Did Disney Change the ending? - Karigurashi no Arietti (2012) Discussion

[–] cjd-16 12 years ago

In the original Japanese version, the result of his surgery, and whether Arrietty and her family really do safely find a new home or not, are both left completely ambiguous. The ending narration where Shawn describes these two things was indeed tacked on in the dub.

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gedstrom-1 10 years ago

Disney has been very wary of having one of the "good guys" die ever since they killed off Bambi's mother. In the original "Lady and the Tramp", Trusty was supposed to have died under the wheels of the dog catcher's truck. But Walt vetoed that idea after the animation for the sequence had been completed. That is why they have the extra bit at the end showing Trusty walking in with a broken leg to confirm that he had survived. In the case of Arrietty, I think that they wanted to eliminate any thought in the audience's mind that either Shawn or Arrietty or her family had died. After all, Disney is about happy endings.

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[–] mariaevri 7 years ago

In the opening (japanese) the narrator Sho says "I will never forget that summer" so he survived

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[–] mariaevri 7 years ago

In the opening (japanese) the narrator Sho says "I will never forget that summer" so he survived

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[–] ranran-001 12 years ago

Disney didn't change the ending, they only added a narration from Shawn at the end claiming he never saw the little people again.

In response to your idea about how the film should have ended, I'll just link what I stated from another thread:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568921/board/thread/190960440?d=195375573 #195375573

In other words, no I don't think it would be a good ending. First of all, we don't know exactly what disease Shawn has that is causing him heart problems. So it is not true to real life just because some people out there think heart problems==heart attack.

You also have to consider the age group that this film is being targeted at. It's highly possible that some of the viewers of this film are Shawn's age and do have a heart condition similar to what Shawn has. It would do them no favors to have Shawn die.

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[–] captkirk_459 12 years ago

You want to end a wonderful story like this in a unhappy manner. Why? This story does not deserve a bad ending. Better to have a happy ending.

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[–] heishiro 12 years ago

It doesn't have a bad ending. Even though it's never stated whether or not Sho survives the operation, he's become more positive and optimistic at the end of the movie whereas at the beginning he was very cynical.

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[–] dodrade 12 years ago

The Jap/UK dub versions are very open-ended, almost a set-up for a possible sequel, if they do make another one then Disney have dug themselves a hole which will be hard to get out of.

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[–] ZOMBIE-8 12 years ago

You know, after my gf and I saw this, I said "you know, I have a feeling that ending narration was added onto the film for the American version." It had that feeling like they were trying to assure everyone that everything was definitely all right. Nice to find some confirmation!

Also, on a related note, was the second song during the end credits added for the US version? It had a very "American Disney teen-bopper" sound to it. Very jarring after the consistent and graceful Cécile Corbel music. Maybe it's just me

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[–] cjd-16 12 years ago

was the second song during the end credits added for the US version? It had a very "American Disney teen-bopper" sound to it.

100% correct. Studio Ghibli NEVER, and I mean NEVER, would sink to that low of a level. The closest thing they've ever had to a pop song at the end of their films is "Carrying You" from Castle in the Sky. Usually the rest of the time it is either an orchestral piece from the score like in "Princess Mononoke" and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," a calm sung piece like "Always With Me" from Spirited Away or the end song of Porco Rosso, or a cutesy kid song like in "Ponyo" and "My Neighbor Totoro." Studio Ghibli is still all about making beautiful art. Disney is always the one that throws in teen idols and crappy pop music to try and make it more "appealing" to American audiences.

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[–] bluidshay 12 years ago

Interestingly, both stories were very different from the original book, especially in reference to the ending.

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[–] Zenblend 12 years ago

Oh yeah, Japan doesn't have anything to do with pop idols. None whatsoever so help them. Japan is so given to loving pop idols that they created virtual voice synthesizers so that they could have a blue-haired anime pop idol to go crazy about in addition to the real ones.

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[–] Painocus 12 years ago

If you seriously are unable to differentiate between Studio Ghibli's actions and the actions of the rest of Japan you should seek out medical help as fast as possible, as you must be unable to associate properly and that is a sign of brain damage.

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[–] barryhaworth-1 11 years ago

You're forgetting "Kiki's Delivery Service". That one surprised me, as the Japanese version has a boppy, upbeat song over the end credits, while the English version had a completely different song which was more reflective and (oddly enough) more relevant to the story line. Ditto with the opening credits.

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[–] shadowhawk1j 10 years ago

Also, on a related note, was the second song during the end credits added for the US version? It had a very "American Disney teen-bopper" sound to it. Very jarring after the consistent and graceful Cécile Corbel music. Maybe it's just me

Actually its the girl that voiced Arrietty, Bridget Mendler, and though I agree with the song not fitting the tone of the movie, I would expect it since she is a disney item right now, and they want to promote her as much as possible.

Admittedly I actually do enjoy her music, her voice is good, but not great, but I do think she has some talent, hopefully she dosent go all Lindsey Lohan, and sticks around for awhile.

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[–] stillkisseswith_saliva 11 years ago

agree! that would be totally stupid & even worse than it already is! even the ending as is i don't like. this movie was one of my favs it was adorable, the scenery the way they used all the tiny things, i loved everything... except for the ending. it makes no sense to go through all the trouble of saving everyone & making them trust them yada yada just so they can randomly leave & never be seen again. they had everything they needed there.. what is the point of leaving somewhere they love where they actually can trust the humans to help them, to lug their whole family off on a dangerous journey to god knows where with everything they own to somewhere with people they don't know? ugh. i also hated arietty not saying anything.. ever!! like omg how hard is it to speak up for yourself & your situation? jesus christ she was so blah in those moments! she should of said something to her parents long ago & told them she wasn't going anywhere. actually the ending kinda ruined the whole thing for me & that makes me annoyed & sad bc it might've been my fav ghibli movie if not for the *beep* ending. it was so unsatisfying. they didn't even have to live in the doll house which would've been ridiculously cute lol but it would've been perfect if they at least maybe made a new home & stayed around there to make the little boy & arietty happy. instead they separate them bc the parents are paranoid asshats for no good reason. that's not to even mention anything about that bich of a maid.. and she was still there in the end wasn't she? wtf was up with that? lol can you tell this fing annoyed me? ugh!

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[–] Kuato_and_George 12 years ago

I don't agree. This movie didn't need a doubly whammy. It was already sad enough that he was never going to see Arietty again (it became clear at a certain point she really was leaving and not going to stay in the dollhouse), I didn't need him dying tacked on. It was a nice mix of happy and sad.

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[–] sahandc3-1 12 years ago

The final dubbed line was not in the original. I also heard there was no narration in the original either. I thought this pretty much implied that he did indeed die. An ending I like much better. Showing him actually dying would have been a little out of place. Too dark in contrast to the rest of the film.

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[–] heishiro 12 years ago

How it was implied that Sho would die?

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[–] musicspider911 12 years ago

Wow is everyone forgetting the very beginning?

He's narrating the story in past tense meaning he's very much alive ("I will never forget that summer where I spent a week in the old house my mother grew up in") and how that entire experience got him through his depression and overall lack of will to live.

Not only that but the musical score does as well immediately after he says that.

"So many years have passed the dew is still on the roses I left my childhood In a garden green"

So he's definitely alive.

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[–] mattias1 12 years ago

I completely agree with your comment, they probably assumed that the english speaking audience would not necessarily remember the manner in which the movie started and added the last lines. I always watch originals of anything I view so I don't know exactly how it was presented, but to me the ending of the original was perfect due to the fact that the music together with the cute scenes at the end allowed for some reflection on the film without any verbal distractions.

The bittersweet aspect at the end was never from the question of whether he lived or died, but rather the fact that they would never meet again despite their significant influence on one another regarding their life's perspectives.

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[–] crownklown 12 years ago

2 Points.

Point one, you people are morbid, and maybe a little touched in the head. Its a family movie, a Ghibli movie on top of that. And you want the kid to die in it. This is not some French art house movie. And how would that contribute anything to the movie anyway? Oh he died, well thats good. And dont give me some line about realism in a movie starring little pixie people.

Point two, the ending was actually bittersweet, especially compared to all other Ghibli movies. I thought the two people's culture would be overcome, and somehow they would live together with the borrowers living in the doll house. Instead it never works out, the borrowers are forced to find a new place to live, to enter a world of uncertainty, and the boy loses what was probably his only friend.

Point 2.1 - we have hit the point in cinema, book, any media where there have been plenty of good endings and plenty of bad endings, and many sad endings. You even had movies you thought would have happy ending with sad, and vice versa. So its not like a bad or sad ending at this point is any less cliched then a happy or good ending.

Point 2.2 - a quick wiki search dispels any last complaints, the boy lives in the original source material, the end.

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[–] Squishy-12 12 years ago

It's rather a grey area. As much as I dearly love "Nausicaa in the Valley of Wind," the ending leaves me somewhat tweaked, as does any movie ("The Dark Crystal," several Disney animation classics) that pulls the God Card out in the final moments and teaches kids that sacrifice will be rewarded with magic resurrection--of them, their girlfriend, and even their pet.

I want to see a parody someday in which the resurrected character is magically granted a fancy new car and a cash prize as well, and tears off into the sunset in his new ride, bills scattering in his dust. Would this be too obscure a reference?

On the other hand, "Grave of the Fireflies" is very realistic in its outcome...and I'll NEVER watch it again. Never never never never never. If forced, I'll kill myself first. Watching it again would destroy me anyway.

On the other OTHER hand, while it's not any movie's job to trend accurate medical data, someone with a certain medical condition doesn't want to see fifteen movies about that condition all ending with the patient's death. Surely everyone can understand why that might be discouraging.

So I have no beef here. This movie's not about dying; it's about living despite the looming threat of mortality, treasuring those relationships that must, by necessity, end, never to be experienced again.

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[–] sahandc3-1 12 years ago

That's no guarantee that he didn't die. American Beauty had that, so did Grave of the Fireflies.

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[–] crownklown 12 years ago

He does live because the whole movie is a flashback. He is narrating about something that happened in the past. Yea he could have died, and Pazu could have tripped and fell of the cliff of his hometown, shortly after the credits roll as well; but the implication in Arriety is the boy lived.

American Beauty and Grave on the other hand clearly lean towards them being dead, because the last scene is them dying.

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[–] krasnegar 10 years ago

Well, he certainly didn't die in the original book. (See my post a few down from here)

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[–] emvan 12 years ago

There's no opening narration in the Japanese original, either. So there's no guarantee that he lives, although it is strongly hinted that he does, as he tells Arrietty that she has given him the courage to do so.

The Japanese ending has a lovely song sung in Japanese.

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[–] Mimbulus_mimbletonia 12 years ago

I've got a dual DVD made up of the original Japanese with English subs, and then the UK English dub. I don't think I will ever watch the dub, because you just lose something... it doesn't feel as authentic. For example I watched "Spirited Away", first with US English dubs, and then later with subs, and oh boy was the subs version so much better IMO. Things seemed to make more sense?

At the end of "Arrietty" there is no indication Sho lived or died, but he told Arrietty before she left that he now had the courage to live.

The song at the end was lovely indeed! I hope I never have to hear the supposed horror of the pop song at the end of the dubbed versions!

-----
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[–] cherry_blossoms_19 11 years ago

I thought the dub was ok, but that Summertime song at the end just killed the mood of the movie for me. -__-

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[–] krasnegar 10 years ago

This post contains SPOILERS for the original book

The original book is a story told by an old lady to a young (female) relative. It's about the old lady's younger brother. The family were British, and they grew up in India in Victorian/Edwardian days. (Based on internal clues, i'd say the main part of the story is set sometime around 1900 or so.)

When the brother was sent to England for school, he caught rheumatic fever (less common nowadays) which can damage the heart, and spent a year recovering in their aunt's house. In the book, he did grow up, but died in fighting on the Northwest Frontier (Now part of Pakistan, the location of the Khyber Pass).

The book ends (well, the involvement of the brother ends) when he breaks a hole in the wall that they can escape through when the exterminators are pumping in poison gas to kill the Borrowers. The "sailing down the stream in the kettle" bit at the end is from the second book, The Borrowers Afield, which is also where Spiller is introduced.

In the book, he doesn't see their escape, and he never sees them again.

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[–] SirTeaBag 10 years ago

Well, at the start of the film, a voice over from an older sounding person says that they will never "forget that summer" because it was when they stayed in the house where their mother grew up.

Seems pretty safe to say he survived, since he's narrating the story as an old man.

This is in the original Japanese dub btw.

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