Forum - View topicSteamboy.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11433 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I just had a chance to watch the DVD earlier tonight and found it to be a Very Good movie (and will probably rate it better after a second viewing).
I know there's another Steamboy thread a few pages back, but it seemed a bit cluttered, so I thought I'd make my own for the time being and sort of gear it towards those of you have already seen the film in theaters and/or own it on DVD. Animation-wise, it's pretty impressive with the mix of CG, cel shading, and traditional animation techniques. But of course being a movie, it had a really high budget, and I'm glad they went all out in making it so grandiose, yet at the same time a bit humble and not too over the top. And much like the animation, I feel the story is very well constructed. It doesn't necessarily strike me as being that epic of a plot. However, the way it's written in terms of character interaction, in addition to the setting and theme, makes the presentation feel like a great production, overall. One aspect I really enjoy, though, is the dubbing. I absolutely love the three Hollywood names they casted for Ray, Eddy, and Lloyd. Patrick Stewart has been a favorite actor of mine since the days of Star Trek: TNG, and I really admire his acting style. He's just so dramatic, bold, and seething at the same time with whatever passion he decides to put into his roles. I'll always remember him as Capt. Pichard, but dang it, you try finding a better leader than that. The most recent memory I have of Alfred Molina's acting ability is for his role as Dr. Octavious in Spider-man 2. And to this day, I can't think of a better actor that could've played that role so perfectly, regardless of whatever liberties those writers might've made for Doc Oc (since I'm not too familiar with the comic book version of him). And of course, there's Anna Paquin. While the only role of hers I've seen was for Rogue in the X-Men movies, I feel she played Ray very well. Her voice wasn't too high or too low, and best of all, she sounded very natural in the role. I think I might've heard a few fluctuations in her English accent from sounding British to Scottish, but it might just be me. For the most part, though, she does a very good job in her delivery and overall sound. Oh, I know I also recognized Kari Wahlgren's voice. And while she didn't play that large a role, I'd still like to commend her performance and say that she's definitely one of my favorite anime VAs because of her great range and consistency in doing so for just about any role she plays. But aside from the fact of them casting such well liked actors (by me) for the dubbing, this was one of those rare cases where I actually looked forward to hearing the dub. Most of the time, I'm not very up in arms for most of the anime I see taking place in Japan being dubbed and adapted (ADR and script-wise) for English dialogue and mouthflap movements. I like the natural feeling of seeing most Japanese characters speaking and sounding Japanese. But in this case, since the story takes place in England, I found it to be very enjoyable in English as it obviously looks and seems to fit better with the natural language of the story's setting. Now, it's not that I think all non-Japanese settings with native based dubs sound good, but I can tell that the dub director put a lot of effort and consideration into his job, and I'm really thankful he did. I've only had time to listen to the English 5.1 Dolby Digital track, but if the Japanese is the same (in terms of sound dispersion), then I'll give props to the sound director for a great job in sound effects, music, directionality, etc. Some people may think that sound fields don't make that big of a difference, but believe me it does. It's my opinion that you can never really enjoy movies (anime or live action) without good sound, and this is a great example to prove my point. I've also only had time to view one of the extras featurettes, which was the "Re-voicing Steamboy" feature, and I was impressed. Prior to this movie, the three Hollywood people stated that they hadn't really done something as complicated as dubbing anime. I was glad and impressed at the same time to hear them have so much fun in meeting the challenges they had to face and experiencing something new, yet enjoyable at the same time. I really wish more Hollywood people would dub anime, as I really like a lot of their voices, such as: Patrick Stewart, Keith David, James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, and God forbid maybe even Vin Diesel (in an action anime or something). I don't know, I just really enjoyed that movie and have so many thoughts on my mind after being on an almost two-month anime hiatus. It was fun, and I wish you could all feel this same fervor that's been "revived" for the moment, if you will. |
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