Hi - I remember watching this when younger was it dubbed in the 90's too

No you're not mistaken. There WAS an earlier dub released (but not produced) by Streamline. It saw a brief theatrical release in the late 1980's, but soon disappeared, although it DID air somewhat briefly on UK TV as "Laputa, the Flying Island." That older dub is available on the Japanese R2 DVD release--all other releases that I know of have the Disney redub (you know, with the star-studded cast and the new score).

One of the biggest debates I've encountered on this board is how the older dub "outclasses" Disney's. When I listened to a clip of the older dub on YouTube, I wasn't impressed--the voices all sounded like they were hired on the cheap. I was told that the dub doesn't have the extra dialogue or music, but that positive point goes out the window when the acting in the dub is grating.

This isn't to say that Disney's dub is flawless--there are a couple of extra lines which border on unnecessary and Pazu's voice is sometimes a little too teenage sounding (albeit tolerable acting-wise)--but I find that it outclasses the older dub for having better acting overall. Of course, since the Disney dub had higher production values and was done by people experienced in the field, it shouldn't be that surprising. I also believe that, if the script in the Disney dub were not more accurately adapted, it was at least a lot more smoothly written--there were some lines I heard in the old dub which sounded very choppy and unnatural ("Did you hear me, we go straight forward"). For all the added in and/or altered lines, at least none of them sounded either awkward or out of character with the movie.

I wager that this controversy exists either because some folks have an axe to grind against Disney or the actors they've chosen or nostalgia overcoming reason--despite its faults, it's not that impossible to appreciate the new dub for what it is.

-Jon T.