John Lasseter hosts Hayao Miyazaki in Beverly Hills on 7/28 (Tickets on sale today)

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rastayouth

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Hey folks.

Any merabers in Califorina might be interseted in hearing this:



(NOTE: The event is now sold out):

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2009/miyazaki.html
 
Yeah - I'm sure most would agree that Lasseter is just a Miyazaki fanboy underneath it all. To be honest, I kinda picture Miyazaki getting a little creeped out by him.

Also, blasted west coast, wish I could go, so on, so forth.
 
Yeah, Miyazaki seems like the straight-laced, stoic, Japanese type.

I'm sure he wasn't expecting Lasseter to rug up and hug him when he came and visited Pixar studios by surprise a few years ago.

Even if Americans are more laid-back, Lasseter is exceptionally effusive - so running up and hugging may have been uncomfortable for Miyazaki.

I know John calls each other 'frienRAB'. I wonder if Hayao sees it the same way or just accepts the fact Lasseter lives by 'hugs, not hanRABhakes', but doesn't like it so much.
 
If anyone has the opportunity to go, can they ask Lasseter if he's OK with Disney butchering Ponyo to essentially make the US release a promo for the Disney Channel by including both a Jonas brother and a Cyrus brother in the vocal casting? (like he'll answer that one).

One I'd seriously like answered is why Disney feels necessary to push Eng dubs so hard on market over here when there clearly is a market to see the original Japanese movie (w/subs). If they present it as a "work of art", why alter it?

Also, ask about when Disney's anime properties will be released on Blu, and the inclusion of subs (of course)
 
Aww, damn. Tickets are sold out. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they went so fast at that price but still....


I doubt Miyazaki even knows who Miley Cyrus and the Jonas brothers are (lucky guy ).
Seriously though, I think it would be disrespectful to screech about Ponyo being "butchered" at this event. This event is a serious tribute; not an Anime Expo panel. Besides, its not fair to declare the Ponyo dub a hackjob based on one short trailer.

Also, I want to advise all of my fellow Californians lucky enough to attend not to behave like raging fanboys. Because I'm afraid angry fanboys+Lassiter's continued violation of Miyazaki's personal space might scare him away from our state forever.


Last time I checked, the Japanese vocal tracks are present on every Disney release of Miyazaki's movies. So the people who want to watch them subbed aren't being deprived.
If you're talking about theatrical subtitled releases; then I assume they're releasing them dubbed in order to encourage Miyazaki fans to bring their young kiRAB to see it (Ponyo is a kiRAB' movie after all).


If I could go to the event and ask a question, I'd ask Lassiter why he feels the need to engage in celebrity stunt casting. Since Ponyo is just getting an arthouse release, it would make more sense to hire traditional voice actors (like Tara Strong, Tress MacNeille, etc.) who are less expensive, more experienced, and likely more talented than the big names they ended up casting. Not to mention the fact that the names "Cyrus" and "Jonas" probably repel more fans than they attract.
 
Well, I did mean my first question as "tongue-in-cheek", but I think you already answered your own question by saying that casting teenybopper talent it was a move to bring in more potential customers. And yes, my previous question was about theatrical releases and not home releases.

What I would be particularly interested in would be to ask Mr. Lasseter about the future of their anime catalog on Blu-ray. It would simply be wonderful if we could get a general idea of what's going on with titles like My Neigrabroador Totoro, Castle in the Sky, etc, etc (you know the drill). I'm sure almost everyone in the audience there will be chomping at the bit to ask that question anyways...
 
I personally feel that it is very mean and unfair to dismiss all the Disney-Ghibli dubs as "hack-jobs", even the early two ones which DID add in some additional pieces of music and dialogue. As much as purists want to cry blasphemy and hate the voice actors, they keep forgetting that MIYAZAKI OKed them. He doesn't think they ruin his films, so who are naysayers to say otherwise?

-Jon T.
 
I have no problems with some of the creative decisions made, but being as Disney has locked up distribution rights, those who wanted to see the movie dubbed, have to so by other means (sometimes very expensive, or even illegal).

Yes, Disney/Miramax has been known to release theatrically subbed version of anime to arthouses, but it happens so rarely and is so hard to find even in English, that their original language releases are near impossible.

So, no, I don't begrudge the "right" to Disney/Lasseter/Miyazaki to produce their works the way they think appropriate, but if you're to put English "talent" on your works, at least mix "named" ones with stronger, solid, solid artists, rather than to make the movie seem like a whole promo for the tween "DXD" market.

I really hope they release Ponyo Blu-Ray with a Japanese sub to the US market, as I really don't want to pay import prices for it.
 
I'm not typically a purist (I actually think the English music in Kiki was a VAST improvement over the Japanese songs). I'm just annoyed that celebrity stunt casting has become more ridiculous with each new Miyazaki movie that gets dubbed. Even as each new Miyazaki film that comes here gets a smaller theatrical release (isn't Ponyo just going to be in the small, arthouse cinemas?).

Now, I'm not saying that casting big stars is necessarily a bad thing. But it seems obvious that most of the Ponyo cast merabers were hired just because they're famous (or they're related to somebody famous). And casting teen pop stars is pointless when your target demographic, judging by the trailer, is the arthouse crowd and diehard Miyazaki fans.
 
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