It's bad enough that dubbing ruins one of the most basic aspects of a film - the richness of language! But just think how hard it is to understand a dubbed track when the film-goer is hearing-impaired. The words are completely different from the mouth movement. It's like some crazy ride.
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This post and most of the replies = FAIL!
a) the OP is wrong because the lip sync won't even match the "original" Japanese dub. Japanese animated films, 99% of them animate FIRST and have only *open mouth* *closed mouth" to convey speech, and the Japanese actors JUST like the American actors simply try their best to match the lip-flaps, as they're called.
b) NO! Roger Ebert is wrong, along with anyone else that says "All animation is dubbed."
The word "dubbing" refers to a process by which sound or voices are recorded TO pre-existing visuals. Such as was done with Ponyo and, AGAIN 99% of JAPANESE animated films (two notable exceptions are Akira and Ghibli's own Only Yesterday).
HOWEVER, American-made animation, be it actually animated here or television shows that are primarily animated in Korea do the vocals FIRST and then animated the visual performace to marry the vocal. It is a process which allows more character in the animation because both the voice actor and the animator are equally respected in this process as both are allowed to help to create the performance, rather than MATCH a performance which is what dubbing- TRUE "dubbing" is.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with watching Ponyo or most other anime "dubbed" and the OP's logic is severely inaccurat.
However, the idea that ALL animation is dubbed is also incorrect. I, for example, would never watch Akira dubbed as it is like watching an old Godzilla movie. Yes, the voice actors (both times) tried their best, but the original visual performance was done TO a pre-existing vocal performance so the resulting neglish dub is extremely flawed.
I also prefer Subs, regardless of the Directors intentions or wishes. Always like to watch something in the langauge it was first made in/where the film was made, or the language that would correlate with the part of the world the film is set/based or simply the native language of characters. That's just how I like it. What I don't like is people in this thread assuming they can tell people how to watch a film. It's personal preference. Nothing more, nothing less. That is why both options are available to the viewing public. Just please give it a break.
shareOf course it's a personal preference. However, as an filmmaker myself, i DO think that when you see a movie, the original filmmakers intentions should be considered. You are free to watch a movie however you wish.
What I don't like is when people assume that the filmmakers intentions are different than what they are- many seem to think that watching a Miyazaki film with subtitles honors the director's intention when it does not. If you prefer to watch it with subtitles even knowing the director's intentions- that is your choice.
If you want to watch a 2.35:1 widescreen movie pan-and-scan on your 4x3 television, of course that is your choice as well- but it's certainly different from the filmmaker's intention.
But just think how hard it is to understand a dubbed track when the film-goer is hearing-impaired.
I prefer watching anime dubbed rather than subtitled. Since the characters don't actually have a voice inherently, as in a live action movie, it makes more sense to me to hear a language I understand. Remember, either way, you're getting a translation. The subtitles might be closer literally, but I find dubbing can actually come closer to the original spirit of the dialogue.
shareThe reason why I think dubbing ruins the movie is because of how much is lost with the translation. I speak and read Japanese and English fluently so I watched Ponyo in both languages. I must say I was surprised with how much they changed the dialogue in the English one. I understand that sometimes there are certain idioms that don't make sense but what was changed in Ponyo weren't like that.
Like when Lisa asks Ponyo what her mum is like. In the original, Ponyo says she loves her. In the English dubbed one, she says that she is big and beautiful. Why did they change it?
And in the original, Fujimoto talks a lot about DNA. DNA was not mentioned at all in the English version.
The dubbing also made Sosuke sound like a rude little kid to the old ladies the first time we see them. In English he says "I'm busy, I can't talk right now" (or something like that, it's from memory) making him sound snobby. In the Japanese one, because of the type of language that is used (the 'ne' at the end of almost every phrase), he sound way nicer.
Also, why would a hearing impaired person go and watch an anime... even when it's not dubbed, you still can't lip read them, it's just open/close mouth.
Actually Fujimoto does say "DNA" once in the English dub.
Having watched both versions I think they did a pretty good job of getting most of the ideas and the feeling across while giving the dialog a natural fit with the animation, and making it little more accessible to western audiences. I can't be sure why they made every little change they did, and it would be curious to find out...but nonetheless, for the most part I really loved the dub.
flowerpowershare
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Not too sure about the whiny American "it sure is!" and the "Jee-wizz!" voices though!
Can't they dub it in English rather than American?
:)
And yes I'm half joking, I think....
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I always prefer to watch the original language dub over the English dub. But I often have to because the people I'll be watching it with don't have the attention span to actually read during a movie. I thought Ponyo and Spirited Away had pretty decent translation. Especially compared to the dub of Princess Mononoke (nervous twitch). It's like every actor phoned it in (except Keith David, most underrated voice in Hollywood)
shareWho cares? Don't sprain your shoulder from patting yourself on the back.
I know I'm shouting, I like to shout.
I try to avoid dubs at all costs. But in this case, being a child-oriented movie, I watched it first dubbed and later, when alone, I watched it with the japanese track and subtitles turned on.
For movies like 'Ponyo' dubs are good even necessary for little children. On adult-oriented films, I would never choose a dub over the original audio track. But on animated films aimed to little children, as I said before, I can make an exception.