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A Note About the New 2010 DVD Release by Disney

posted 14 years ago by JTurner82
12 replies | jump to latest

Recently, Disney has reissued KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE along with MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, CASTLE IN THE SKY, and PONYO. This new release has a lot more extras than its previous counterpart, mainly in the way of interviews with Miyazaki, and even the whole "interactive" WORLD OF GHIBLI map.

However...

If you happen to be a fan of Disney's dub as it was released on video in 1998 and on DVD in 2003, a warning should be made: the English version has been modified.

When Disney dubbed the film back in 1997, there were quite a lot of extra lines, mostly in the way of Phil Hartman's Jiji, who adlibbed most of his dialogue, to good effect IMO. All those extra lines are gone in this new version, and so are the occasional embellishments to Joe Hisaishi's musical score. Even the Sydney Forest songs which serve as the OP and ED theme have been reverted to the Japanese originals. While this brings the dub closer to the Japanese version, it may cause controversy for people who grew up on it. Probably the only change I would agree with is the removal of Jiji's last line in the film ("Kiki, can you hear me?", as it was added in at the end), and some parts of the embellished score contributed by Paul Chihara, if not all of it, but otherwise, I would hardly change an already delightful dub just to appeal to the purists who never liked it in the first place and probably won't even watch said dub anyway.

Whether it's worth double-dipping for the extras is up to the customer.

[–] Dsneybuf 14 years ago

Between the lost Hartman lines and the "remastering" of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, one would think Disney's trying to ruin the things people loved about '90s imports of Japanese entertainment.

Teach your friends the truth!
http://plum.cream.org/HP/poa.htm

[–] JTurner82 14 years ago

I don't know if I'd go that far, but I think there should be a fine line between trying to please the naysayers who objected to said tweaks and the fans who loved them in the first place.

[–] weird_beard 14 years ago

Um, boo-hoo?

[–] AlienMimeNeko 14 years ago

As someone who's never even seen the japanese version or heard of these americanized changes, I must say, even as an 11 year old I hated the english OP & ED theme. Nothing against the song maker; by themselves they seem rather nice songs. But the sound didn't fit the movie setting at all, not to mention the rest of the score, and because of that I actually got confused early on about what sort of setting the movie was supposed to be since the songs and the visuals conflicted with eachother. I wasn't one of those kids who could just accept what was shown to me I guess. Eventually I realized the time period was somewhere around the 50's and I was able to get over the strange musical choices, but it still stands that I don't like having jarring moments like that in adulthood or my childhood when watching a movie.

So in that respect I hope the original japanese theme fits better.

O_o o_O O_O

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] blondiebear_17 10 years ago

This pretty much infuriates me There really was nothing wrong with the old one. If you want to watch the sub then watch the sub but the dubbed version was fine the way it was. I used to love the Sydney Forest song Fly it was just really great and to have it missing from the movie just makes it not worth picking up. Messing with Phil Hartman's lines seems disrespectful to me as well. I mean Miyazaki was okay with all of it so what was the big deal? I think you are completely right when you say why appeal to the purists who are gonna hate it regardless? I simply could not in good faith give Disney money for this or My neighbor Totoro. In the case of My neighbor Totoro I would rather shell out $50 at Amazon for an older standard DVD copy and just stick to VHS for kiki.

RIP Cory Monteith your fans miss you dearly

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 10 years ago

Well, it doesn't bother me as I only just saw it last night for the first time. But there still isn't a Blu-ray for this except one for region B/2. So maybe you could petition Disney to make the region 1 Blu-ray with both versions?

Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out

[–] wastedyuthe 10 years ago

Just watched the new dub, and I have to say I prefer it to the old one I have on DVD. I always thought Jiji spoke too much in the first English dub, and was actually rather annoying. Now he's more bearable, and I was very relieved to find they removed his line in the last scene, bringing it more in line with the original Japanese version, and the fact Kiki is now grown up enough to not need his imaginary voice anymore.

[–] TutuAnimationPrincess 10 years ago

Yeah, not sure how they thought this would appeal to anyone. I'm glad they tried to restore the score to it's original version, but I don't think there would be any reason to remove Sydney Forest's songs if you're watching it in English. And while I'm not a fan of "Troy McClure cat", cutting his lines seems pointless at this point as he's kind of a signature part of the English dub.

"If life is getting you down and needs uplifting, then please come dance with me!"

[–] porfle 9 years ago

I love the original English dub AND the embellishments to the score. Not to mention the superior songs in the original English dub. I'll stick with my old DVD. The "updated" one can rot for all I care.