Asian Invasion

[@allnet.ne.jp]

Don Brown says that a dubbed film can't be considered a foreign-language
film. He's got a point -- perhaps I should have said "foreign film" when
referring (somewhat facetiously) to Pokemon.

That raises the question -- is a dubbed Japanese film still "Japanese" or
has it been rendered nationally neuter? Hmmm.

I remember all the hype a couple years ago over "Princess Mononoke," when
not a few people (including yours truly) were predicting that it would
replace "Shall We Dance?" as the most successful Japanese film ever released
in the US box office. Didn't happen, unfortunately -- but no one then
suggested that PM might not qualify for this distinction because most prints
were dubbed. Something to do, perhaps, with PM being regarded as a
masterpiece -- while the Pokemon films are regarded as being critically
beneath contempt?

Mark Schilling

> >I found it interesting that, though Kehr mentions animation, he passes
> over
> >the Pokemon phenomenon in silence. The first Pokemon movie, not "Life Is
> >Beautiful," is the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released
in
> >North America, is it not?
>
> I can't back this up with hard facts, but wasn't the American version of
> the Pokemon movie dubbed into English, meaning that it can't be considered
> as a foreign language film?  I can't imagine that they subtitled it,
> judging by the age of the target demographic.  I'm happy to be shot down
by
> someone more knowledgeable on the subject.
> Don Brown
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