My Neighbor Totoro (Disney and Streamline Versions)

There really is no argument that Hayao Miyazaki's 1998 whimsical fantasy My Neighbor Totoro is one of the greatest Anime -- correction, greatest films -- of all time.  Despite this, however, a major debate about this movie still continues to rage on:  which English dub version is preferable?

Before I offer my answer, here's a history lesson.

Back in the late 1980's, sometime after My Neighbor Totoro made its first Japanese premiere in 1988, Streamline Pictures' Carl Macek (who was dissastisfied by the quick-and-dirty disaster that was the JAL-produced dub of Castle in the Sky -- which Disney nonetheless redubbed for its recent release) was commissioned to produce the version that many viewers were introduced to regarding this film.  This dub was later picked up by Troma Pictures Studio, who gave the film a very limited theatrical release in 1993.  It was followed by a successful video release from FOX, clearing over half a million copies.  Even Macek's harshest detractors declared that this early dub was his finest hour, and it remains a favorite of many to this day.  (Unfortunately, the DVD release that followed more than seven years later was another matter--it was a pan and scan copy with no Japanese language track or bonus features, much to the disappointment of many fans.)

As fate would have it, FOX's rights for Totoro soon expired, and, as Disney acquired the Ghibli catalog, it is probably unsurprising that they would produce their own version of Totoro.  The now expected team of scriptwriters Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt, voice director Rick Dempsey, and translator Jim Hubbert, brought in famous stars to redub this film.  Due to rights complications, however, the new dub, scheduled for release in 2004, didn't appear until two years later.  But unlike Fox's version, reaction to the new dub was wildly divided (an atmosphere not uncommon with Disney's dubs for Ghibli's works); most critics were generally favorable, welcoming the new version as a fresh update for a new generation, but many longtime fans of the FOX dub were furious, condemning the new dub as a travesty and a desecration of a great family film.  The saddest fact is that most of these viewers had decided from the get-go that the Disney version, regardless of its quality, would never live up to the movie; such an atmosphere only succeeded in fueling fire to those who believe that Disney only acquired Ghibli's works just to destroy them, an argument which is totally fatuous in every way.  (It was back then, and remains so today.)

The negative backlash against the Disney redub of this beloved masterpiece is totally unjustified.  Despite my affection for the initial dub, it is no excuse to dismiss this new version as an inferior imitation.  To the average ear, it is a very fine English adaptation in its own right, and, if one is not so attached to the Fox version or the Japanese track, there really isn't anything truly wrong with it.  The only thing that may work against Disney's dub is nostalgia, but otherwise, it doesn't deserve half of the scathing slamdunks it receives.

In other words, both Fox and Disney's dubs of My Neighbor Totoro are appealing in their own ways.  Neither version is superior or inferior to the other, they're only, well, different approaches.  Both are produced by very talented people who obviously love Miyazaki's work (the Hewitt scriptwriters have even said that they liked the Streamline/Fox dub too).  Both are well cast and genuinely well acted.  And there's nothing about either dub that compromises the atmosphere or tone of this masterpiece at all.  Contrary to what anyone else may declare.

So in my evaluation of both dubs, I will not pedestalize one over the other; nor will I compare them to the Japanese version, as I feel that dubs should always be viewed on their own merits, not as a comparison tool.  The cast of Totoro is a considerably small one compared to most other Ghibli movies, so only the principal (important) characters will be covered.

SATSUKI (Lisa Michelson, Streamline/FOX dub; Dakota Fanning, Disney dub) -- The two sisters who serve as the main characters carry the show along, so it is important for both to be voiced appropriately and ACT like children. Lisa Michelson, the late wife of the ADR director for FOX Totoro, raises her mature-sounding voice to sound childlike. Usually such attempts can sound strained or unbelievable, but it works very well for Lisa. She obviously sounds like a sister of the verge of adulthood while struggling to maintain her childlike innocence.

Dakota takes the character in a similar way, but with a different approach.  While her performance may not be on the same caliber as, say, Coraline, it's a very good one in its own right.  She has an odd tendency to sound "older than her age," but this works pretty well with her character.  There are some scenes where she comes across as more low-key than necessary (notably toward the end of the movie, where she underacts somewhat), yet her interactions with her little sister Elle make the dub equally natural and believeable.  She's not afraid to let loose during the scenes where she and Mei are frolicking around the house or even screaming to scare away mysterious specters.  Bottom-line:  Lisa Michelson's efforts are great for their time, but Dakota is a great actress, too.  Both tie in this role.  (It should be noted that the name is pronounced differently in both dubs:  the first dub calls her Sat-SOO-ki, while Disney's simply says "Sats-ki".  The latter is the correct way to pronounce the name.)

MEI (Cheryl Chase, Streamline/FOX dub; Elle Fanning, Disney dub) -- Arguably the juiciest role in the film, Mei is a hyperactive and sometimes impatient youngster who often upstages her big sister.  At the time I listened to the first dub, I didn't realize that Cheryl actually was trying to sound very childlike, because it sounded very natural.  This is a very fitting example of adults voicing children convincingly.

Elle Fanning's interpretation is no less entertaining; in fact, one might argue that she steals the show.  Also working in her favor is that she is approximately around the character's age (off by about two years, but not by much).  She is consistently lively and adorable, with a cute laugh to match.  She relishes any moment where Mei is in action and handles her emotions in a very effective way that don't feel forced.  Her crying scene toward the end, too, is priceless. I've heard many declare that she is annoying, but one could say the same thing about Cheryl's take.  All in all both Cheryl and Elle are great, however, Elle gets an edge from me due to sounding more "realistic", so to speak.

DAD (aka MR. KUSAKABE) (Greg Snegoff, Streamline/FOX dub; Tim Daly, Disney dub) -- The scatterbrained but kindly father of the girls is at times easygoing and fun and other times serious and comforting, just like any father. Snegoff's approach on the character is pretty much as you would expect, and more than appropriate (he also served as the ADR director and wrote the script, as mentioned earlier).

Tim Daly plays the character identical to Snegoff's, and is pretty much on par. He has a soothing, soft gentle voice, and he doesn't hesitate to let go in the moments where he acts childlike (in the bath scene, for instance).  Once again, both actors tie.

MOM (aka MRS. KUSAKABE) (Alexandra Kenworthy, Streamline/FOX dub; Lea Salonga, Disney dub) -- The mother of the girls has a very small part, but is equally well played in both dubs. Both Salonga and Kenworthy have soft, motherly voices and portray their characters pretty much the same.

GRANNY (NANNY in FOX dub) (Natalie Core, Streamline/FOX dub; Pat Carroll, Disney dub) -- This character is approached differently but effectively in both dubs. Natalie is as grandmotherly as you'd expect, very soft and gentle, only getting emotional in the film's critical scenes toward the end.

As for Pat Carroll, I was surprised when I found out that she was cast for this character, but there were no traces of Ursula within her. It was also very pleasing and refreshing to hear her play a different kind of character rather than a nasty, bargaining, double-crossing Sea Witch.  Once you get past the jarring recognition, it's easy to appreciate her performance too.

 

KANTA (Kenneth Hartman, Streamline/FOX dub; Paul Butcher, Disney dub) -- One thing that both dubs have in common is that this impish youngster who teases Satsuki (and later befriends her) is played by a young boy. Kenneth's voice is noticeably deeper than Paul's, but both play the character just as they should:  shy, antagonistic, and, later on, emphatic.  One thing that Paul does differently is that he makes these "grunting" noises to accentuate his attempted gestures to hand his either a picnic basket or his umbrella to Satsuki.  I found this pricelessly funny.  There's also a difference in the approach to the scene where the boy argues with his mother:  Kenneth sounds bratty and defiant, while Paul has a bit more of a "whiney" tone.  Both are effective, however.

 

TOTORO (Greg Snegoff, Streamline/FOX dub; Frank Welker, Disney dub) -- The titular character is only in for a few scenes, and does little more than growl, grumble, and roar. There is no actual credit to who did Totoro's voice in the Fox dub (and, contrary to popular belief, it's not the Japanese voice actor -- it is, surprisingly, Greg Snegoff), but it's difficult to evaluate the performance as a whole when it consists basically of only one speaking line (if it can be called that).  One thing that should be mentioned is, probably due to the scratchy sound mix, at times his roar sounds a bit like a chainsaw being revved up.

One of the biggest criticisms I hear of the Disney dub is the dubbing of Totoro's voice; fans have declared that he sounds too ferocious in comparison. However, I will argue that either interpretation is valid. Welker shouldn't be discredited, either; he is a fabulous actor and what he brings is no less credible.  Granted, all he has to do is provide bass-rumbling "creature noises", but he does them pretty much as you'd expect.  (For other roles where he does similarly "beastly" noises, check out BigFoot in A Goofy Movie or even the Tiger God from Aladdin).
(Some viewers have taken issue with the pronunciation of Totoro's name in Disney's dub as opposed to the "TO-toro" in the Fox dub, but either way is valid.)

 

CAT BUS (Carl Macek, Streamline/FOX dub; Frank Welker, Disney dub) -- The approach to the most unusual character in the film is strikingly different in both dubs. In FOX's version, Carl Macek gives the cat a high-pitched male voice with only two lines, "Next stop, little sister!" which works fairly well.  Otherwise, it's basically distorted sounding "growls" and not much else.

Welker, on the other hand, provides the character with cat-like meows and at one point even screeches, "MEEEEEEI!"; an odd substitute, but it's no less effective.  It may only be jarring to hear Welker's approach if you're so accustomed to the FOX dub, yet that's really my only quibble with him.

The minor supporting characters in both the FOX and Disney dubs are portrayed equally well.

Voices aside, one other difference in the FOX and Disney dubs is in the adaptation of the script.  Macek and Snegoff's script is sometimes a bit loose in places (naming the fuzzy creatures "dust bunnies", for instance), but is otherwise faithful to the original.  Unfortunately, I did notice several places where the dialogue sometimes sounds stilted, particularly in Mei's confrontation with the goat.  Yet since this was done in an era when technology had not yet caught up with how to do dubbing, I'm more forgiving.

The Disney version, scripted by the Hewitts, on the other hand, is a fresh new translation of the Japanese script, and, as such, hews closer in tone to it.  Past Disney dubs have sometimes gone overboard with adding in extra dialogue (although I'm nowhere nearly as anal about it; the dubs are still charming), but with Totoro this habit is very much toned down.  Many may argue otherwise, but this script actually surpasses that of the previous dub, for sounding both natural and going the extra mile of including details that the previous dub neglected to mention (the origin of the Totoros, for instance). And while fans may groan all they want about "classic" lines being replaced, the fact remains is that the basic story is unchanged. There are a few places where the lip-sync doesn't always mesh, but note that I emphasize the word FEW.  (Some will take issue about the fuzzy creatures called "soot gremlins", but either translation is fine.)

Probably the only (minor) false note of Disney's dub is in the handling of the opening and ending songs.  The translated lyrics are the same as in the FOX version, but the singer is different.  Unlike the warm tones of Cassie Byram, who delivered "Hey Let's Go" and the showclosing "Totoro", respectively, these songs are instead handled by one Sonya Isaacs.  Her voice is competent enough and she hits high notes appropriately, but her approach to the opening song has more of a "gung-ho" attitude and as such, is a bit less charming.  She does fare a little better in the ending song, particularly in the bits that she harmonizes parts of the last couple of verses.  One other difference is that the songs sound more crisper and vibrant in the new dub but come across as somewhat scratchy-sounding in the older one.  So, basically, there are pros and cons to both versions:  one is more soothing but more "old" in terms of clarity, while the other offers technical improvements but not so much on the singing end.

Otherwise, however, there really aren't any major quibbles I can find with Disney's dub of My Neighbor Totoro.  There is no denying that the FOX dub is a classic of its time, but Disney's reinterpretation is by no means a disservice.  While the arguments over which version is superior may rage on until the very bitter end, it's obvious that the creators of both dubs are fans of Miyazaki, and it shows in both takes.  Each takes their own approach to the story, and are neither better nor worse.  They simply are what they are.

UPDATE:  Thanks to robert for identifying the singer for the FOX dub of Totoro!  And Khyron Yopvaiumat for identifying the voice of Totoro in the FOX dub!

Also, as a response to posters who insist on badmouthing the Disney dub in comparison the FOX dub:


Sorry, but I will not be accepting any such comments on my blog.  As moderator of this blog, I personally feel that both dubs of Totoro have merit, and I don't think it's particularly fair to put down one over the other, and I still stand by this statement.  If you don't agree, that's understandable, but one-sided, hateful comments will NOT be tolerated on my site.

Whisper of the Heart

It took quite a long time for a dub for Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo's first and only film for Studio Ghibli) to be produced, but the results are worthwhile.  It is a delightful, well-produced English track, just like any of the Ghibli-Disney dubs.  Other reviewers such as AnimeonDVD's Chris Beveridge and Dani Moure have praised it as one of their best. That said, Whisper of the Heart's dub has also received its share of detractors; there are those who simply refuse to give this dub any credit, in the form of either stubborn, unpleasable fans who are too fond of the original Japanese or even a few reviewers who simply have an axe to grind (e.g. Film Freak Central's own Walter Chaw, who dismissed the dub as "sub-par" compared to Disney standards and the owner of The Ghibli Blog called it "one of the worst Disney dubs yet", adding that the actors "sound like parents talking down to a baby or stroke victims" -- then again, said critic disliked all the Ghibli dubs save Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and Totoro). However, if one doesn't watch any of the Ghibli dubs with any said baggage on their shoulders, it is much easier to appreciate them as a whole. That certainly applies to Whisper of the Heart, which, to the average ear, is a very natural-sounding, well-written, and top-quality English track. I wouldn't say it's the best Ghibli dub (I love the others too much), but it is definitely an effort that does not deserve to be tossed aside as second-rate.

Produced by the now-expected team of ADR director Rick Dempsey and scriptwriters Cindy Davis and Donald H. Hewitt (who helmed the Ghibli dubs since Spirited Away), Whisper of the Heart is not an easy movie to translate, and if done straightly, it could make the mistake of alienating the audience.  A crucial part of the story involves an American song, "Take Me Home, Country Road" by John Denver (delivered in the opening credits by Olivia Newton-John), where the protagonist attempts to translate the song into Japanese.  Obviously that wouldn't work, so the scriptwriters have her rewrite the lyrics to suit her own tastes.  This is not the only example of pragmatic changes that occur in the script.  Other ones include a tongue-in-cheek comment about the parody writing of "Concrete Road", "Great lyrics. They're even cornier than the original version!" (vs. "You should give up on 'Concrete Road'"), and lastly a marriage proposal at the end.  (Considering that the two have only met for a few days, hearing them agree to a marriage does feel somewhat abrupt. If anything, this could be counted as an improvement over the original script.)  The dialogue is not word-for-word with the literal translation, but it somehow succeeds in maintaining the spirit of the original without compromising it.  This is the sort of standard I've come to expect from any Ghibli-Disney dub, and this is no exception.

The casting for this story is important because Whisper is a story about High school teenagers; thankfully, Disney puts together a capable cast for the characters in question with performances that bring sincerity and believability to this slow-paced love story. (And contrary to the aforementioned poster, they are not "syrupy, overdone" or "cartoonish" in the least.)

SHIZUKU (Brittany Snow): For the lead character, an insecure teenager with a passion for stories and an obliviousness to certain responsibilites (a weakness which is magnified in the latter half), Miss Snow handles herself excellently. She has a very lovely voice, conveying the character's innocence and childlike wonder; every emotional moment is handled in a way that is lively and believeability without sounding saccharine. Brittany even gets to show off her singing abilities for the film's solo vocal piece ("Country Road"). There are several moments where she has to speak fast to keep up with the mouth movements, but that's more of a criticism of the animation lip flaps than her overall performance. (This wouldn't be her only voice acting job, either; some time after, she was heard as the lonely sorceress Namine in Kingdom Hearts II.)

SEIJI (David Gallagher): Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, Riku himself speaks for the boy whose name Shizuku notices in the library cards on the books she regularly checks out. When we first meet Seiji he comes across as anything but the "nice, intelligent, civilized person" that Shizuku imagines him to be; in fact he "comments" on her work and her father's lunch. But that's only one side of his personality, we discover, as he shows himself to also be a kind, genial boy who has a lot more in common with Shizuku than even she imagines. Gallagher handles these earlier moments in a way that is very cocky and amusing. His scenes with Snow are the core of the entire story, and it helps that there is chemistry between the two throughout the dub. It's hard to believe that neither recorded their lines together. (It also seems that Disney just can't escape criticism, either, when it comes to casting leads; I've heard naysayers say that both Snow and Gallagher are wrong for their roles. It seems there is no pleasing everybody.)

YOKO (Ashley Tisdale): Shizuku's best friend is also Brittany Snow's real life best friend, as mentioned in the behind-the-scenes documentary. I like casting choices like this, as it brings an added authenticity and naturalism to the relationship between the two girls. Tisdale has a more nasally voice which lends well to her bits of irritation and her timid moments. She also does a great job with her emotional breakdown scene. Interesting note: Tisdale was familiar with the song "Country Road", unlike Snow, and so she had to teach Brittany the song; this works in favor of the first scene where the two girls sing Shizuku's initial lyrics.

SHIHO (Courtney Thorne-Smith): The older sister of Shizuku is a cantankerous character, always in a foul mood, and sometimes at odds with her sibling. It is easy to portray this girl as an annoying bitch, but Courtney somehow steers around that trap, making Shiho appropriately grumpy but also concerned and caring for Shizuku, especially when the latter neglects her house chores (and exam scores!) in favor of writing a story.

SHIZUKU'S MOTHER AND FATHER (Jean Smart and James Seking): Nothing much to write about their performances here, other than that they play Shizuku's parents pretty much as you'd expect--stern, caring, and warm at heart. Seking has a few moments which come across as somewhat monotonous, but not enough to bring down the character or the scenes he is in.

SUGIMURA (Martin Spanjers): The other significant "child" character in the movie is Shizuku and Yuko's classmate, or to put it mildly, an oblivious but goodhearted dope who has no idea that Yuko is in love with him. What really makes his character work is the dialogue; Martin's delivery of "I don't speak girl-code! Why don't you spell it out for me?" is pricelessly funny. He also has the right tone for this kind of character. Considering that this is a modern-day "realistic" story, it helps that the children all sound authentic (no offense to any of the other Ghibli dubs, of course).

BARON (Cary Elwes): I've always found it amusing that several veterans from The Princess Bride have somehow found their way into Ghibli dubs (Inigo Montoya in Laputa, Miracle Max in Howl, and Prince Humperdinck in Nausicaa), but Westley is lucky. This is his third appearance in a Ghibli film, the first being Donald Curtis in Porco Rosso. His second role is the character he plays in this film, a charismatic gentleman cat named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, or simply Baron. His performance was the highest point of the otherwise predictable and uninspired The Cat Returns (the only Ghibli film to have disappointed me thus far). Compared to that film, however, Baron’s role is smaller, and so Elwes has few lines, but even so, the third time is a charm.

NISHI (Harold Gould): This guy takes my vote for being the best performer in the overall dub. It always seems to be a tradition for every Ghibli dub to have a performer who takes the status of "stealing the show", so to speak (save Pom Poko); Gould's portrayal of the kindly old shopkeeper who helps Shizuku on her spiritual growth into a young woman is no exception. Gould has the sort of gentle, grandfatherly voice that one would naturally expect from this character, and his natural delivery throughout really makes the viewer wish that Mr. Nishi was the sort of kindly uncle everyone wishes they had. In other words, Mr. Gould really contributes to the movie's overall "heart". Only issue: occasional distortion in the clarity of the voice, yet it is a nuisance that gradually goes away.

Anyone who has viewed a Disney-Ghibli dub should not expect anything less for the additional characters, and there's no disappointments to be had here. The high school students, in particular, sound great, not only for being age-appropriate, but for the handling of the walla scenes. This is especially amusing in the scene where the students tease Shizuku about her relationship with Seiji.

It is a wonder, too, that Whisper of the Heart ever got dubbed at all; at the time Disney acquired the rights to these movies, one would wonder about how they would handle a Japanese-centric film like this. There was even a legality issue that delayed its release (involving the use of the John Denver song). In the end, however, it is worth it, because the resulting dub is yet another commendable achievement in the high-profile Disney-Ghibli English tracks. While Whisper is not my favorite Ghibli-Disney dub, I will not deny that it is indeed a top-notch effort; nor do I hesitate to recommend it in the least. It is certainly deserving of an appreciative audience.

R.I.P. Carl Macek

Reported on Anime News Network:

Animation historian Jerry Beck reported on his blog on Sunday that American producer Carl Macek passed away due to a heart attack on Saturday. Macek and Beck had co-founded the anime importing company Streamline Pictures in 1988.

Macek is best known for producing Robotech, the 1985 redubbed and edited adaptation of three different anime series — Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada. He also worked on the dubbing of many anime projects from Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years (redubbed and edited adaptation of Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia) to more recently, Bleach and Naruto. His other dubbing production credits include Vampire Hunter D, Robot Carnival, My Neighbor Totoro, and Aura Battler Dunbine. Although Streamline Pictures did not dub the 1988 film Akira, it did release the film in theaters and on video tape in the United States.

Outside anime, Macek wrote The Art of Heavy Metal (Animation for the Eighties), the 1981 book about the Canadian animated film Heavy Metal. That led to his co-writing credit on the Heavy Metal 2000 spinoff. He also developed the Lady Death film at ADV Films and wrote War Eagles, a novel based on an unproduced film treatment by Merian C. Cooper.

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My comments:

As controversial as the subject of dubbing for Anime is, it is nonetheless disheartening when we lose anyone who made a significant impact on the market of today.  While I have mixed opinions about his work (some dubs of his I like, others not so much), Macek was still pretty much undeserving of the backlash he received from many detractors.  Controversial though his translation decisions may have been, they nonethless have opened up a gate for Anime; we wouldn't be watching Anime in English.  More importantly, people unfamiliar with Anime may not have become introduced to these works if it weren't for him.

My condolences to Mr. Macek's family.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Once upon a time, when the Anime industry was still non-existant and the only way fans of this new form of art could have any access to it was through importing fan-subtitled videotapes, it was a common, although very controversial, practice for American companies to take Japanese produced movies, or series, and cobble the "footage" into something "marketable" for mainstream audiences.  Needless to say, this was a practice that many fans didn't take very kindly to, least of all one particular director named Hayao Miyazaki.  Around this era of cut-and-paste compilations, Miyazaki's 1984 animated epic, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, despite achieving cult status with both the Japanese public and overseas fans, suffered from a heavily edited American release.  Chopped down from its two-hour running time into a 90-minute edit, and altering much of the plot and characters, the resulting disaster was infamously known as "Warriors of the Wind".  Needless to say, Miyazaki was appalled by this treatment; so much so, in fact, that he declared that any future adaptation of his work should be done under his terms.  As such, the public was denied of Miyazaki's work for more than twenty years.

Flash forward about twenty years later.  Having successfully produced English versions of six Ghibli features under their agreement with the Japanese studio, Disney commissioned a brand-new dub for what many fans consider one of Miyazaki's most important films ever.  Unlike "Warriors", however, this version would not omit even one second, nor even change even one aspect of its storyline or characters.  In fact, the only thing that would count as an alteration of any kind is the inclusion of the celebrity and voice actors and English dialogue.  (As well as a few minor terminology tweaks.)  So how did Disney's new version of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind turn out?  Well, as usual, reaction ranged from genuinely favorable to harshly critical.  (The owner of the Ghibli Blog, for instance, once declared on a now deleted post on IMDB that the redub of Nausicaa is actually worse than "Warriors of the Wind" "if I was really rotten.")  Whether it was derided or praised, a good majority of viewers agreed that, after what New World Video had done to Nausicaa, anything else had to be a considerable improvement.

As "Warriors of the Wind" shouldn't even be counted as a proper dub at all, I will not even cover it in my mentioning of my review, except that I did manage to see a brief clip of it.  Needless to say, it's below the standards of the current version, even if it does feature respected actors like Jack Angel, Hal Smith, and Ginny Tyler, and it doesn't help that it was heavily edited.  The performances in Disney's dub, meanwhile, are an entirely different matter.  Produced by the now expected team of ADR director Rick Dempsey and scriptwriters Donald and Cindy Hewitt, the new dub of Nausicaa is a fresh, competently produced effort that easily outclasses its predecessor.

NAUSICAA (Alison Lohman) -- The titular character of Miyazaki's epic tale is a very demanding and essentially challenging one.  Nausicaa is a strong-willed but sometimes vulnerable teenage girl with a compassionate, caring nature and a strong stand on solving problems without using violence.  Simultaneously, she is wrestling with her own inner demons of anger (as evidenced in the scene where she flies into a murderous rage at her father's killers) and has some very poignant moments of fragility.  All of this makes for a daunting task for any actress; initially it seemed as though Natalie Portman (yes, Queen Amidala) would be speaking for this character, but in the end, the role went to Alison Lohman.  Her performance as this character has divided many viewers--an atmosphere not much different from other lead characters in Ghibli/Disney dubs.  Most reviewers greeted her performance very favorably, but others found her lacking in every way.  (The cruelest critic of all was the owner of the Ghibli Blog, who declared that Lohman "sounds more like the typical teenage girl on a Disney Channel sitcom. Good glayvin, she can't even yell properly.")  In fact, there are a few places where her delivery isn't always strong, mostly in some of the more quiet scenes (such as her exploration of the gloomy area beneath the quicksand pit).  But to castigate her overall performance based on a few minor setbacks would seem unfair, because overall, Lohman does a very commendable job.  Vocally, she has a genuinely calm, pleasant tone which never ventures into saccharine territory, and while there are a few moments where her shouting or screaming scenes falter, other such moments are very strong... particularly at the climax where she struggles against a baby Ohmu.  In this latter sequence, she gives her all.  Not the strongest performance in the dub, but better than average overall.

LORD YUPA (Patrick Stewart) -- The first person to speak in the dub is this elderly but charismatic swordsman, who serves as something of a mentor to Nausicaa and aids her plight to keep the piece.  Stewart's deeply rich baritone is instantly recognizable, bringing a dramatic gravitas to this character and adds a powerful presence to the cast.  Unsurprisingly, too, he adds himself to the tradition of the usual "show-stealer" that these dubs often have.  Whether he is talking with Nausicaa or addressing the Tolmekians in a stern tone, Stewart shows why he is a true pro when it comes to both acting and in voicing a character.  Another quirk about his performance is that he is not really "lip-synching", since all that is seen of the character when he talks is his moving moustache.  Patrick jokes in the voice talent featurette that he is "moustache-synching", and he does that with style.  (Interestingly, some time after this, he would show up in another Anime, Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy, alongside another Ghibli alumni, Castle in the Sky's lead actress Anna Paquin, but that's another topic altogether.)

MITO (Edward James Olmos) -- There are several male characters in Nausicaa's kingdom who serve as her trusted servants/allies, and Mito is one such person.  In addition to being fiercely loyal, he is very concerned for his charge.  He also has a bit of a "rough and ready" edge, as evidenced when he tries to shoot down a Tolmekian craft carrying a badly damaged Ohmu baby.  Olmos has a considerably scratchy-sounding voice which is fairly appropriate for the character, although there are moments in his performance where he comes across as though he's reading.  Otherwise, however, it's a decent role all around.

KUSHANA (Uma Thurman) -- Like Lady Eboshi in Princess Mononoke, this character is a very fierce, strong-willed figure of authority (in this case, the Princess of the Tolmekian Army) who insists on destroying a natural resource (the Toxic Jungle) for the sake of saving her people.  Unlike Eboshi, however, Kushana is a much more ruthless and less sympathetic character--even after Nausicaa, Yupa, and the elders from the valley combined pardon her, she is still deeply committed to awaken the most deadly creature in the world (the Giant Warrior) to carry out her cruel vengeance.  Thurman conveys these bitter aspects of the character aptly; although unlike Minnie Driver, she does not use an accent.  Nonetheless, she does have a steel, harsh quality to her voice which works in favor of her declarations of war and threats.  Yet as Kushana is not really an "evil" person, Thurman wisely steers her performance around cliche territory.

KUROTOWA (Chris Sarandon) -- One thing I've always found amusing in the Ghibli dubs is the casting of actors best known for their roles in the cult-classic The Princess Bride.  In Castle in the Sky, we have Mandy "Inigo Montoya" Patinkin as one of Dola's goofy but loveable sons, Cary "Westley" Elwes speaks for both Donald Curtis in Porco Rosso as well as the Baron in both Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns, while Prince Humperdinck gets to play this sneaky swordsman who serves as Kushana's ally.  Actually, Sarandon is no stranger to voice acting, as animation fans remember him best as Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Nonetheless, the snide, somewhat smarmy tone he provides to Kurotowa brings him somewhat more in line with the role he's famous for in Rob Reiner's film.  He makes the most of his scenes, and, if it weren't for Stewart, would probably tie as one of the best in the dub.  Either way, though, it is gratifying to hear Humperdinck -- sorry, Sarandon -- participate in a Ghibli production.  One wonders if he'll participate in another.

ASBEL (Shia LaBeouf) -- If there is a weak link in the dub of Nausicaa, it may be for LaBeouf's performance as Asbel, the aggressive prince from Pejite who eventually becomes Nausicaa's friend and ally.  Vocally, LaBeouf does have the right tone for the character, but his actual acting is another matter.  His initial readings come across as rather stiff and monotonous.  It's not drastic enough to bring down the dub, but it is definitely not one of the strongest performances in a Ghibli dub.  (Even James van der Beek's Pazu, while -- perhaps unfairly -- criticized for sounding more mature than his character, was a lot more, well, animated in his actual acting than here.)  That said, he does grow more into his role (although considering that he has a considerably small part in the film it's really hard to say how Asbel could be better fleshed out vocally), and moments where he is thrust into action (threatening the guards to release Nausicaa, or helping the latter escape when his carrier is attacked) are definitely all uphill from his first appearance.

PEJITE MAYOR (Mark Hamill) -- This marks the second time that the multi-talented voice actor formerly known as Luke Skywalker participates in a Disney/Ghibli production.  His first, an impeccable turn as the deviously treacherous Muska, has always been hailed as one of Castle in the Sky's greatest strengths.  Compared to that role, however, the Mayor of Pejite is a considerably smaller part, and as such, Hamill's voice work here isn't as outstanding.  That said, it is gratifying to hear him in another film by Miyazaki, even as a cameo.  A note about the character:  the Mayor of Pejite is not a villainous character, but rather, a misguided man dedicated to protecting his tribe regardless of whether his ruthless decision to send a stampede of raging Ohmu toward Nausicaa's home kingdom causes any harm.  Hamill plays him as such; while his harsh, gritty tone is somewhat similar to Muska, he wisely steers around making the Mayor another "evil" character.

KING JIHL (Mark Silverman) -- The father of Nausicaa, the bedridden ruler of the Valley of the Wind, has a considerably scanty but noteworthy part.  Silverman has the sort of aged voice that works very well for this character and he sounds very solid throughout.

OBABA (Tress MacNeille) -- Adding yet another role to her rather impressive list of credits in a Ghibli dub, Miss MacNeille plays this blind old woman who serves as something of a fortune-teller.  Her voice is considerably raspy and very ancient in tone; this is not an easy trick to pull off, but Tress manages it well.

The rest of the vocal cast consist of Disney's standard use of traditional voice actors for other roles, all of who blend seamlessly into the cast.  The late Tony Jay (better known to Disney fans as Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame) provides a brief opening narration (ala Keith David in Princess Mononoke); James Arnold Taylor, Frank Welker, and Jeff Bennett voice three "elderly" characters who are both warriors and loyal servants to Nausicaa; and other voices such as Bridget Hoffman, Edie Mirman, Peter Renaday, and Robert Clotworthy can all be heard among the incidental cast.  Hey, even Jodi Benson (yes, Ariel herself) makes a brief but noteworthy cameo as a woman who serves as an important plot point to the character of Asbel.  One thing that is also noteworthy about the Nausicaa dub is that the children of the valley are voiced by actual children.  I like this, as it adds an authenticity to an already compelling epic drama.  Not that you can't cast adults to voice children provided they do it convincingly, but ADR director Rick Dempsey nonetheless deserves to be commended on his part for striving for that touch of realism.

Scriptwriters Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt again rise to the task of adapting Miyazaki's own screenplay into a smooth, natural-sounding ADR script, and they do so seamlessly.  Any changes to the dialogue are not out of spirit with the original; what may be controversial to some fans, though, is the minor tweaking of some terminology.  Readers who have grown accustomed to the comic book series of the same title will notice that Nausicaa's glider, Mehve, is simply called a "glider"; all the insects are referred to as simply insects or giant dragonflies, and the deadly area that our protagonists venture into is called the "Toxic Jungle".  This latter change was included in the "Warriors of the Wind" dub, but before anybody criticizes Disney for supposedly stealing this term, keep in mind that the Hewitts never even saw the edit, and that the decision to use this term was made due to careful consultations with Ghibli.

All in all, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind ranks as yet another noteworthy entry to the cannon of the Disney-Ghibli dubs, effectively erasing dreaded memories of the travesty that New World Video was responsible for.  Although not without its occasional stiff moments and sync issues (there is one moment where Obaba is talking where the mouth doesn't seem to match her words), this new Disney edition is still very much welcome overall.  I tip my hat to the folks at the Mouse House.

Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf is a tricky show to dub; the main thrust of the show is, surprisingly, economics, and many of the long conversations in the show are the equivalent of verbal warfare as one character tries to convince another to agree to some sort of business dealing. Add in the fact that Holo has a very formal, archaic accent and style of speaking in the original Japanese version, and you have some quite large potential headaches. Thankfully, Funimation has met the challenge head-on and produced a fantastic dub for the show. In fact, I would actually recommend watching the show in English prior to watching the Japanese since the conversations are much easier to follow without having to read the subtitles. Onto the cast!

CRAFT LAWRENCE (J. Michael Tatum)-Tatum has quickly become one of Funimation's stock actor, and he's shown to have both massive reserves of talent and range. Lawrence is probably his most down-to-earth role yet, and Tatum is unsurprisingly excellent in the role. He brings an amiable, "horribly good-natured" (to quote Holo for a moment) charm as well as a much lighter voice than we're used to hearing from him to the role (most of Tatum's characters tend to have very deep voices), and he sounds completely natural in the role. He also handles Lawrence's moments of anger, sadness or embarrassment beautifully, never overacting any of them. It's another great notch to add to Tatum's belt.

HOLO (Brina Palencia)-As good as Tatum is, Brina Palencia completely steals the dub with her magnificent star turn as Holo. It helps that Holo is one of the best-written, most fascinating female anime leads in recent memory, and Ami Koshimizu's performance was admittedly quite memorable to begin with (I say "admittedly" because I tend to not be much of a sub fan). I called Palencia's work here a "star turn" because it may be her best performance yet, as she gets to run the whole gamut of emotions, sometimes in a single episode! The difficulty of playing a character like Holo is that her moods are quite fickle; by turns she can be playful, vain, arrogant, furious or even unintentionally insensitive, such as when she goes too far in teasing Lawrence about wolves possibly eating him early on. Thankfully, Palencia matches Holo beat-for-beat with a formal, almost regal tone that often has an air of arrogance or haughtiness about it, though that certainly doesn't negate Holo's likability. One of her most memorable moments comes early on when Holo eats a potato that is too hot and she grumbles "Stupid potato!" in a way that is simply hilarious that print cannot accurately convey; you have to see it for yourself. Palencia also plays off of Tatum so wonderfully that it almost seems like they're actually recording in the same room. In short, Palencia's performance alone makes this dub worth watching.

CHLOE (Jamie Marchi)-While Holo and Lawrence carry the lion's share of the show between him, the supporting cast has some equally memorable players. The first is Marchi's Chloe, who seems nice at first but turns out to have an incredibly nasty streak later on, and Marchi sells it all, with her best scene being her cruel taunting of Holo when the latter has been captured. Marchi makes it her mission to make the audience completely hate Chloe by the end of this scene, and she succeeds so well that her comeuppance is even more satisfying than it already was.

ZHEREN (John Burgmeier)-Burgmeier's always had a certain sleazy quality in his performances, and Zheren is perhaps his sleaziest, a young man who attempts to con Lawrence and Holo in the first half of the series and nearly succeeds. Burgmeier is great here, and he made me suspicious of Zheren long before Lawrence did, which was almost certainly intentional.

NORA (Leah Clark)-Clark uses a very light, soft voice to the young shepherd who falls in with Lawrence and Holo in the second half of the series, and it works quite well. Clark also brings a great air of mystery as we're not quite sure of Nora's motives until almost the end. Is she really as nice as she seems, or is she hiding something and can't be trusted? Clark is perfect in this area as well as Nora's genuine kindness.

The rest of the cast consists of one-to-three shot characters, such as Chris Sabat's ultimately helpful Marlheit, Kent Williams' nervous Lemerio, Chuck Huber's distrustful Liebert or Eric Vale's womanizing Weiz. All the above actors perform perfectly, as do the many other one-shot or minor performers. Overall, Spice and Wolf is a great dub that I give my full seal of approval.

Porco Rosso (Disney and JAL Versions)

Despite creating four genuinely well-received (if not critically) English tracks for Ghibli's works, it wasn't until the acquisition of Spirited Away's Oscar for Best Animated Feature that Disney decided to proceed with more English adaptations of Ghibli features.  Their next project was Porco Rosso, which is arguably one of the oddest entries in director Hayao Miyazaki's output.  It also happens to be one of this writer's least favorite of his, but that's another topic.  The dub, hailed by Ghibli insiders as their finest yet, premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2003 before debuting on DVD on 2005.  That said, reception to it, like all the other Ghibli dubs, have been divided.  There were reviews that sang praises (at places like DVDTimes, UltimateDisney, and DVDTalk), but others were negative for whatever reason (The Ghibli Blog, who dubbed this as "the most frustrating" of the Ghibli-Disney dubs, decrying it as a case of "Disney treating Ghibli's movies like their syrupy cartoon features", as well as Australia's DVDNet, calling it one of the "worst" Disney dubs yet, saying that the actors show no enthusiasm for their roles).  Needless to say, even with a man as respected as John Lasseter at the helm for these dubs since Spirited Away (or even a skillful ADR director like Jack Fletcher), detractors will probably decry these Disney versions as blasphemy either way, and there are some who actively dislike this dub even after its release.  In spite of what the naysayers say, however, any of the Disney Ghibli dubs have done nothing but introduce newcomers to Miyazaki's works, and there are plenty who get a kick of them, including this writer.

As someone who wasn't all that thrilled with Porco Rosso to begin with and as a genuine fan of all the Disney-Ghibli dub tracks, Disney's version is yet another winner, with top-notch performances and writing all around.  Scripted by Spirited Away's Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt, who helmed all the other dubs after Spirited, painstakingly and directed by Tony Bancroft, Disney's dub of Porco Rosso features the usual star-studded cast of actors and smooth, natural writing that one would come to expect from any of their dubs.

Even so, it is important to note that, like Castle in the Sky (Laputa) Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro, there was an early dub prior to Disney's release briefly distributed, but not produced, by Streamline Pictures.  The pre-Disney dubs of Ghibli have been a mixed bag for this viewer.  Macek's own dubs for Kiki and Totoro were better than average and quite good for their day, but Laputa's, produced by an unknown company and distributed by Streamline, was a complete disaster, paling miserably compared to Disney's version (controversial though it may be with fans, the current dub surpasses the '80s version by far).  The same is true of Japan Airlines' Porco Rosso.  While Disney's version of this oddball Miyazaki classic is skillfully done, the JAL version (not done by Streamline, as some fans will say), is just the opposite.  It's as embarrassing as the aforementioned JAL Laputa dub, distractingly cartoonish, and downright laughable.  It's a wonder how anyone can prefer this to the current Disney version.  (It should be noted, too, that this older dub of Porco, like Laputa's, was produced very quickly by an unknown company and saw a limited release, which explains why it isn't very well remembered.)

The cast of Porco Rosso is a considerably small one, so only the principal roles will be fully covered in my review.

PORCO ROSSO (Michael Keaton, Disney dub; Patrick Harlan, JAL dub) -- Even as someone who doesn't really mind some of the more controversial casting choices of Disney's other dubs (e.g. Phil Hartman in Kiki, the leads in Castle, and San and Jigo in Mononoke), I was a little unsure about Keaton portraying the titular character, a (literally) pig-headed pilot who makes a living as a bounty hunter while also earning himself a reputation as a rebel and a womanizer.  Not that I have any sort of loyalty to the original Japanese version or even the supposedly superb French version featuring Jean Reno, but having seen the film at least one time in its native language track, I had an idea of how Porco should sound, and Keaton wasn't it.  After seeing the dub for myself, however, I laid my case to rest:  Keaton is an excellent Porco.  He tends to be deadpan most of the time, and yet somehow this works in favor of his world-weary nature.  When the moments arise for him to shout or be energetic, Keaton does that with pinanche.  Some may have trouble with the occasional pig-grunts he makes, but I personally found it very fitting and added to the role.
By comparison, his JAL dub counterpart (assumed to be Patrick Harlan) misfires from the start as the title character.  Although I could sort of see the character with the deep voice he provides, his Porco sounds even more detached than Keaton.  Particularly embarrassing is a slow, drawn-out, "the dirty rotten scu-u-um."  His laugh also sounds very phoned in, forced, and frankly, not very convincing.  He's guilty of overacting as well.  Even the scenes where Porco supposed to raise his voice never once ring true.  Most cringeworthy example: "Shut u-u-u-u-up.  Just get out of here and leave us alo-o-o-o-one."  Not only is it laughable, it doesn't match the visuals on screen at all.  (It also is strangely reminiscent of Cam Clarke's equally cringeworthy turn as Kaneda from the older Akira dub.)  Opinions may be divided on Keaton, but one listen to Patrick's take, and I have to state that Michael has the upper advantage here.  It's at least not as hokey-sounding or lifeless.

DONALD CURTIS (Cary Elwes, Disney dub; Greg Dale, JAL dub) -- Aside from Porco, the other major character in the film is his rival, a dashing, boastful pilot who falls for every pretty woman he comes across.  Based on this description, he ought to be a villain, but Miyazaki doesn't characterize him as such.  Neither does Elwes, although he does manage to put across his aggressive swagger and arrogance in a way that would make Curtis teeter toward that area.  Even so, it is a very peculiar casting choice, as Elwes, like Jada Pinkett-Smith's Toki in Princess Mononoke, is clearly playing against type.  Curtis is a Southerner (or at least that's what Disney's dub chracterizes him as), and it feels very strange to hear the very British Elwes trying to sound like he's from Texas!  Yet he clearly is enjoying himself, whether he is making proposals to Gina or Fio or taunting Porco in mid-air fights.  A note about the character's origin:  in the Japanese version, Curtis is from Alabama, but due to lipflap purposes, it was decided to make him come from Texas.  Whether that is a distraction or not depends on the viewer.
JAL's Greg Dale's voicing for Curtis itself isn't bad, per say, but his actual acting is another matter.  The normal moments are mediocre at best, and his boastful scenes lack both swagger and smugness.  He's also saddled with laughable dialogue such as "the damn thing's stu-u-uck!" and "Shut up sausage face!"  His most groan worthy moment is when he's pursuing Porco in the clouds, not even yelling forcefully enough, "Don't be a chicken, pig.  Fight me now."  Oddly, he even seems to overact in the wrong moments, particularly in the scene where he attempts to court Gina.  While Elwes plays it smoothly and subtly, Greg sounds like he's not really taking it seriously at all.  He doesn't use a Southern accent of any kind, but in exchange, it's not a particularly good performance, nor frankly, anything remarkable at all.  Elwes puts a lot more life into the part from the start, and easily aces Greg.

GINA (Susan Egan, Disney dub; Faith Bach, JAL dub) -- Having shown her skill in as Lin in Spirited Away, it isn't totally surprising that Miss Egan (better known as Belle from Broadway's Beauty and the Beast) gets to play another role in a Ghibli dub, this time as a sultry, thrice(!)-widowed woman who spends most of her time singing at taverns (and yes, Egan does manage to flex her vocal skills with her impeccable reindition of "Les Temps des Cerises") and secretly longing for her childhood friend, Porco, to return her affections.  Egan has the sort of husky, sensual quality that works brilliantly for this character, and she even adds a touch of sarcasm and humor to her performance, particularly in the scene where she fends off Curtis' advance.  She also doesn't hesitate to let out her emotional edge in moments like the scene where Porco telephones the lady at the Hotel Adriano to inform her that he's making an illegal visit to Italy.  Aside from at least one flat line toward the end, "Marco, get up!", Egan's Gina is a solid performance all around.
The major difference between Egan's turn and Faith Bach's is that her Japanese voice actress' vocal performance of the aforementioned song is retained.  However, Faith's Gina is lacking in every way.  She doesn't have enough sultriness to provide her singing moments, and there is practically no emotion in her lines (and whatever moments of emotion she does manage either results with emphasis on the wrong syllables or ill-fitting with the visuals onscreen).  Again, it's very detached from the part.  The phone conversation between her and Porco, in particular, falls flat because her voice actress comes across like she's simply reading from the script with no genuine feeling, and speed-reading at that.  It's the very definition of "phoning it in."  Egan is much more passionate and emotional by comparison.  The same is true of her laughing scene.  All in all, Egan's performance is easily superior to Faith, who is, at best, miscast.

MAMMA AIUTTO BOSS (Brad Garrett, Disney dub) -- The Mamma Aiutto pirates could very well be seen as a distant cousin of the Dola Gang from Castle in the Sky, as they are, after all, aerial pirates who aren't as evil as they appear to be.  For this film, however, the leader of these rogues is a burly, bearded man who is clearly referred to as their "boss".  No stranger to playing "heavy" characters of this type, it's unsurprising that Brad manages to fit himself into the character, employing a little bit of "Bluto" into the performance.  He is as gravelly as you'd expect, and he tends to spend a lot of time shouting his lines.  That's not really a criticism, though; for characters of this type, giving a more flat, deadpan kind of voice would work against the character.  Garrett obviously relishes his role from the start, and, even though less memorable compared to Cloris Leachman's Dola, his performance is undeniably funny and a riot.
His JAL counterpart is similarly funny… for all the wrong reasons.  Aside from sounding like a goofy cartoon character with a dopey-sounding voice, he delivers his lines exactly like a stock goofy role.  It's the sort of voice you would expect to hear from Rocky and Bullwinkle.  Ironically, the humor to be gained is the kind that is "so bad it's laughable", not because it's actually funny.  It's just hard to take seriously.

MR. PICCOLO (David Ogden Stiers, Disney dub; Clay Lowrey, JAL dub) -- Also making a return appearance in a Ghibli dub is Disney's own good luck charm, who previously spoke for Kamaji in Spirited Away.  While one wouldn't recognize his voice in that role, here it's hard not to think of him as a cousin of Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, for the tone he uses for this cheeky engineer is somewhat similar to that role.  Where he manages to make it stand out is by providing him with an appropriately Italian accent.  It's an interesting choice, but it's effective nonetheless.  He also gets to have several opportunities to call Porco out on his disapproving views of women by proclaiming "don't be such a pig."  (This is one of the many opportunities that the English script provides for adding in pork-based humor into the dialogue.)
Like Stiers, JAL's counterpart, Clay Lowrey, also provides an Italian accent.  On the flip side, however, his voice is both devoid of character and charm.  He's nowhere nearly as fun to listen to, again, coming across as hokey and cartoony-sounding.  Stiers is the more entertaining of the two by far.

FIO PICCOLO (Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Disney dub; Lynn Harris, JAL dub) -- Fitting nicely into the usual formula of the show-stealer in any of the Ghibli dubs, Kimberly takes the prize for the Best Performance in the dub as the film's appealing and intriguing young female lead, a sprightly mechanic who is much tougher than she appears and is not afraid to show it in any way.  From the start, Kimberly makes Fio an instantly likeable character to root for, and she especially relishes herself in scenes where she chews the Mamma Aiutto gang out for not playing fair with Porco (one of the funniest scenes in the film).  What ultimately makes her performance a real delight, however, is the chemistry between her and Keaton:  it is a joy to listen to, and what ultimately sells Porco Rosso's dub as a whole.
Fio is also the only halfway decent voice in the JAL dub.  Lynn Harris doesn't come across as miscast or cartoonish, for one.  One the flip side, however, her acting is a serious step down from Kimberly, with a lot of lines sounding very awkward, "Great li-i-ines."  She is also guilty of some clumsily delivered bits like, "Greeeeat!  I've already talked to the factory.  I'll order them right away!  You're great, Marco!"  There are a few moments when she comes across as somewhat decent, like her talk with Porco on the beach in the latter half of the movie; even so, such bits are hampered by some unnatural-sounding pauses in-between her lines.  Other scenes where she's supposed to express energy, such as the one where she's scolding the pirates for confronting Porco are also distressingly wooden.  Kimberly was clearly enjoying herself from the start, and for that her performance is easily superior to Lynn.  Lynn COULD have given a good performance, but sadly it's handicapped by the other problems of the JAL dub.

Naturally, Disney uses their usual stable of actors for the supporting characters.  Goofy himself, Bill Farmer, gets to have a brief role as a photographer for the scene where Fio and the (newly cleaned up) pirates pose for a picture; the ubiquitous Tress MacNeille gets to be a newscaster on a boat as well as several of Piccolo's elderly relatives; and others such as Jeff Bennett, Michael Bell, Debi Deriberry, Corey Burton, Sherry Lynn, Rob Paulsen, and Frank Welker are among the incidental voices.
The JAL supporting cast comes across as brashly loud and like Saturday morning cartoon voices from one of those old school 1960's cartoons by comparison.  There's no soul or life to them.

The Disney script adaptation by the Hewitts is pretty much on the same level as their work on Spirited Away and any of the other dubs they've done:  their ADR script is not word for word with the literal translation (as well as it shouldn't be, as such an approach would only result in stale and awkward-sounding dialogue), but is instead constructed to sound both natural and convey the essence of Miyazaki's unusual tale.  While some purists may make noise about the decision to replace lines like "otherwise I'll kill you" with "I'd hate to put you jerks out of business", personally I applaud the decision, as the latter line sounds more fluent and provides more character as a result.  There are also places where the Hewitts get to work in some extra humor ala Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky, only not to the sometimes extraneous level as those two dubs, while still enjoyable, occasionally stumbled into.  The JAL dub script, in addition to being guilty of omitting a final line from the original, flows nowhere nearly as smoothly.  It also borders on cheesy and laughable, particularly the following exchange between Porco and Curtis in the air:

JAL Curtis:  One on one!  Fight me, pig!
JAL Porco:  Buzz off, sausage breath!
JAL Curtis:  Don't be a chicken, pig.  Fight me now!
JAL Porco:  Take your fightin' stuff off, I'm on vacatio-o-on!

Disney's version goes like this in comparison:

Disney Curtis:  Fight me, pig!  One on one!
Disney Porco:  No thanks, Tex.  Kinda busy.
Disney Curtis:  If you run away, I'll tell everyone you're chicken!
Disney Porco:  Chicken, pig, what's the difference?

More complimentary to the Disney version is that the exchange is better acted and nowhere nearly as embarrassingly cartoonish as the JAL dub.  It should also be noted that the JAL dub does not include the last line of Gina's speech from the end.  Fans will argue that it at least doesn't alter Porco's line "A pig who doesn't fly is just a pig" as opposed to the slightly Disneyfied (to the mouth movements) "Sorry baby, gotta fly."  But accuracy alone does not a better dub make, especially if it's a sloppily written one.  The lip-sync is atrocious as well, with a lot of lines failing to match the mouth movements and obvious gaps.  It gives more of a bad Hong Kong dub vibe.  Again, Disney's dub gets the advantage here.

All in all, while Porco Rosso may not be my favorite Disney-Ghibli dub, it still surprises me to see that it has its share of detractors.  On its own, it is a well-produced, carefully written, entertaining dub that deserves to stand alongside the other English tracks Disney has done.  Not only did it help me to appreciate Porco Rosso as a movie, it entertained me, just as well as a good dub should.  If that doesn't make it a worthwhile dub, I don't know what does.  The JAL dub (only available on the Japanese DVD) is, at best, forgotten.

Azumanga Daioh

Ah, Azumanga Daioh. This, along with Fruits Basket, was one of the first "non-mainstream" anime/dubs I ever watched, and for that I will always be grateful. It's kind of like an animated version of Seinfeld, where conversations can drag on or go off on weird tangents, and not much of consequence really happens aside from the girls building their friendship and graduating school. Still, it's easily one of the better anime comedies out there, and it remains a favorite. The dub's flaws are more apparent than they were when I first watched it, but so are its virtues, thankfully. So, onto the dub:

CHIYO MIHAMA (Jessica Boone) -- I'm still sad that Boone appears to have permanently retired from voice acting, because she's such an excellent performer. That said, her performance here has some occasional flaws; while Chiyo-chan is indeed supposed to be high-pitched and cutesy, occasionally Boone gets a little *too* cutesy and veers into "annoying" territory. Thankfully, it's not that often, and Boone is otherwise wonderfully endearing and funny in the role.

SAKAKI (Christine Auten) -- Weirdly enough, this is one of my favorite performances in the dub, despite the fact that Sakaki doesn't have nearly as much dialogue as some of the other characters. Still, she gets more and more dialogue as the show goes on, and Auten nails it all, from Sakaki's default deadpan mode to her joy as she rolls around on the floor with Maaya near the end of the series. Granted, I'm a huge Auten fanboy anyway thanks to her performance as Izumi Curtis in Fullmetal Alchemist, but her work here is just as good.

TOMO TAKINO (Mandy Clark) -- This is another performance that hasn't aged quite as well, but it's still pretty solid. Like Boone, Clark certainly nails the energy and annoyance factor of Tomo, but that works a little too well sometimes, so she occasionally grates on the eardrums. Still, she definitely gets across that "sugar high" energy of Tomo, as well as her jerkiness, quite well.

KOYOMI "YOMI" MIZUHARA (Nancy Novotny) -- Like Auten, Novotny completely nails her character and sounds totally natural in the part. As a result, Novotny gets some of the funniest moments in the show, such as whenever she scolds Tomo (which is often) or complains about her weight.

AYUMU "OSAKA" KASUGA (Kira Vincent-Davis) -- For the dub, Davis decides to adopt a soft Southern accent for the Osakan native, and using accents to adapt characters from different regions of Japan is not an uncommon practice in dubbing. It's a choice that works for the most part, and Davis backs it up with some great acting. Osaka is terminally clueless, providing many of the aimless conversations in the show, and Davis brings a nice floating, dreamy quality to her voice in addition to the accent that suits Osaka perfectly.

KAGURA (Allison Sumrall) -- Kagura doesn't join the main cast until about halfway through, but Sumrall's likeable, energetic performance makes an instantly winning impression. She also gets a great, purely character-driven conversation with Chiyo-chan later in the show, and Sumrall nails it.

KAORIN (Tiffany Grant) -- Tiffany Grant really makes this character shine; what could have been (and admittedly still kind of is) a stereotypical "schoolgirl lesbian" instead becomes hilarious, and I especially love Grant's performance when Kaorin goes into hyperactive, panicky mode.

YUKARI TANIZAKI (Luci Christian) -- And now we come to the star of the show, ladies and gentlemen. Luci Christian is perfect as the spectacularly unqualified schoolteacher, and I dare you to stop yourself from laughing or at least giggling whenever she opens her mouth. Nearly every moment of Christian's performance is comedy gold, and I daresay it's both one of her shining roles and one of the best dub performances in history. Her performance alone merits the dub a listen.

KIMURA (Andy McAvin) -- McAvin is probably the second funniest actor in the dub, with his perverted deliveries hitting the mark every time. A particular favorite is his legendary delivery of "CAUSE I LIKE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS, THAT'S WHY!"

MINAMO "NYAMO" KUROSAWA (Monica Rial) -- Miss Rial is sweet, likeable and down-to-earth as the similarly level-headed gym teacher, although she gets plenty of funny, hyper moments as well.

CHIYO-FATHER (Jason Douglas) -- Douglas' deep-voiced performance is just as weird and memorable as the dream cat himself.

Overall, Azumanga Daioh is both an excellent show and a fairly excellent dub. If you haven't seen it, check it out.