This is the most underrated (and controversial) of the Disney-Ghibli dubs; to this day fans debate over whether it is a fantastic new interpretation or a distortion of a great masterpiece. Although not flawless, Castle in the Sky's dub gets more criticism than it deserves; personally, I think it's entertaining in its own right, thanks to a gorgeous new score, snappy (if somewhat loose) dialogue, and noteworthy performances. This was the last to be handled by Jack Fletcher, who also directed the dubs for Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke. Actually, the dub was intended to be released after Kiki, but due to various factors which, to this day, are hotly debated, it didn't appear on DVD until 2003.
James Van der Beek (Pazu): An unusual casting choice, this has caused a lot of controversy from both critics and fans. While Van Der Beek's voice does sound perhaps a little too mature (although it would have been hard to imagine just what voice would suit this character, considering that he is in many ways young yet mature in others), his actual voice acting isn't as bad as you'd expect. Pazu is supposed to be earnest and exuberant, and Van Der Beek brings consistent enthusiasm to the part. His best scenes where he's talking quietly with Sheeta, notably on the Crow's nest on the Tiger Moth and during some exploration scenes in Laputa. Admittingly, his performance isn't my favorite, but he does a better job than what naysayers give him credit for.
Anna Paquin (Sheeta): Like Van Der Beek, Paquin sounds a bit too mature, but a childlike quality still remains with her voice, making her more of an appropriate choice. Her acting is good, but her accent is sometimes a little wishy-washy. At times it sounds American, while at times, it sounds British. (This "problem", however, actually works in favor of her character, considering that she is from "far, far away.")
Cloris Leachman (Dola): Leachman has stated in her interview in the too skimpy "Behind the Microphone" featurette that she was tailor-made for this role. Her zesty performance as the character is spot-on--commanding, tough-talking, and secretly softhearted (not to mention hilarious). It's obvious that Leachman was having a blast with the part--she never throws away any of her lines, an obvious testament to what a gifted professional she is.
Mark Hamill (Muska): (Insert jokes about Luke Skywalker going to the Dark Side here) Hamill has proven himself to be quite an accomplished voice actor, and Muska is arguably one of his finest roles. Sly and smooth-talking at one moment and devilishly insane at the next, Hamill runs wild with this character, oozing with genuine evil throughout. There have been some who stated that he sounds a bit like the Joker during the climactic scenes, but it works. And of course the evil laugh--awesome. If there's any reason that this dub warrants a listen, it's his performance as well as Leachman's. These two are phenomenal.
Mandy Patinkin, Mike McShane, and Andy Dick (Louie, Charles, and Henri--Dola's boys): A terrifically cast trio, with lots of beautifully exchanged one-liners, even if they were mostly adlibbed. Their best moments are when they celebrate over Pazu and Sheeta joining them, asking for food, and later on, when they each approach Sheeta, offering to help her in the kitchen. All three showcase distinct personalities (and favorite foods): case in point: Patinkin is shy and awkward (and prefers licking spatulas), McShane is straightforward ("I'm in love with you!" -- Priceless!) and wants pudding, while Dick is casual, and pretty mouthy (not to mention having a weakness for chocolate cake with a certain pink and swirly frosting.) They have few scenes, but they make the most of them with style.
Richard Dysart (Uncle Pom): This is only a small role, but it's a very lovely one. Of the performances in the dub, this is the most underrated. Dysart has a gentle, kind voice and gives a warm performance for this character. Plus, his first lines where he mistakes Pazu and Sheeta for goblins are both priceless and beautifully delivered, especially, "I can't see you clearly yet, goblin, but you sound like Pazu! And if these old eyes of mine don't deceive me, there's a she-goblin with you." Brilliant!
Jim Cummings (General): Ah, clever casting yet again. From the moment I found out he was in this dub, I knew I wanted to hear him. His general is as gruff and scratchy as you'd expect (in fact, he sounds somewhat similar to Razoul from Aladdin), but its in his scenes with Muska where he really shines. He also gets a memorable one-liner, "Blast! I really hate that man." If anything, this dub is more about the supporting characters than the leads.
John Hostetter (Boss): One of the things that I've always loved about the Ghibli dubs is how they use famous names with traditional voice actors and Anime voiceovers, giving them something of a multi-cultural feel. This role is an example of the latter. Hostetter is not very well known, but he has been heard in various dubs by Jack Fletcher--notably the Airship captain from Kiki's Delivery Service, Ji-San in Princess Mononoke, and Polk from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. There isn't much depth to his performance here, but there doesn't need to be. All that Hostetter has to do is provide gallant toughness and boldness, and he does just that with his gruff voice. It's a shame his voice has not been heard in any other Ghibli dub.
Aside from Tress MacNeille (who has become quite the Ghibli dubbing veteran), who turns in a cameo role as the wife of Pazu's boss, and Corey Burton (who is quite notable as one of Muska's agents) other roles in the dub are played by names such as John DeMita, Andrew Philpot, Michael Sorich, Matt Miller, Scott Menville, Eddie Frierson, and Debi Derryberry (who has a notoriety for playing high-pitched little girl's voices) as the obnoxiously funny, pint-sized daughter of Pazu's boss and a little softer and nuanced as young Sheeta in a flashback sequence. Admittingly, some of the incidental voices verge on sounding somewhat "cartoony," but considering that the movie has some equally cartoonish action, I don't consider this a bad thing at all.
The real star of the dub, though, is the completely revamped music score by Joe Hisaishi. Originally about an hour long in the original cut, Disney requested him to extend his cherished soundtrack to approximately 90 minutes for a full performance by symphony orchestra. The result is a breathtaking, sweeping musical enhancement that really carries the dub as a whole. As classic as the original score was (even when performed on synthesizers), this re-recording contains all the elements that made Hisaishi's soundtrack for Laputa so special... and a lot more, fleshing it out to orchestral beauty and clarity. Also, as much as I admired the creative use of silence in the original Japanese version for scenes such as the opening attack scene on the airship and when Pazu and Sheeta pass through a storm cloud at breakneck speed, hearing these previously quiet moments with music is a visceral experience in its own right. It really gives the movie a more epic, grandiose feel as a whole. That said, naysayers have attacked the new score on all sides (and sometimes unfairly), condemning it as inferior to the original and/or ill-suited to the film. In fact, the harshest of critics have claimed that the reworking of the music (in addition to the casting of the leads) is the ultimate reason to avoid the dub altogether. The backlash against the new music of Castle in the Sky is wholly undeserved; as mentioned, it was done by the original composer, Joe Hisaishi—and the fact that Miyazaki applauded the new score renders such accusations of blasphemy moot.
This is not to say that the Castle dub is flawless, far from it. The synchronization is a bit uneven in places. There are some times when lines are spoken when the mouth is open but not flapping (mostly in long-shots where the characters' faces are too small to make out any mouth movement). Part of this can be due to the sometimes stilted mouth flaps (occasional signs of the film showing its age), but some lines come off as a tad mistimed by about a hair. It was most noticeable, for me, during the scene where Sheeta and Pazu are communicating with Dola in the crow's nest. At other times, most words fit as smoothly without much error, while other lines are, irritatingly, spoken when a character's mouth is not moving! It does get a bit annoying if you're scrutinizing the dub for flaws; although to the average eye, they probably won't come across as so grating.
Aside from the leads and new music, the dub has been faulted for its sometimes hammy translation. As with Kiki, the script used to create the Disney adaptation was actually the same one used for an earlier dub distributed by Streamline Pictures in 1989, hence why some lines are surprisingly similar to both dubs, with the exception of a few embellishments for natural or lipflap purposes. The most glaring attack about this dub (and Kiki, for that matter) seem to be the inclusion of additional dialogue, particularly in scenes which were initially silent. Some of these extra lines, admittingly, aren't really necessary (Sheeta talking a bit more about her past over a scene where there was previously music), but they're hardly blasphemous and most of them (such as the background banter between the pirates and Dola coaching Sheeta to talk like a pirate) are fitting with the characters and pricelessly written. Extra lines aside, John Semper's adaptation is actually pretty faithful for the most part (that is to say, while the dialogue is not necessarily word-for-word with the subtitles, many of the lines convey the same meaning), however there are various alterations. Most of them aren't terribly noticeable and don't really hamper the film (I actually like the term "aetherium crystal" over "volucite", as it displays the importance of Sheeta's pendant to the audience in a way that the literal translation does not--in the same way that "Forest Spirit" does for the "Deer God" in Princess Mononoke), but two of them are somewhat questionable:
1) In the original Japanese version, there are references to "Gulliver's Travels" and "Treasure Island" at two instances. (This was partially done by Miyazaki as a tribute to Swift's original novel.) The English script deletes them and replaces them with lines which work in favor of the characters, but noticeably different from the original intent. Whether this was due to problems of getting the rights to reference both of these in the English script or for lipflap/natural flow is unclear, but it is a minor curiosity nonetheless.
2) Probably the only real controversial alteration is during the final confrontation scene where Sheeta tells Muska that "the world cannot live without love" as opposed to the original "you can't survive apart from Earth." Hardcore fans were quick to cry blasphemy over this line, but it actually comes across as a bit of a two-faced card. On one hand, this changes the ecological message of Miyazaki's original screenplay; on the flip side, it could be left open to ambiguous interpretation. (I suppose, though, that this change is no more debatable than Kiki regaining her ability to speak to Jiji at the end of the Kiki's Delivery Service dub.)
Such shortcomings are ultimately irrelevant however, because on the whole, the characters and story are true to the spirit of the original source material. This worked with Kiki's Delivery Service, and, other than the occasional rewrites and throwaway lines, it does likewise for Castle in the Sky. The story remains faithful and coherent; it's just, well, delivered a little bit differently.
I expect that hardcore fans will crucify me for my thoughts on the Disney dub of Laputa, but while it may not be the accurate, undistorted version that purists demanded, it's still lightyears above a majority of the weaker dubs around. Even though the leads are only OK and the script too loose in places, its highlights -- the new score and the bravura performances by the rest of the cast -- outweigh such shortcomings by far and ultimately render the dub a delight. Even though some may use the dub as a speculation point about aural alterations, I have to say that it does its job in providing a rollickingly good, fresh new version of a classic tale and then some. On the whole, there is little point in comparing the Disney dub to the Japanese version; each puts its own distinctive spin on this masterpiece, and I like them both. |
