It only took twenty years lol. I did not release that Studio Ghibli movies were not released in Mainland China when it came out but the studio has been playing catch up with releasing the movies now. The Boy and the Heron was released in China a few months after it came out, and now on April 30th Howl’s Moving Castle will hit the big screens there exactly 20 years after it was released in 2004. Chinese stars Tian Xi Wei and Yu Shi will be voicing Sophie and Howl, respectively, and the studio released really charming live action poster sprinkled with animation posters for the occasion. Tian Xi Wei’s casting is especially a masterstroke her voice is unique, she enunciates well, and her real life vibe has that plucky heroine quality already. While I only watch Ghibli movies in original voice and not dub, Howl’s English release was also amazingly done with Christian Bale as Howl and Billy Crystal as Calcifer.
Does anyone know why they didn’t release this sooner? Just curious.
One thing that annoys me so much when I see it happening is the requirement of Chinese stars to always want to surpass and be bigger than the characters they play anywhere.
Even in animated movies they have to come up in the posters replacing the characters they play instead of just their names!
Narcissism is the core and the soul of the business, I already know it.
As a long time fan of everything Ghibli I will keep your comment in the back of my mind if I ever get to see this adaptation. Thinking that ego rather than narcissism, is the core of most acting. The true greats are very humble and allow the writer/character to speak through them.
Twenty years later?? Hmmm.
No wonder, I thought that who ever did Howl’s voice over was so wonderfully done but wow…. It’s Christian bale.
Japanese version was takuya kimura. Superstar.
I don’t get why we need human rep for the poster. Just leave the animation as it is. For a moment I thought there will be a live adaptation.
I never thought sophie was plucky. She did what she had to do. She wasn’t brave to start with but she just gets on with it. She feels she is ordinary, nothing special and her voice sounds that way in both japanese and english version. As for Howl, he’s vain, he sounds like he doesn’t care but he is not a bad person, almost playful and seductive which both Eng and jap ver achieved.
I’ve seem some chinese anime dubbers and somehow something lacking. The professional dubbers however do a better job dubbing the actors. So i find it funny that actors who may be dubbed are now dubbing animation. Here’s hoping they do a great job. I happen to like the cantonese dub of Spirited Away. Something rather quaint.
Same. I rarely like other dubbers besides the main dubbers, but I liked the English Dub for Sprited Away.
Sophie didn’t have a plucky heroine vibe and really “your average girl falling into an adventure” vibe. But I don’t doubt that Tian Xi Wei can do the job well.
I agree that it’s funny how it’s like some chain of dubbing now.
By the way who is playing the old lady? She occupies the screen for more than 80% of the animation. She’s the real main actor. The japanese version was a well known actress and so was the Eng ver. Must be someone veteran and renowned. Who? Calcifer too.
I believe Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall did the voice for the English dub.
i must be the only one who isnt bothered by the voice actors dressing up. it just looks like theyre having fun cosplaying. not sure what the big deal is. but i dont follow animation releases in china either