Whedon will write and direct Wonder Woman.
If you don’t understand why I’m excited about this, then you haven’t seen Firefly.
That’s Whedon’s brilliantly entertaining, cleverly written sci-fi television series that’s finding the fan base it deserves on DVD, and will soon come to the big screen in a film called Serenity. Rent the series, see what you’ve been missing, and you too will start watching and hoping for more Whedon projects in the future.
Wow! You’re a Firefly fan, too?! We cancelled our satellite subscription when it was canned. I’m such a Firefly nerd that I even went to my first sci-fi convention (at age 41) because of it: http://nebblog.blogspot.com/2005/02/geeking-at-wondercon.html
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as well as “Angel” weren’t slouches, either.
Once again, Disney’s done an excellent job dubbing what must have been a very difficult film to translate.
Is it really Disney doing this, or is it Pixar? I thought I saw Pixar names like Monsters, Inc. director Peter Docter in the Howl’s Moving Castle credits, and I know John Lasseter was involved in efforts to Anglicize earlier Miyazaki films.
I guess one of the interesting questions regarding the possible break-up of the Disney-Pixar relationship is how this will affect future American releases of Miyazaki’s films.
Rick Dempsey and Ned Lott headed up the voice casting, and they’re Disney guys. I met them at Biola and hope to interview them about their work sometime soon. But John Lasseter is the Pixar guy who’s really been the motivating force in bringing Miyazake to Disney for distribution.
The more films by Hayao Miyazake I see, the more I realize how much he repeats himself. There are so many elements of the new film, Howl’s Moving Castle, that remind me of other Miyazake films
Miyazaki’s oeuvre does repeat certain themes and conceits, but as I see it, part of his films’ delights are in unveiling how he’ll explore anew what fascinates him.
As for the dubbing issue … I guess I’m just an old-school anime purist (snob) and wish everything would be released subtitled. At this point, anime has enough mainstream acceptance (another fact with which I have a love-hate relationship) that a valid argument could be made for a theatrical subtitle release. But it’s encouraging to know that Howl’s dubbing was done with care. The original U.S. video release of Kiki’s Delivery Service was dreadful; fortunately Disney redubbed it into something moderately decent for their re-release.
Interestingly enough, in Seattle, at the Metro theatre, you have a choice: You can see “Howl’s Moving Castle” on the big screen EITHER dubbed OR subtitled, depending on which screen you choose. I’ve never seen that done before in a theatre.