Commentary &Miyazaki 06 Jan 2006 09:11 am

More Miyazaki on TCM

Last night I came into the last 2/3 of TCM’s airing of Princess Mononoke. It’s probably my favorite of the Miyazaki features. The design is different from his others in that it isn’t quite as hard edged; it feels more a transluscent medium than opaque.
Perhaps I also like the spirituality behind the whole film. As a Westerner, I don’t know a lot of the Japanese mythology, yet it seems that Miyazaki carries us along with him and carefully helps us to understand who and what these characters represent. It’s a lovely film.

However, those voices! Minnie Driver is a magnificent voice actor. Her readings have been consistently good, from Tarzan to South Park and ending here – in a very different characterization. It doesn’t seem to matter that she is trying to loop the mouth actions; she still gives us a character. Billy Crudup doesn’t fare quite as well. He is hit and miss in his readings, though his voice quality is perfect. Clair Danes is a poor choice for the character. She’s a good actress, but her voice doesn’t work well when separated from her body. This is just poor casting. Her name wasn’t enough to help the film. She also shouldn’t be playing the wild Princess Mononoke. Billy Bob Thornton, however, is completely miscast. His acting sounds as if he’s concentrating on the lip movements. Couldn’t the director have asked for a second reading from him? Many of the incidental characters are also pathetic. The voice dubbing constantly keeps us out of the film; viewers watching a badly dubbed movie. It’s too bad; this is such an enormous epic of a film.

2 Responses to “More Miyazaki on TCM”

  1. on 09 Jan 2006 at 2:03 pm 1.Marc said …

    Have you seen “My Neighbor Totoro”? I bought it for my three year old daughter, and I believe it’s the best young-kid’s animated film ever made (not to mention my wife and I love it as well). It’s stood up to repeated viewings for all three of us. Curious to hear your thoughts about it.

  2. on 09 Jan 2006 at 5:52 pm 2.MS said …

    My Neightbor Totoro is absolutely one of my favorite Miyazaki films. I’m looking forward to the screening TCM will do; it’s the new Disney dubbing.

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