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Sen To, X-Men 2

Posted by michael on from the imagination-and-lack-of-it dept.

liquidbrains writes "With 'Princess Mononoke' fresh in our memories, the number one highest grossing film in Japan -ever- is coming to the US. Thanks to Disney and Pixar's John Lasseter, who has supervised the dub, we can soon expect a fine English adaptation of animation master Hayao Miyazaki's latest masterpiece, 'Spirited Away'. See the trailer here." Reader thefalconer writes "It seems that Apple has just released the very first trailer to X-Men 2 on their website. From what I've seen this movie looks like it's going to rock! Too bad I have to wait for May of next year!"

2 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Direct XMen2 trailer links by Sparr0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    well, not quite direct, damn akamai

    Low Res
    Med Res
    Hi Res

  2. A non-literal translation by JeFurry · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of the things that made the US release of "Princess Mononoke" more accessable to Western audiences was the excellent translation by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman didn't just make a literal translation (try comparing the soundtrack to the "literal translation" subtitles if you have the Region 1 DVD), he also adapted the narrative slightly so that some assumed cultural references were replaced with ones which would be more familiar to us, and conversations would flow in a way more natural to English speakers. He even went as far as to use words that would roughly lip-sync to the film, unlike the literal version. This is a heck of a lot of work to do, and shows real dedication.

    True anime fans, used to subtitles, might balk at this - they'll get the cultural references and know the background. But think back to when you saw your first anime, and how alien some concepts seemed, and don't forget that the R1 DVD edition also contains the original soundtrack and literal translation subtitles, so you still have that option as well as the greater audience appeal resulting from the (respectfully done) Westernisation.

    I hope future dub projects get this kind of attention... it makes quite a big difference. Gaiman said he'd have to be mad to ever do it again. Not an easy job, it seems.

    Has anyone seen other well-done dubs from studio Ghibli on DVD? My other half and I love their work, and want the option of the literal sub/japanese dub, but would also like an English soundtrack if possible...

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