Haku is an interesting case, since for good chunks of the movie he's acting in accordance with Yubaba's orders. She urges her parents not to cross through the tunnel, instead of whining MAAAAAAAM WE GOTTA GOOOOOOOOO. In the Japanese dub, Chihiro's lines are delivered such that she just seems like a much more headstrong character. But taking that performance and transplanting it into Spirited Away didn't work very well, at least for me (I know many others still love the film). It's not even the actress's fault: I think Daveigh Chase is a perfectly fine performer. The skeleton of her character is there, because a bad performance can't change how the character is written, but in English she just seems so whiny all the time. Comparing Chihiro's performance in English and her performance in Japanese is like comparing. "Hate" is a strong word, and I hate Spirited Away's dub. I don't think Mononoke improves that dramatically by watching it in Japanese, though I do have a very strong opinion about Spirited Away's proper language.
I didn't mean to say the story itself becomes more literal I use the term "literal" to refer to one of the English subtitle options as it is closer to a direct (or literal) translation of the Japanese script, while the English dub's script takes more liberties with the language in order to be better understood by an English-speaking audience. If you're watching on Blu-Ray, the only English subtitles you have available are the subtitles for the hearing impaired (meaning it's just the English audio transcript).Īnyway, I've ranted on long enough about this. Additionally, the score in the Japanese audio track is mixed better (which is significant only because the movie has one of the greatest scores ever recorded). I like the Japanese script more (just because I prefer the tone), and prefer the main character's Japanese performance. I personally prefer to watch with Japanese audio and literal subtitles. The (literal Japanese) script reads more like the King James Bible. The script is an interesting point, because the Japanese and the English scripts are written in what sound like completely different voices (comparing the literal Japanese translation and dubtitles): wording in the English script is more colloquial, yet still appropriate to the lofty and spiritual themes of the story. Morro, a wolf goddess, is played by a man in the Japanese dub, which has to do with Japanese theology in that all wolves are in essence "male" even if they're female (just a forewarning in case you think your subtitles are broken).Īnd Jiko/Jigo's performances in both dubs are so radically different from one another that I can't honestly say one is decidedly better than the other. He's not awful-I watched the dub for many years and had no problem with it (Mononoke was even at one point considered my favorite movie)-but the fact that he's the main character and does most of the talking in the movie causes me to opt for the Japanese instead.įor the Japanese dub, Yōji Matsuda's performance as Ashitaka has more of that subtle range of emotion which Crudup's performance lacks. In aiming for Ashitaka's subtlety and generally reserved nature, Crudup shoots a bit too far and just comes across as somewhat lifeless.
I'm not a fan of Billy Crudup's performance in the film. Some of the performances in the dub are quite good (my favorites being Gillian Anderson and Minnie Driver, though given TenacityMan's comment, there's evidently some disagreement on that subject). Obviously the biggest reason to watch the dub would be because it's in a language you can understand and not be forced to "read" the movie. Latest Discussions Texas Chainsaw Massacre Uncharted Death on the Nile Roland Emmerich Jamie Dornan Robert Pattinson (2017)įor the purposes of this comment, I feel it would be helpful to first outline several options you've got when watching the movie:ĭVD subtitles: English script (dubtitles), Japanese script (literal translation)'īlu-Ray subtitles: English script (dubtitles)Īnyway, it's very much a matter of personal preference, as there are advantages to each.
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