Wolf Children (2013)

[Brian G Turner]

A compelling story about a woman bringing up a pair of children, who don't know whether to be human or wolf. Difficult to say more without revealing spoilers.

I wasn't sure whether we might enjoy this or not, but we're really glad we watched it. Plenty of entertainment and some laughs, and some decent pathos.

 

[AlexH]

One of my non-Ghibli favourites.

You really should try more Ghibli/Miyazaki.

 

[Overread]

I've not seen it, but I've oft heard it recommended and suggested. It's on my "every time I hear it I think I should watch it, but I often forget" list.

 

[AlexH]

I'm glad I don't watch trailers (I just watched this one to remind me more about the film) because I don't think that one does the film any favours, and I'm not sure I would've watched it based on that. I don't like the English dub so maybe it's that - which is often the case with anime. The children's voices often seem too annoying/cutesy/bratty? @Brian G Turner - do you watch dubbed?

I don't like Chihiro's English voice and prefer the Japanese audio with subtitles of Spirited Away. I don't remember Princess Mononoke's English dub being too bad, but I can't remember watching any others with English audio. Maybe Ponyo because that was the only choice at the cinema.

 

[Brian G Turner]

do you watch dubbed

No, always with subtitles - not least because a couple of my kids have an interest in learning Japanese and will often point out some of the deeper meanings inferred by the dialogue.

 

[HareBrain]

I don't remember Princess Mononoke's English dub being too bad

Memory fault. It was dreadful.

 

[Overread]

Memory fault. It was dreadful.

Which one?
Mononoke got two dubs, the first round (back in the VHS) days was, from what I've heard, bad. Along with Laputa the studio doing the dubs did them poorly and also edited and shifted the content around and cut segments out. The newer dub which is part of the DVD release that most of us are familiar with now is a far superior dub.

My experience is that dubs and subs vary greatly from item to item. Ghost in the Shell 2, for example, has a much clearer sub than it does a dub at several key points. So I always think if you want to commit to one or the other its a little foolish since one can be significantly better done than the other. Of course if learning Japanese is a focus then, of course, subs are going to be superior.

 

[HareBrain]

The newer dub which is part of the DVD release that most of us are familiar with now is a far superior dub.

The one with Billy Crudup and Gillian Anderson? It's still vastly inferior to the original, IMO. Gillian Anderson's voicing of Moro is completely flat, whereas the Japanese voicing has more character than you can shake a kodama at. And Crudup sounds too old to play Ashitaka, and again, his reading sounds flat to me.

 

[AlexH]

The Mononoke DVD I have is a 1990s release, so whichever that was.