I for one hate dubbing. I can understand that some people don't want to read dialogue, but with current DVD technology available there should never be a movie that is only dubbed. The only situations in which I can stand dubbing is when the actors have accented English. Take Jackie Chan's Legend of Drunken Master for instance, that was acceptable dubbing because everybody spoke with a Chinese accent. However, I watched a Jet Li movie last night and he sounded like he was from California and it was highly annoying.
Subtitles have never bothered me. Dubbing is just out and out annoying. Can you imagine watching the original Femme Nikita dubbed into ingles? It wouldn't work.
Just watched The Brotherhood of the Wolf. We accidentally started out with the dubbed Ingle...er...Engl...fuck... American version. It sucked. We switched to subtitles.
I prefer subtitles, though I can understand those that like dubbing. Sometimes it can be a bit much to keep up with the printed text and the action. Still I prefer to hear the acutal voice and inflection of the actors. It should be noted that many (most?) movies are dubbed to some extent. That is to say they re-record the dialog in studio after principal shooting. There's a term for it I can't recall right now (roto, round, ??)
I was just kidding nic. I've got a lot of friends who used to get a kick out of my accent when I was working in Manassas, Va. I somehow picked up somewhat of a southern twang. Picture a latino from the hood talking like Sheriff Pusser. Moving back to the city cured that, although I do miss the friends I made out there.
That I understand, but one should still have the option on a DVD of choosing which you want, considering how many people *hate* dubbing, it shouldn't be the only options. I've actually returned DVDs to the video store because they're dubbed. What really drives me crazy though is that they often don't specify that it is dubbed only.
American is proper American. Sub-titles needed or not needed list: Any Foreign Film: Needed. American Films unless they fall into a category below: Not needed. Film from Hollywood not put out by Miramax: Not Needed. Miramax films produced by Miramax: Not needed. Miramax films bought from someone else: Needed. Films from South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia (not produced by Turner,) and Alabama: Needed. Turner Films: Not needed, but you should adjust the color dial on your screen to get it back to black & white the way it was meant to be. Film from Canada not including kwubeck: Not needed. Film from Kwubeck: Needed. Movie from The Mexico: Needed. Films from England: Needed. Films from Australia: Don't even bother watching them. Musicals: Needed. Remember, this is just a basic rule-of-thumb guide. There are exceptions to every rule, of course.
I prefer subtitles as well. I usually forget that I'm reading subtitles about 15 minutes into the film, whereas I'm usually annoyed by dubbed voices - they tend to either over- or underdo it to the extreme and the voices don't sound natural.
Dubbing is terrible, but the worst is actors speaking with badly faked foreign accents in english (See Hunt For Red October).
Speaking from the other side, American movies dubbed in France/Québec usually work out pretty well, so long as the accent/language isn't a crucial element to the story (ie French Kiss and others). However, apparently the dubbed version of Chicago here even dubbed the songs. Ewwwwww...
subtitles unless it's poorly done then dub for instance. once upon a time in china and america, the subs start to lag and at the end are like 15 secs off and then there are subs for movies like iron monkey (before it was rereleased in the us) and the stupid thing would flash paragraphs of text at warp 9 speed. that was pretty useless...
In Germany we have all foreign movies dubbed, that's just horrible. But whole firms are living by dubbing and that way they already keep it alive to avoid having even more unemployed actors. The people would have it easier to learn English if they had subtitles and the actors not dubbed.
That was Meryl Streep territory compared to Kevin Costner in Robin Hood or Nicholas Cage in Captain Crapitelli's Mandolin. Subtitles. Unless it's done in the old technology where the type is indistinguishable from the screen. That gets a bit annoying.
Dubbing is usually really annoying or really funny. When I was living in France, some of my friends wanted to watch Forest Gump. French in their idea of a bubba accent. Actually the only thing that made it worth watching.
When dubbing is acceptable: - old martial arts flicks - Iron Chef - documentaries Otherwise, I always favor subtitles
What you didn't like Scots-Russian? Shoume tings in here don't re-act to well to bulletsh. Suck it Trebeck!
As a Dutchman I'm used to subtitles. Dubbing is terrible. The Germans do it all the time. Try and imagine... Vin Diesel in German. BWAAHAHAHA
But at least they try to find a fitting voice and sign the actor for a long time, so that you get used to one certain voice for all famous actors. I have a Polish TV channel where they just have one male voice for all actors and actresses, and this guy is speaking incredibly monotonous and does not even try to change his voice in a dialogue, even if it is between man and woman.
Subtitles, please. I rented The Princess and The Warrior and watched the first five minutes dubbed. It was so cheesy that I switched to subtitles on the DVD. Much better.