Basically, I have just seen the non-Disney English dub of Castle in the Sky and I'm curious do any of the other Ghibli films have English dubs not created by Disney? I did hear that My Neighbour Totoro is one but I'm not too sure.
Thanks
Helen
xxxxx
Why have boys when you can have men!
My Neighbor Totoro also has a non-Disney dub; it was released on FOX video many years ago (1994), and it's actually pretty good; roughly on par with Disney's version.
Kiki's Delivery Service also has a non-Disney dub, but it was only released on laserdisc in Japan. There are some samples of it, though, on BTVA's website. It's quite good, and incidentally, made by the same staff who did the old Totoro dub. In fact, Carl Macek made these two dubs because he wanted to show that a Ghibli movie COULD be well dubbed, especially after Laputa's first English dub was such a lifeless, boring affair. (Disney's version isn't perfect, but it's much better overall IMO.)
Porco Rosso also has a non-Disney dub, but I heard that it wasn't particularly good either--although like Laputa's older dub, Macek wasn't responsible for that one.
Then of course there's "Warriors of the Wind", which is the infamous re-edit of Nausicaa, although I don't know if that really counts, as it basically turned the movie into a 90-minute kids' movie. Apparently Miyazaki was NOT happy with that dub, which is why it took so long for his movies to be released in America. Disney had to follow his terms before recording a single dub.
I saw that cut about 25 years ago when i was 4 and loved it when i rented it on video, i even had my parents buy me a copy of it for my 5th birthday and i even made myself a second copy of it off HBO as i had 2 copies and would watch it whenever it hits HBO for i loved it that much and even bought myself a third copy which was used at age 10 but i never realized that the movie i grew up loving and watching was a crude edit of Nausicaa until i saw the uncut fansub tape in high school's anime club at age 15 and loved it yet i still learned to accept Warriors of the Wind and good thing we have a great new uncut dub on DVD and Blu-Ray. I still do have WOTW in my heart though for nostalgia and Hal Smith with Cam Clarke and He-Man's Linda Gary were exceptional in that dub.
You probably know who Hal Smith is right? every 80's kid knows him as Uncle Gustus from Littles, Gyro and Glumgold on Ducktales, Fuzzbucket, Santa Claus/Sergant on Yogi's First Christmas, The Mayor and Lord Killdarby on Real Ghostbusters, Moe on American Tail and more.
"Killer Klowns from Outer Space? Holy S***"
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JTurner82 works for Disney, or has the world's biggest Disney crush EVER!
Laputa's first English dub was such a lifeless, boring affair. (Disney's version isn't perfect, but it's much better overall IMO.)
With all due respect, I don't think you know JTurner82 enough to make that conclusion. He could've had an ulterior motive for making that claim. >_>
Anyway, to answer the initial question, yes. However, like JTurner82 said, not all of them are great. It's a gamble, so you might want to look into them more before making a decision. However, they do exist.
Personally, I much prefer the newer dubs. Even with their flaws, it comes off as if the dubs feel more genuine and inspired. But that's just me...
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I've listened to entire sections of the Streamline dub of Castle in the Sky, and I agree with him: it's garbage. Not only do the people sound like they don't give a crap, but they often don't even sound like real people. I've heard quality attempts at older woman voicing younger boys/girls, and that's not it. You can tell Goodson was trying too hard, and that Cody wasn't interested in what she was doing. None of them were. And I like some of the voice actors that recorded their lines for that dub, so it's insulting to hear them not even try.
As for JTurner82, I take him with a grain of salt on many occasion. I think he overrates the quality of Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro as movies, that he doesn't give The Cat Returns enough credit, that he's unfair to Hercules as a Disney movie and that his love for Grave of the Fireflies seems to overlook its gaping flaws. You should really get to know me better before making a statement like that.
As for the Disney dubs? Regardless of what you think I'm missing without the original Japanese, I couldn't give a flying *beep* Not only do I have major trouble with subtitles in films, due to a combined effort of my inability to focus on more than one detail at time, my short-attention span, the chance that I'm missing something else in the movie and the poor translations that often come with subtitles, but I have no trouble with the dubbing because it sounds like the cast actually cares. And besides, not only does Disney's website for these movies state that they're under a contract with Studio Ghibli that clearly outlines the terms by which they can dub and license these movies, but every Disney dub has a special feature that references, in some way, shape or form, Miyazaki's approval for each dub. Not only that, but Miyazaki has openly admitted that-while not ideal-he has no problems with what Disney's been doing for his company's movies (that, and every dub they're done has been praised almost-unanimously by critics, even those critics who normally don't like dubs of foreign films.)
By the way, just to demonstrate JTurner82's point about Disney helping make Studio Ghibli's movies more mainstream, Spirited Away won the Oscar for Best Animated Film in 2003 and Howl's Moving Castle was nominated in the same category 2 years later. The Academy has an immense aversion for movies that aren't in English (as evidenced by no foreign film ever winning Best Picture to date.) Because of this, I highly doubt they would've watched his movies in Japanese. So consider that the next time you make the claim that Disney's been butchering his movies...
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"I'm glad to see you're being thorough and objective here. Of course I wouldn't dream of criticising anything unless i've seen it in its entirety. By the way, the film's title is Laputa: Castle In The Sky."
The film's English title is Castle in the Sky. I don't know why it was changed, but that's the title that it was given in North America. It's just like how we refer to another one of Miyazaki's movies as Kiki's Delivery Service, even though that's not its direct translation. Names change as they travel across the seas, you should know that.
By the way, the only reason why I haven't seen the entirety of the Streamline dub is because it's no longer produced here. It's been out of print for over a decade, not a single video store sells it anymore and I have no interest in the slightest of shelling out an unreasonable sum of money online for a movie (even if it's a Miyazaki movie.) Also, when I said "sections," I was referring to sections alongside the same scenes in the Disney dubs. Disney did the better job each time, and I listened to the respective sections a dozen times each (because I'm crazy like that.)
"Also, the amount of money Disney threw at it for their adaptation, it SHOULD have been a better version, but it fails on so many levels.
It's typical American thinking. Animation = cartoon = for kids."
It SHOULD have been a better version, just like how something SHOULD have been something else. The purpose of a dub isn't to be 100% perfect, as no translation CAN be 100% perfect. Rather, the purpose is to mimic it to the point where the audience can understand what's going on to the best extent possible. Something will always be lost in translation, but if it means that I can enjoy a movie and consider it a masterpiece then I'm willing to take my chances.
By the way, watch some of WB's animated cartoons/movies before making the claim about how Americans only think of animation for kids. I'll admit that kids tend to watch animated anythings as the target audience, but judging by sales of the animated Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman/etc. movies I can assure you that there's an audience, however small it may be, for more mature movies in the medium this side of the Pacific.
"The Disney deal is with Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd., the company that licences the Ghibli catalogue. And Miyazaki only agreed to the deal to help the publishing company out. Besides, do you think Miyazaki would actually say the new Disney dubs are terrible? Of course he wouldn't. But you know how Disney have modified their dubs of Laputa and Kiki in 2010. Notice the music has been reverted to the original, the extra dialogue has been removed, the transfers have been changed (no edge enhancement or distortion, which Miyazaki was extremely disappointed with), and cover art changed to more closely resemble the original Ghibli releases. Surely all this is a sign of disapproval."
I'm aware of how the licensing system works, but I also know that a Disney dub can't go through without the approval of both the studio and the publishing company. Considering how pissed off Miyazaki was with Warriors of the Wind, I highly doubt he's make the claim of being satisfied with the dubs if he didn't mean it. Also, all changes in the dubs were approved, and the rescoring of Castle in the Sky was because Hisashi wanted to redo the soundtrack just as much as it was because Disney felt it was time to upgrade it. I've done my homework.
As for the disapproval that the studio has had? It's only in the marketing, not the dubs. I'm not saying that Disney's done a good job with their marketing campaign, but it has nothing to do with how the characters sound.
Oh, and for the record, it's an issue I have with subtitles in general. I hate them in almost every movie I watch, not just Ghibli movies.
"The highest-grossing film of 1992 in Japan was Porco Rosso, this was succeeded in 1997 by Mononoke, and then in 2001 by Spirited Away. I'd say Ghibli were pretty popular. Maybe not in America, but certainly in Asia."
Anime is obviously gonna be big in Asia because Anime is Asian. That's like saying that McDonald's may not be big in Asia, but it'd definitely be big in North America. It's an American company, of course it's gonna appeal to Americans/North Americans.
Besides, you did nothing to disprove my point. Disney helped make Studio Ghibli more mainstream in Europe and the Americas, but as far as I'm concerned it'll never be as big here as it is in Asia. It's got nothing to do with Disney, it's a matter of mainstream Americans not being comfortable with foreign films. You see the same problem with movies like Amelie and Life is Beautiful, foreign films that most Americans haven't even heard of because they weren't made by American directors. It doesn't matter how good they are, they'll never be big because we don't care to see them.
"That's why the Academy Awards are flawed, and should not be considered a mark of quality or recognition. Besides, they are more about politics. For example, in the 1941 Academy Awards, Citizen Kane was nominated in 9 categories and only won one for best screenplay. It didn't even win best picture or director. Citizen Kane is a masterpiece. The Oscars are just as bad as the Grammys. They should be abolished."
The Oscars are definitely flawed, but they most-certainly hold immense weight in terms of little-known movies becoming more well-known. If it weren't for the Oscars, Life is Beautiful would still be a cult-movie (and it is, but not as much.) If it weren't for the Oscars, most Americans wouldn't even know what Studio Ghibli is. Spirited Away's winning of an Oscar helped pave the way for mainstream Anime to make it overseas. So the fact that the movie was even acknowledged by them is pretty big on its own.
As for the English thing? Fine, I'll hold you to that. But what you didn't rebut is my claim that reviewers have also praised the dubs as well. Even critics who don't normally like dubs commended Disney for their efforts. If you want proof, go on Rotten Tomatoes, read through the reviews of a Ghibli movie and see what the reviewers have to say about the dubs. It's how I know that the Streamline dub of Castle in the Sky was panned by critics as childish and how the Disney dub wasn't.
I'm not gonna discuss this further because I don't see any reason to do so. We're clearly on ends with how we view Anime, so I'll leave it at me saying that I'll forever jack-off to the so-called "inferior" Disney dubs and never touch anything Subtitle-related. If you have a problem with that, it's fine with me. The only reason why I even bothered jumping in here in the first place is because I have no problem with what Disney has done for Studio Ghibli, as well as that JTurner82 is one of the only people I can have an intelligent conversation with about the dubs without having to listen to pointless dribble about how they butcher the purity of something so obviously sacred...
Also, fails on so many levels?
Sorry, but that argument 1) is not something I agree with, 2) is just an opinion, nothing more, and 3) absolutely false to me in every way imaginable. The Japanese version of LAPUTA IS good, but does that make Disney's dub bad? Of course not. It's just different. It only would have been REALLY disasterous if they renamed the characters, cut the movie down by 30 minutes, and totally changed the title ala "Warriors of the Wind" or 4Kids. None of the changes in Disney's dubs reek of those kind of changes. If they did, Miyazaki wouldn't let them be released, period.
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The initiave to rescore the film came from Disney, not from Hisaishi or Miyazaki. Miyazaki himself was already more than happy with the original score.
shareAhem:
Castle in the Sky 1986-05-25 Image Album
Castle In the Sky 1986-09-25/1986-08-25? Soundtrack
Castle in the Sky 1987-01-25 Symphonic Album
Castle In the Sky 1989-02-25 Drama Album
I'm no expert is compositions, but I believe the dates do the talking for me. Disney may have wanted a revamp, but it's clear from the dates the Hisaishi had already wanted a more mature track much earlier on. Besides, when was the last time you ever heard him use his synth track in one of his concerts?
Also, just to add to the conversation, from Wikipedia:
"Although all these alterations were approved by Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki, there have been a number of critics who called them into question. On the other hand, Miyazaki himself is said to have approved of Hisaishi's reworking;[10] his compliments were echoed by several reviewers.[11][12][13]"
Here's the page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_in_the_Sky
Click the links, you might learn a thing or two.
(By the way, this conversation is pointless. It'll never get us anywhere, and it'll never kill this pointless debate...)
Several anime movies and series have alternative soundtrack albums. Your post doesn't prove the initiative came from Hisaishi.
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I'm glad to see some rabid fans for Miyazaki films, but in all honesty if you don't like subtitles then watch the dubs, if you don't like dubs (or despise them in some cases) then watch it with subtitles. I personally think its an experience more than anything, nitpicking ruins that for me. Also, who the hell is the debate even for or are you kids just having some internet message board fun?
shareIt's mostly a bunch of fans who saw the film one way and are stubbornly declaring that it is the "only" way to see it, while turning a deaf ear to any other values that any version may have. As much as I dislike the Streamline dub, I at least acknowledge it maintains the last part of Sheeta's line, which Disney's dub doesn't do (then again, it's so hard for me to listen to any of the "performances" from the '80s dub). Despite that unfortunate omission, Disney's version is in no way bad; it benefits strongly from a livlier vocal cast, an extensively beautiful new score, and some great lines. The Japanese version is considerably less boisterous and its music is much more sparse (and even a bit dated; after all it was originally rendered on '80s synthesizers), but as good as the performances are, Pazu and Sheeta's VAs in both versions are a "your mileage may vary" matter. Either you find the high-pitched Japanese VAs preferable or you do so for the more mature and more green (albeit competent overall) VAs in the Disney dub. That said, I personally think Disney's dub and the Japanese version are both excellent experiences in their own right IMO. Neither are better than the other. It's just that there are people who cannot accept that others have differing opinions and constantly try to prove how their way is better than anyone else's. It's as simple as that.
Personally, Dantes, I definitely agree with you that such nitpicking is harmful to this film; as long as you like it that's what matters. Dub, sub, or not.
Christ almighty, doesn't anybody change that god aweful 'broken-record' at your house JTurner?!!
I've been told countless times on here about your flawed your opinions are cos that basically what they are opinions not facts. Cos you can't argue against those. The only person that ever drags up alternate versions of Laputa around here is you, constantly and banging on about Disney dub ('moan') this and that etc without end. As the old metaphor goes; 'Stop try sell your bad *fish* at the market when they're are no customers for it' pal.
It's just that there are people who cannot accept that others have differing opinions and constantly try to prove how their way is better than anyone else's. It's as simple as that.
It's mostly a bunch of fans who saw the film one way and are stubbornly declaring that it is the "only" way to see it
Personally, Dantes, I definitely agree with you that such nitpicking is harmful to this film; as long as you like it that's what matters. Dub, sub, or not.
SUPERTURBO4, please STOP trolling my posts. I understand you have a different view from me, but you have been being nasty to me and attacking me like this again and again, and I am tired of it. I will stand behind my view just as much as you will stand behind yours, so please, stop trying to convince me otherwise. I was merely giving my answer to Dantes, and if you're still determined to prove how "wrong" I am, well, I've got news for you--I really don't care. Whether you agree or disagree with me, this attacking is really getting on my nerves, and I have had enough. Why can't we just agree to disagree? My view is my view, and your view is yours. Neither one of us are right or wrong, it is OPINIONS.
I have had enough of this.
JTurner shut the hell up and don't play "drama queen" with anybody on here let lone me! You've never come under attack from anybody, its clear to all that your just poisening this board with your B.S. Nearly 24/7 and nobody else can have any fun on here anymore talking about Laputa. And someone who doesn't care you sure make alot of noise. I'm not determined about anything cos you've already been proven how wrong you are time and time again.
Attack? Like when i came on here years ago and you rammed your Disney dub love B.S. on me and tried to run me off this board when i came for a discussion, please get lost you have no claim whatsoever for anything in decrying about anything that set against you on here, absolutely none.
I have had enough of this.
I will stand behind my view
Why can't we just agree to disagree
Neither one of us are right or wrong, it is OPINIONS.
Jeez, several years on and the same record appears to still be broken. I remember years ago when this was being discussed you rubbished the original dub but it transpired you hadn't even watched it in its entirety, just a couple of short clips on youtube. Have you at least done that now?
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Good point about watching it in Japanese with subs.
I watched the original english dub throughout my childhood and have seen the new Disney dub with the extended soundtrack a number of times. Call it nostalgia perhaps, but I prefer the original, both dub and soundtrack. The new dub feels awkward and thrown together whilst attempting to give back context and story at often bizare times compared to the old one, and I still think the throne room speech by Shita makes far less sense in the new dub. My biggest gripe though seems to be the soundtrack. The original felt absolutely 'in tune' with the visuals and supported the visual climaxes of the film (prime example is the handing over of the flower), whereas the new feels drawn out with a lot of 'filler' music simply to amuse an audience that might be comfortable with simple visuals and times with minimal script.
shareThe older dub, in my opinion, is the worst of the two. It's not quite as boistrous or loose as the Disney version, true, but the so-called "acting" in that is just awful. Muska sounds disappointingly monotonous and boring, Dola is obnoxious to listen to, the supporting cast is awful, and even the leads, while younger sounding (but not convincingly so; both Barbara Goodson and Lara Cody ARE good actresses, but IMO, both fare worse than James and Anna. The latter two, I thought, put more effort into their work. Barbara and Lara just sound rushed), are pretty lifeless too.
Maybe I'm more used to the newer version or newer dubs in general, but in my opinion, the '80s dub of "Castle in the Sky" is nowhere near the quality of the older dub of "Totoro". I understand some people have played that version a lot of times in their childhood, but I have to be brutally honest: compared with the newer dub and the Japanese, it is terrible. Yes, it doesn't take as many liberties with the Japanese version, but it still sounds choppy, stilted, and poorly executed. The dialogue is terribly written, too.
I know some fans have issues with Disney's dub, but I didn't, and frankly, after being so badly disappointed with this older dub (I can't listen to it without wincing), I am just... baffled at how ANYONE can find anything good about it.
I apologize for beating this dead horse in advance, but I have to comment on something you said:
"I would assume that by the time people reach their early teens they would be able to read subtitles quite comfortably, without hindering your enjoyment of the film."
I wish this were true, but it isn't. Personally, my reading comprehension has been at Post-Graduate level since I was 10, and yet I've always had trouble with subtitles. Aside from poor choices of colour/font, size discrepancy, the speed at which they appear and disappear on-screen and the issues of visibility, subtitles have a bad habit of suffering from various degrees of "Engrish" and leaving me confused as to what's going on entirely. Either they weren't spell-checked properly/at all, are too literal to make sense to native speakers of English, suffer from syntax issues, use outdated terms that no one would understand or just suffer from context problems (the word "moppet" means "small child" or "rag doll" in Shakespearean English, and I fail to see what has to do with Pazu having a hard head,) and they're especially bad when they're done by people who aren't trained in the art of translation. I almost always avoid them, especially when they distract from the actions on-screen. And in the case of Studio Ghibli, so muchm is happening on-screen that I can't appreciate it all if I'm focusing on text instead. Therefore, flaws and all, I'd much prefer a dub that detracts from SOME aspects of the movie than stick to subs and lose out on everything.
With that said, I bid you adieu...
"Either they weren't spell-checked properly/at all, are too literal to make sense to native speakers of English, suffer from syntax issues, use outdated terms that no one would understand or just suffer from context problems (the word "moppet" means "small child" or "rag doll" in Shakespearean English, and I fail to see what has to do with Pazu having a hard head,)"
Not that this resolves any of your other problems, but it appears that you're reading the subtitles for the Streamline English audio track, not the Japanese one.
The Angels Have the Phone Box
Actually. that's a problem I have in general with subtitles (I just used the "moppet" thing as an example.) Even professionally-translated ones can come off as awkward at times, which is disappointing considering that professional translators understand that liberties are necessary here-and-there if anyone's to understand what's going on.
On a side-note, I'm not alone on these complaints. These are issues I hear and read about frequently when it comes to people's reasonings for not liking subtitles, and that's barely scratching the surface... >_>
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If you want proof, go on Rotten Tomatoes, read through the reviews of a Ghibli movie and see what the reviewers have to say about the dubs. It's how I know that the Streamline dub of Castle in the Sky was panned by critics as childish and how the Disney dub wasn't.
Please explain to me how replying with a well thought-out opinion with zero hostility is trolling?
Oh I get it, because you don't agree with that poster's opinions and how your opinion must be the number one only correct one, anyone who would EVER say anything that doesn't agree with your opinion MUST be trolling.
seriously, get over yourself.
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Just because you're too stupid to understand it, doesn't mean it's a plot hole
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From what I heard, during the localization of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki was so fed up after the treatment of Nausicaa, that when Harvey Weinstein wanted to edit the film to be more marketable, Studio Ghibli sent an authentic katana to Miramax with a note attached that read "No Cuts".
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As a matter of fact, he did. And from having seen WARRIORS OF THE WIND, or at least parts of it, I can't blame Miyazaki for going to that extreme—cutting out 30 minutes of a movie and renaming its cast were both big mistakes. Thank goodness Disney's dubs never turned out the same as WARRIORS, even if there are some deviances from the scripts in places and the occasional extra piece of music (at least in LAPUTA and KIKI)—but they had to get Miyazaki's approval to do it. If they did it without Miyazaki being involved, then I could see cause for criticism. But since he has yet to publicly announce dissatisfaction with any of the Disney dubs, I don't see any major problem as far as I'm concerned.
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Miyazaki probably doesn't even like it, if it rains alot in real life. As he tends to put that in his movies to reflect the mood or the scene in his anime films.
Doesn't mean he likes rain in real life and NEEDS to show his dissatisfaction with it all, in a interview just to make that point clearer to us all now does he? I'm pretty sure Miyazaki not a fan of the Disney dub. Which feels flat and lifeless in many sequences comparison to the Steamline dub seriously. My Neice's birthday is this coming Friday, so i've burned onto DVD one of those anime fan edits that have all audio versions and subtitles of this film placed onto a makeshift DVD copy. I told her mother play it for them early on and then come Friday when i give her, her birthday present, i'll ask my own neice and possibly her younger brother my nephew which version she and he of Laputa likes better?
Whether it be the Disney or the original Streamline dubs i'll listen to their commentary on whatever version they like than whatever you have to say on the matter JTurner, you got that? Cos the innocence of my younger little family members is far better measuring stick of how they are "entertained" at the end of the day by watching Laputa, is way more important than what you've got to say or have said on and on so boringly for years on end, period.
ST4
Rileys F U Speech Uncensoredhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUOHctF0H_s&feature=related
Porco Rosso also has a non-Disney dub, but I heard that it wasn't particularly good either--although like Laputa's older dub, Macek wasn't responsible for that one.
The older dub was done by many Streamline regulars doing aliases. They included Barbara Goodson as Pazu, Lara Cody as Sheeta, Jeff Winkless as Muska. But Carl Macek thought that he could do a much better job as he directed these guys much more professionally than they were in what was really a rushed, hastily put together production.
Perhaps if I hadn't seen Disney's dub first (I had actually viewed the movie the first time in Japanese) and had grown up with the first dub then I could see the argument. But having heard lots of other dubs in my time, new and old, I may have been a latecomer, but having said that, I still found the older dub to be cringeworthy. Goodson, Cody, Winkless, and company could have done much better jobs if it wasn't so rushed.
I do understand the attachment to nostalgia, though, as there were a few dubs from the '90s that I still do enjoy unreservedly, warts and all, such as Record of Lodoss War OVA, and Slayers... both of which I saw long before I saw Disney's version of this movie.
Nostalgia my ass people simply love the original English language version because it sounded so cool and original to them regardless of what Carl Macek's opinions of the '86 cut were back then. Its the one that so many grew up with, nostalgia has absolutely nothing to do with fans love of the 86 dub whatsoever, more like its the one from memory so its the more preferred version to lots of anime film fans out there myself included.
Best analogy of multiple cuts of films can be seen like this...
* - Laputa '86 dub = "Original Star Wars 1977 version"
* - Laputa '00 Disney dub = "'97 Star Wars: Special Edition cut"
I still found the older dub to be cringeworthy. Goodson, Cody, Winkless, and company could have done much better jobs if it wasn't so rushed.
Hi Helen,
Where did you find the non-Disney English dub? Is it on the Japanese DVD?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Laputa-Castle-in-the-Sky/dp/B00005R5J4/ref=sr_ 1_41?ie=UTF8&qid=1363546299&sr=8-41
Thanks,
Jeff
If you're referring to the R2 Tokuma dub, it's exceptionally difficult to get hold of. AFAIK, the only official release was a now very rare, and very defunct laserdisc print and R2 DVD. If you want to get hold of it, the only manageable way to do so is to look to... other sources, if you know what I mean.
It was also shown on British TV a few times, so you might be able to find someone who has a copy recorded on PAL VHS (mine is literally dead from about 20years of constant replay).
Princess Mononoke also has a non-Disney dub. It was released by Miramax, I think.
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It wasn't, but GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES has two dubs. The first was done by Central Park Media now defunct which is, at best, an average dub, mostly OK but brought done by a miscast Corrine Orr as Setsuko. The second, available only on BD in America, was done by Sentai Filmworks by Steven Foster. Now say what you will about Foster, but his dub of GRAVE is actually pretty good, if not quite on par with the Disney ones. Setsuko is STILl an issue, in that she doesn't quite sound as convincing, but having said that Emily Neves does a much better job in the role.
I have mentioned previously that I don't have much of an issue having Pazu and Sheeta sounding like teens in this film for Disney's dub, because my book of Miyazaki placed both at around 14, and neither characters' ages are tracked down in the film. I'm not saying James or Anna were perfect choices for those characters, but unlike, say, NADIA, where it is crucial for the characters to age by a year toward the end, it's less of a problem with LAPUTA because it's not a major plot point. (Plus I thought both James and Anna did pretty good jobs; not as awesome as their co-stars, but certainly not unbearable IMO.) With GRAVE, however, it is important for Setsuko to sound authentic because this is a FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl we're talking about, not two characters who are roughly into their teens (but sometimes don't always look like such). Plus, this is a drama based on a true story, not a fantasy, so there's less flexibility here.
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I wouldn't say the Disney dub of LAPUTA is unwatchable though; aside from James sounding mature (although I honestly didn't mind), everybody else, I thought did great jobs. I loved Hamill and Leachman, and the pirates were awesome in Disney's dub.
Now don't take this as a sign that I have anything against the Japanese version; I don't. There ARE parts of it that I find interesting, but I don't think either version is better or worse, only different. Having said that, I'm not so fond of the VAs for Pazu or Sheeta in the Japanese version; I found both too screechy for my tastes. Also, the music sounds richer and better in Disney's version; considering the action in this film, it's more fitting for the film to have an orchestrated score, especially one by Mr. Hisaishi himself.
Both Disney's dub and the Japanese version have their pros and cons, but honestly, I prefer the former. Not because I saw it first (I actually watched it in Japanese with subtitles the first time I saw the film in New York at the MoMA WAAAAAAY back in 1999), but because I am one of those people who just prefers Ghibli in English and doesn't find anything wrong with the dubs Disney has done.
You see dub movies?
...
Cinema lover.
(Sorry for my english)