Well geeks the old B(labber)-mouse has been nibbling away at the Big Apple and has scored the following Anime feature story for Father Geek, Robo, and all you other Fans of the genre out there in cyberland. Without further adieu here's the news straight from the mouse's lips...
Thought I'd take a break from all the 'Emperor's New Groove' brou-ha-hah to share some really exciting animation news. Here in New York City the 3rd Annual International Children's Film Festival (print ads & posters all over town featuring Astroboy zooming at'cha) just got under way with the English language premiere of Hayao Miyazaki's "Laputa," or as it's now known, "Castle In The Sky." (I mean, who wants to see an animated feature about a Spanish prostitute... don't answer that.)
Those of us who brought the Buena Vista (aka Disney) home video release of "Kiki's Delivery Service" remember the promo before the movie promising a 1999 hv release of CITS that never took place. The good news is 1) the English-language dubbing is tops in taps, better even than 'Kiki's (I think one of the main things keeping anime from really taking off in this country is the generic-voiced, quick 'n dirty dubbing they generally receive) and 2), the buzz at the screening is that the film is now going to get a BIG-TIME theatrical release! I only heard this 2nd piece of news 3rd-hand, since I saw the film at a Saturday screening & not at the gala Friday opening night premiere plus reception, so I can't provide any back-up to what people were saying.
As to the movie itself, all I can say is this may be the one that finally puts Miyazaki over the top in the US, especially if Disney REALLY gets behind it with some serious PR & marketing (you know, like they're doing with 'The Tigger Movie') - not just a throwaway campaign. Back in September when "Princess Mononoke" had its premiere, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC had a Miyazaki retrospective & I saw a subtitled version Laputa on the big screen in a pristine print. (By the way, another Miyazaki festival is part of this current Children's Film Festival, beginning the end of the month at the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens (one of NYC's outer boroughs), while the main festival is full of anime, including lotsa Tezuka: A-boy, Kimba & Princess Saphire). Since I'm a big-time intellectual, I prefer subtitles myself; the ones on Laputa told the story precisely & succinctly & after a while your brain (or my brain, anyway) starts hearing the Japanese voices speaking the! English titles with all the original emotional inflections intact.
However, the general audience - not connoisseurs (i.e., fanboy-geeks) like ourselves demands English-speaking performers, and I'm very pleased to report the film's dubbing makes it feel like the characters really are speaking the English you're hearing. For 1 thing, they've somehow avoided the weird pacing English dubbing often has when they match it up to the characters' lip movements - the dialog has a natural flow & feel to it. At first listen James Van Der Beek's voice (for Pazu) sounds a little too 'teenager trying to sound like a kid,' but after a couple of lines he clicked for me & I had no trouble believing him. Anna Paquin's Sheeta is fine too - in terms of emotion & distinctive character, they both rise way above the anonymous voices that seem to do every other anime.
But Cloris Leachman as pirate leader Dola absolutely makes the film. She's recreated the original Japanese voice talent's abrasive-tongued, sharp-witted (& secretly warm-hearted) delivery to a T & beyond. The writer(s) responsible for the English language script deserve tons of credit too - they added lots of lines that helped to flesh out the characters, clarify the plot & throw in extra laughs to boot, all without feeling forced. FYI, Mark Hamill does a fine job as the villain, in his evil, icily charming mode. (I seem to recall that trailer on 'Kiki' advertising Keifer Sutherland in the part, but I don't have the tape here in front of me right now.)
The guy who introduced the film said the original composer (he couldn't remember Joe Hisaishi's name) had rescored parts of the movie, and the music did sound 'bigger' in lots of places, including the very beginning, where (unfortunately in my opinion) they added music to a terrific moment that originally featured only the natural sound of the pirates' ship whirring along. Interestingly, the closing credits still had a Japanese-language pop song going on in the background.
Oh, and for anyone who's NOT familiar with this movie, it's set in what's called a 'Steam Victorian' universe, an imaginary, Jules Verne-style late 19th / early 20th century world of flying airships & mechanical technology. A young girl named Sheeta is pursued by mysterious government agents and comical 'air pirates' for the mysterious 'levitation stone' she possesses. She escapes and falls (literally) into the arms of Pazu, a young orphan boy obsessed with reaching 'Laputa,' a legendary flying island his father once glimpsed - and their adventures begin. This film has twice as much action - and ten times the heart - of any Indiana Jones film, and it's become not just one of my favorite anime films, but one of my favorite films, period. (Miyazaki is on record as saying the film is his favorite among his works as well.) YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: DO - NOT - MISS - IT.
I know this is a long message FATHER GEEK, but I'm really pumped on this one.
B(labber)-mouse
