|
Greetings, citizen Harry! It is I, Robogeek, funky fresh from my
extended excursion into bat country. Goodness gracious, those flying
bloodsucking bastards are ruthless! But my attention is now occupied by
an earth-bound rodent, one which holds dominion over the works of the
living god that is Hayao Miyazaki.
Anyway, Roger Ebert didn't dub me "a web-based expert on anime" for
nothing, so here I go!
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE
First off, I have a first-hand report from the US premiere of Disney's
new English-dubbed version of Miyazaki's classic 1989 animated feature,
"Kiki's Delivery Service," which stars Kirsten Dunst (Kiki), Phil
Hartman (Jiji), Matthew Lawrence (Tonbo), Debbie Reynolds (Osono), and
Janeane Garofalo (Ursula). I'm very anxious to see what Disney's done
with/to one of my all-time favorite films. For those of you who don't
this film, it's about the adventures of a 13-year-old witch and her
talking cat Jiji. It's a magnificently beautiful coming-of-age film,
with an incredibly cool climax that involves... a zeppelin! YES!!! This
was the first Miyazaki film I ever saw, and I have an enormous affection
for it. Anyway, this review comes to us from Agent Otaku:
Saturday... Seattle International Film Festival... Egyptian Theater. A
Disney guy was there to intro the film, and I assume to gather feedback.
According to him the release will be September of this year. The print
we saw wasn't complete, the Disney rep said they are still working to
rip the kanji credits out and put English ones in. This got a bad
response from the audience and he said they were considering leaving the
credits and just doing subtitles on this part (this got wild cheers from
the crowd). Pass the word on and hopefully we can get enough response to
get it left in. It has been awhile since I have seen "Kiki's" but I
think Disney changed the opening song to English? (If so I wish they had
left the original song like Fox did with Totoro.) Overall the voices fit
pretty good and the dubbing was done well.
ROBOGEEK BACK HERE -- I've heard from several other people who've seen
the film, and this seems to be pretty indicative of their response,
which has been quite positive. The screening was met with an
enthusiastic audience with lots of appropriate laughing throughout the
film, and applause at the end. Granted, there have been a few random
quibbles (someone thought that the "laughing" in the film is dubbed
awkwardly, and seems "self-conscious"), and relative to other anime
dubs, the consensus seems to be that while this falls a tad short of the
Fox "Totoro," it's still very good. The voice actors get high marks
(Dunst, Reynolds and Garafalo in particular, it seems), though Phil
Hartman's performance seems to have generated split opinions. Some
people (like Agent Otaku) didn't like his take on Jiji the cat (which is
apparently quite different than the original Japanese actor's), while
others found that his approach worked quite well. (Personally, I'm a big
fan of Hartman's, and was absolutely devastated to hear about his death
today.) The film itself is intact but some
liberties have been taken with the script, to "Americanize" it for the
domestic mainstream sensibility. However, there seems to be one MAJOR
problem with Disney's version of the film -- the music.
First off, the songs: Now, I was really hoping Disney would get an
artist like Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, Vonda Shepard or Dar Williams to
"cover" the opening and end credits songs. That would have been
incredilbly cool, as these songs are great. But they didn't do that.
Alas...
Then there's the score. Miyazaki's films are some of the best scored
films in the history of cinema, thanks to the genius of composer Joe
Hisaishi. To muck up a perfect score is simply
unconscionable. But that's what Disney has done. While most of the score
is apparently intact, some key scenes have been rescored "cheaply"
according to more than one reviewer -- and most of the film's beautiful
quiet moments have now been filled with intrusive and inappropriate
scoring, that jars against the original. Apparently Disney doesn't think
the film will hold a child's attention if it ever has a quiet moment.
Baka! One reviewer (Jennifer D. Reitz of otakuworld.com) reported that
much of the original score has been replaced "with weak piano versions
of 'Hall of the Mountain King'" and that "poor and sappy songs replace
the catchy tunes on Kiki's ubiquitous transistor radio." Ugh.
Hear my words: this is a crime against humanity. This is "Kiki," dammit!
Don't screw around with my Kiki, you bastards! My mechanized fury will
hunt you down and make you pay! Restore the original score NOW.
Sorry. I lost my head. But hey, I'm a little touchy about these things.
This is "Kiki," dammit! Anyway...
"Kiki's" is slated to be released on video by BVHE (Buena Vista Home
Entertainment) on September 1st on VHS and LD. Apparently, rights to a
DVD version have yet to be negotiated, as it wasn't a part of the
original Tokuma/Disney distribution pact. A subtitled video release of
"Kiki's" is currently being "considered," according to a source within
Disney, as "there seems to be interest," but no decision has yet been
made. All I can say is DO IT! Ideally, this could be done as a combo
subbed/dubbed DVD -- with the soundtrack encoded, natch, since there are
no plans for a domestic soundtrack release. But a subtitled VHS is
still, I think, a must. Trust me, the market for a subtitled version is
there in a _big_ way.
Promos for "Kiki's" are now being tagged on Disney/BVHE video releases
(like "The Brave Littel Toaster Goes To Mars," for instance). There had
been early reports that Disney was going to air "Kiki's" on ABC's "The
Wonderful World of Disney" prior to the video release, but I have been
assured by reliable sources that there are currently no plans yet to do
so -- though I would expect it to air eventually after the video
release. That'll be a historic occasion.
Meanwhile, Disney's dubbed "Kiki's" will next be screened at the
Nashville Independent Film Festival (www.nashvillefilmfestival.org) at
10am on both Thursday, June 11, and Saturday, June 13. It will also
screen around the same time at the Florida International Film Festival.
Apparently, Disney is going to try and get "Kiki's" into a bunch of
domenstic film festivals over the summer to build word of mouth for the
film in anticipation of the video release -- smart thinking, in my book.
In fact, Disney may continue to let it play festivals even beyond its
release on video, which would be great (and may mean we'll get it on a
double bill with "Castle in the Sky" when that starts making the fest
rounds Sep./Oct. -- see below) And while "a limited theatrical release
other than fests is technically feasable," according to a source at
Disney, the powers-that-be "haven't pursued it yet."
Personally, I think Disney should bite the bullet and put this puppy out
in theaters in August. They could stick trailers in front of "Mulan."
And it's a fantastic film. Heck, I'd even be happy to see a limited "art
house" release of the subtitled version; I think it'd do well in, say,
the top 25-50 markets. There's a major market for anime in the U.S.,
just waiting to be tapped -- an audience of animation aficianados who
haven't gone to see a Disney film since "The Lion King," and kids who
fell in love with "Beauty and the Beast" and are now in high school and
college.
In addition, I think Disney ought to tap the web as a promotional tool
to spread the word among the anime community that'll camp out in front
of video stores for this video release. Do you know how many years we've
waited for the chance to buy these films legally _and_ domestically?
I just _pray_ that Disney takes the opportunity to fix the music. As far
as I'm concerned, any change to the score violates the artistic
integrity of the film. 'Nuff said.
PRINCESS MONONOKE
Now, a quick status report on "Princess Mononoke," which won the
Japanese equivalent of the Oscar earlier this year while raking in over
$150 million (and was the #1 movie of all time in Japan -- until
"Titanic" topped it last week), and may be the greatest animated film
ever made. It now looks like "Mononoke" will be released next spring by
Disney through Miramax's Dimension Films (which I hear is going to go
after a PG-13 rating hard, and will fight an R).
Originally, "Mononoke" was tentatively slated for a spring '98 release,
which was then moved to late July as the film's strong potential became
clear, and they decided not to rush its release. However, Disney quickly
realized that at least on the surface, "Mononoke" is too similar to
"Mulan," Disney's release for this summer (both are medieval Asian
adventure epics featuring a female title character -- what are the
odds?), and didn't want them competing -- especially since virtually all
reports indicate "Mononoke" is superior to the excellent "Mulan." A
winter '98 release was then considered, but that would collide with the
video release of "Mulan" -- no dice. Which pushes us back to next
spring, and almost two years after its original Japanese release.
Meanwhile, "Mononoke" will be released on video in Japan on June 26th
(4,500 yen tape, 7,800 yen LD), when it'll break all Japanese video
sales records. Concurrently, a three-volume "Making of" documentary will
be released, as well.
(Oh, and if you're in Germany, you can see the German-subtitled
"Mononoke" at the Comic-Con in Erlangen at 8:30 pm on both June 11th and
June 13th.)
The coolest news to crop up in recent months is that Neil ("Sandman,"
"Neverwhere") Gaiman was personally tapped by Harvey Weinstein to
polish/re-write the script translation (this was even published on
Miramax's web site). Meanwhile, the powers-that-be are going after
A-list names for the dubbed version. (For instance, it's been widely
reported that they've approached Leonardo DiCaprio to voice Ashitaka and
Claire Danes to voice San -- but nothing's officially been announced
yet.)
If you want to find out more about "Mononoke," use the AICN search
engine to find my previous report, or go visit the excellent
http://www.helsinki.fi/~stvirtan/mh/index.html.
CASTLE IN THE SKY
And what about the rest of the Miyazaki films that Disney now has
distribution rights for? Well, next up will be "Castle in the Sky,"
which is a film I just love. (It's a captivating adventure that takes a
page from "Gulliver's Travels," and is chock-full of coolness.) The
first thing Disney did was drop "Laputa" from the title, given its,
uh..., unfortunate Spanish translation. Next, Disney is looking to take
it on the domestic film festival circuit starting in September or
October (Austin Film Fest organizers please take note). In fact, there
is even some possibility that "Kiki's" and "Castle" will make the fest
rounds together, which would be metaphysical bliss.
As for theatrical and video releases, well, that's all up in the air
until Disney sees how "Kiki's" performs. Currently, there's no plan for
a theatrical "Castle" release, and a domestic video release is scheduled
for sometime next year. The English dub has apparently been completed,
but the voice cast has yet to be announced -- partially due to the fact
that the dubbed version has yet to receive the final stamp of approval
from the powers-that-be.
After that, plans will be made for the rest of Miyazaki's films, namely
"Porco Rosso" ("The Crimson Pig," an awesome period adventure about a
WWI Italian flying ace who is turned into a pig -- just don't ask why),
"My Neighbor Totoro" (about a giant bunny rabbit, among other things --
which was actually dubbed quite nicely by Fox not so many years ago and
had a small, well-received domestic release; it's still available on
video), and "Nausicaa," Miyazaki's breathtaking breakthrough fantasy
adventure from 14 years ago.
Collectively, these six films represent one of the most significant
bodies of work in animated filmmaking, and rank among my favorite and
most revered films of all time. I only pray that Disney fully
comprehends the treasure trove they've been entrusted with, and that
they give them the respect they deserve. So far, I'm encouraged.
Meanwhile, I think I'm going to go watch "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas" again. Gotta motor.
- Robogeek
robogeek@hotmail.com
|
