Outstanding vocal talent

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2006)

I actually admire Disney's moves to bring Miyazaki to the US. Purists will inevitably defend the authenticity of the original presentations but you can tell that Disney has invested significant effort into bringing great films such as "Spirited Away" to our neck of the woods. The vocal talent is amazing. I would probably like the subtitled versions just as much but I also have to give props to Disney for caring enough to pair this and other Miyazaki classics with distinguished vocal actors such as Gillian Anderson, Michael Chilkis, Phil Hartman, Suzanne Pleshette, and Christian Bale, just to name a few. I don't have a problem with subtitles and I would gladly watch the Miyazaki films as they were originally released but I beg to differ with anyone who has any qualms about Disney's dubbing. Whereas Disney's own animated films, sans Pixar, have been utterly mediocre ("Lilo and Stitch" was probably its last best animated release), they seem to make up their failure through the incredibly successful importation of "Spirited Away" and its ilk.