PM

It's like "An unconvenient truth", but for children 3 or less, with a condescending tone and mermaid.

Well, Miyazaki has been a pretty hard-core environmental advocate for the entirety of his career.

Posted by: twig at June 23, 2009 12:48 PM

And Spirited Away is one of the best movies of all time. So, there.

*fist bumps figgy* That's for damn sure.

Posted by: lizzieborden at June 23, 2009 1:00 PM

I'm feeling you Dustin. The marketing just doesn't fit. One can easily tell it's not a Walt Disney thing. I never understood why people hate subtitled films so much. I've never had a problem with them and watch movies in all kinds of languages. While dubbing sometimes works wonderfully and you barey realise the original is in another language, it often doesn't work at all and subtitles would be a much better option.

Posted by: barf at June 23, 2009 1:02 PM

Well, Miyazaki has been a pretty hard-core environmental advocate for the entirety of his career.

Indeed. It's either that, or pacifism, or both. Even when it isn't in the original story (Howl's Moving Castle). But hey, he is so good, the author herself loved the change.

The only thing that gets me about him is the stuff with his son. Oy.

Posted by: Vermillion at June 23, 2009 1:06 PM

Love Miyazaki movies, and my favorite, Porco Rosso, is horrible with its English voices (Michael Keaton). The Japanese version is so much better. TCM did a Miyazaki special a few years ago and did all of the movies in Japanese with subtitles.

Posted by: SkyBlue at June 23, 2009 1:15 PM

Nuh uh Dustin, you can't definitively say that Miyazaki movies aren't for you if you haven't seen Princess Mononoke or Nausicaä. Mononoke is tolerable with the English dubbing since the script was written by Neil Gaiman and has some obscure voice actors. Everything else, watch it subtitled Dammit.

Ew, oh god, I can't listen to the Ponyo trailer, it makes me want to vomit out of my ears or stab someone's mouth.

Posted by: Vi at June 23, 2009 1:22 PM

my favorite, Porco Rosso, is horrible with its English voices (Michael Keaton).

Oddly, I thought that was one of the better dubs in recent memory. Cary Elwes has a lot of fun with his part, too.

Posted by: twig at June 23, 2009 1:28 PM

i dont know about this one. might i suggest a fine anime (not by miyazaki) called tekkonkinkreet, which didnt get a lot of attention but was really awesome.

Posted by: farik at June 23, 2009 1:52 PM

The French dub of Porco Rosso is the best...the Japanese voice actors are a little dry.

Posted by: Vinny at June 23, 2009 1:58 PM

I actually have total trust in Disney's localization for Miazaki. They've never messed it up, and have given the man a vow to never censor his work. That kind of deal is virtually unprecedented.

But Billy Ray Cyrus still should never have been allowed to spawn.

Posted by: George at June 23, 2009 3:02 PM

I've been reading this site for nearly four years, and this is the last straw. The level of writing has fucking plummeted this year. The only decent writers or critics are Phillip and the Boozehound (where the hell is Ranylt)?). Dustin is terrible, as evidenced by this shitty post. It's so bland I want to cry. He either parodies himself or sounds like an idiot. Daniel writes in the same tone and with the same boyish awe so often that I puke. I don't read the rest of it because it's meaningless. The book reviews are all complete crap. Prisco needs someone to teach him how to write. Gah, why do I bother? I used to love Pajiba for its insight and unique perspective. Now it's a masturbatory mess. So long, fuckers!

Posted by: Imprimis at June 23, 2009 4:10 PM

Cannot. Fucking. Wait. for this!

Re: the Disney voices, I've watched Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service with the English dubs more times than I can count -- I have a five-year-old daughter and we introduced her to Miyazaki in the hopes that she'd glom onto them instead of other, more-typical (and puke-worthy) little girl movie fare (and it worked) -- and I think the dubs are excellent. Even people I would normally cringe at (Kirsten Dunst in Kiki, the Fannings in Totoro) are good, or at least listenable.

Plus, the rest of the voice talent Disney has gotten for the English VOs is stellar. The four movies I mentioned also feature Christian Bale, Michael Chiklis, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garafolo, Lauren Bacall, Emily Mortimer, and Blythe Danner, among many others.

Posted by: Christian Ruzich at June 23, 2009 4:20 PM

Cannot. Fucking. Wait. for this!

Re: the Disney voices, the DVDs always have the original Japanese on them as well, which means if your audience consists entirely of people who are old enough to read, you have that option.

But I've watched Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service with the English dubs more times than I can count -- I have a five-year-old daughter and we introduced her to Miyazaki in the hopes that she'd glom onto them instead of other, more-typical (and puke-worthy) little girl movie fare, and it worked -- and I think the dubs are excellent.

Even people I would normally cringe at (Kirsten Dunst in Kiki, Dakota & Elle Fanning in Totoro) are good, or at least listenable. Plus, the rest of the voice talent Disney has gotten for the English VOs is stellar. The four movies I mentioned also feature Christian Bale, Michael Chiklis, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garafolo, Lauren Bacall, Emily Mortimer, and Blythe Danner, among many others.

Disney has been incredibly reverent in its treatment of Miyazaki's films, as George mentioned. The dubbing is incredibly good, and if it weren't for the dubbed versions I would not have had the opportunity to expose my daughter (not to mention dozens of subtitle-shunning friends and family) to the genius of Miyazaki.

Posted by: Christian Ruzich at June 23, 2009 4:26 PM

Disney has been incredibly reverent in its treatment of Miyazaki's films,

From what I understood, Disney had to be in order to secure the rights of any of them. After the godawful butchering of Nausiica's first English release all those years ago, all of his movies had to have DVD's released with the original language track, and all of them had to be released.

I'm pretty sure Miyazaki had them over the barrel.

Posted by: twig at June 23, 2009 4:30 PM

@twig Warriors of the Wind FTW! Can't wait to see that hunky lad smash & destroy some things while the girl clings to him helplessly...oh wait, he's not even in the movie you say? Damn you, misleading posters!
As for Ponyo I didn't really like it, even though I usually love Miyazaki to bits. Tho the scene with the Ride of the Valkyrie was pretty damn great! And Ponyo's name is actually Brunehilde which made me giggle :))

Posted by: DrunkPinkBat at June 23, 2009 4:54 PM

The ONLY way to watch proper anime is in the original language with subtitles.

If you ain't doing it that way? : YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at June 23, 2009 5:42 PM

Oooo, it does look purty indeed. From the trailer alone I can't judge whether the voices in Ponyo will be as jarring as Christian Bale's voice (with a fucking American accent, no less! and seriously, I watch anything with Bale in it and still hated his voice in that movie) was in Howl's Moving Castle, but I'll give it a try. I enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle (except for Bale and his American accent) so I expect to at least have fun watching this one.

Posted by: stardust savant at June 23, 2009 6:35 PM

Okay, where is the anime fan/critic among youse? Dustin, that was fucking weak. With all the Ghibli fanatics, it would have been best to wait until someone with an interest in anime could write something more informative and insightful.
Like the commenter seven posts above me, I used to come here for great movie reviews. They USED to be great. What happened in the last year or so?

It started with the comments dissolving into mutual masturbation among people who know each other. Just stupid conversations going back and forth with NO relevance to the reviews. If you want to chat, start your own site, use IM or pick up the goddamn phone.

So I stopped reading the drivel posted by the same five people after the reviews. Then the reviews got shorter and dumber. Has the book reviewer ever understood anything they have read? Stop talking about celebrity news, since there is WIMB for that (which still does a good job, thank goodness!)

Posted by: brouhaha at June 24, 2009 2:05 PM