Does it bother anyone else that there's this "need" to Americanize Japanese movies, rather than just release the original movie in North America as it was originally made in Japan? Why do they keep thinking that Americans (and Canadians, apparently) can't figure out or relate to Japanese movies, even if they're dubbed in English, that they have to be entirely reshot and recast with American actors?! If they would just release the damn movies with a WIDE enough distribution, maybe more Americans would start to relate more to Japanese movies & want to see them in their original form instead of remade with changed plots and all new cast & directors.
The astounding thing, to me, is that both movies were incredibly successful all over the world, BUT for North America! It made millions, it was a huge success, #1 movie for over 2 weeks. In the U.S., however, it was released for 2 days only in limited theaters, on May 20-21. How on earth is it supposed to get popular, when no one even knows it ever came out here?!
I can't stand really good Japanese movies remade for America. It's redundant, the Japanese movie is usually the better, and they're usually English dubbed so you don't have to dwell on subtitles. I never quite understood the NEED to remake Japanese movies until I saw the topic on this very board where some jackass said "why is Light portrayed by a 30 year old lesbian," and then it became clear to me why, exactly, Japanese movies get Americanized. Because apparently most Americans are ignorant homophobes who can't relate to Japanese actors because they know nothing of Japanese culture & can't handle the way an average Japanese person looks without turning into a complete redneck moron. What is this, the 1950s? For chrissake, look beyond your crappy little backwater hometown & learn a little about other people around the planet, and realize that not everyone on the planet looks like pasty white fatass trailer trash. Turn off Jerry Springer & learn about some other culture for a change.
Now that I can see a lot of other people's attitudes, I totally understand why they Americanize (ie, remake w/English actors) every good movie that comes from some other country. Americans are too friggin shallow, naive & uncultured to be able to handle movies from cultures that are too different from their own. It's almost nauseating.
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jaydubsky
13 years ago
Well, I agree with you, but there's a very simple reason: money.
American audiences don't really flood to the foreign films, do they? Our culture is, unfortunately, too lazy to read subtitles. I myself love foreign films, often more than anything made in America, but it's always like pulling teeth to get any of my friends to watch something with subtitles, because no one "wants to read."
On the other side of things, I really do think that the movie was pretty good (haven't seen the anime), but the special FX could be improved upon. The God of Death kinda took me out of the movie when he showed up, just because it looked so fake.
Otherwise, I really got into the story.
"Death, you are my bitch lover!"
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