August 12, 2006

[Anime] "Totoro" vs. "Totoro"

Tonight, I finally watched the Disney dub of one of my favorite movies of all time, "My Neighbor Totoro."

Up until now, I'd only seen the full-screen Fox dub of the movie, so it was interesting comparing the two.

The Disney version has a more accurate dub, a crisper recording, an amazing audio mix, and is technically superior in every way to the Fox dub...so why do I feel like something was missing?

I can only put it on the performances of Dakota and Elle Fanning...they were almost too polished. While all of the adults came across as very convincing in their respective roles, Dakota and Elle came across as child actresses playing children instead of the children that they really were. It may sound like a silly distinction, but it's true.

So I'm going to keep both versions of the movie. I'll keep the Disney version for those times when I want to watch it subtitled, but for when I want to hear English, I'm going to have to stick with the Fox dub.

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