My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

[Jughead]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I'm kind of shocked that there aren't any deals on these films yet. And I'm a big enough of a sucker for these films to pay full price for both.

Same here. I'm thinking of going the way of DMC since I have slacked and missed somewhere around 10 Disney films I was hoping to collect.

[Jughead]

Originally Posted by MJW

Thanks for sharing! I always look forward to these first review of the North American editions. Hopefully this site has reviews up for this film and Howl's Moving Castle by the end of the week!

Howl's Moving Castle was reviewed earlier in the week.

[Barry the Nomad]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I'm kind of shocked that there aren't any deals on these films yet. And I'm a big enough of a sucker for these films to pay full price for both.

Agreed. As of now, I don't want to buy the movies on day one at $27.99 when stuff like Ponyo, Nausicaa, and Castle in the Sky are that price or lower years later.

Really hoping for a $19.99-$23 each price on Tuesday.

[Analogkid]

Originally Posted by Barry the Nomad

Agreed. As of now, I don't want to buy the movies on day one at $27.99 when stuff like Ponyo, Nausicaa, and Castle in the Sky are that price or lower years later.

Really hoping for a $19.99-$23 each price on Tuesday.

Just hold out. More than likely in less than two months they both will drop to 17.99 just like Arrietty did. That's when I picked it up.

[vandeetz]

Originally Posted by MJW

Thanks for sharing! I always look forward to these first review of the North American editions. Hopefully this site has reviews up for this film and Howl's Moving Castle by the end of the week!

it's up now!! looks pretty darn good!!

the real question is are there dubtitles or not? just don't trust Disney after Laputa's dubtitles and the horrendously low bit-rate encode on Whisper of the Heart.

I need to pick up the HK or Japanese releases for both of those to debacles. I prefer japanese audio with literal subtitle translations... but when watching children now or having my own in the future it would be nice to have the english audio tracks (at least until they're able to read subtitles)

[Inspector Toschi]

Originally Posted by vandeetz

it's up now!! looks pretty darn good!!

the real question is are there dubtitles or not? just don't trust Disney after Laputa's dubtitles and the horrendously low bit-rate encode on Whisper of the Heart.

I need to pick up the HK or Japanese releases for both of those to debacles. I prefer japanese audio with literal subtitle translations... but when watching children now or having my own in the future it would be nice to have the english audio tracks (at least until they're able to read subtitles)

Whisper Of The Heart is far from a debacle. But I watch the actual screen and not bitrates, so what do I know.

Laputa dubtitles aside, Disney has been very good with these. Slow, yes. But at least they don't DNR the transfers like Optimum has done.

[vandeetz]

Originally Posted by Inspector Toschi

Whisper Of The Heart is far from a debacle. But I watch the actual screen and not bitrates, so what do I know.

Laputa dubtitles aside, Disney has been very good with these. Slow, yes. But at least they don't DNR the transfers like Optimum has done.

The US version of Whisper has the lowest bit-rate by far of other international releases, and if you see it side by side with the japanese release it is certainly noticeable, and that's watching it and not just looking at the bit rate.

The dubtitles were inexcusable, I don't know what they were thinking throwing that onto the release.

other than these 2 releases Disney has done a fairly good job, but they are very slow about getting these released and who knows if they will ever release them all. My hesitation with the Disney releases of these stems from these 2 releases, it's these that show that the attention to detail just isn't there. So, right or wrong I'm always waiting for the next disney/ghibli snafu.

that's just my opinion though, everyone should feel free to have their own

[KACENAID]

Originally Posted by Jughead

Same here. I'm thinking of going the way of DMC since I have slacked and missed somewhere around 10 Disney films I was hoping to collect.

That's what I ended up doing. I figured DMC was the best route in this situation. Amazon's $27.99 has a chance of not going down by release day because there's no prices to match (the Blu-rays are not being advertised in B&M ads). Even if Target or Best Buy etc carried them, they'd most likely be at full price and the best I could do is match Amazon's price. DMC gave me a better deal in that case if that's true.

Sure I could wait to see if they go down in price at a later date, but I'm kinda like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka. "Don't care how, I want it now!"

[finalmattasy]

Any news on whether this has proper subtitles or not? Waiting till I know for sure. Imported Laputa like a boss!

[disneywildcat]

From Best Buy, a offer that is barely competitive considering Amazon's recent Gold Box Deal on previously released Studio Ghibli films.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....at302500050019

Save $6 on a Select Studio Ghibli Anime Movie
when you buy My Neighbor Totoro or Howl's Moving Castle

Discover these family-friendly anime movies from award-winning Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki of the acclaimed Studio Ghibli. Released in North America by Walt Disney Pictures, these versions feature dubbing by notable actors for English-speaking audiences.
For a limited time, buy either My Neighbor Totoro or Howl's Moving Castle featuring Christian Bale and Dakota Fanning and save $6 when you buy an additional Ghibli movie.

Follow these steps:
Select either My Neighbor Totoro or Howl's Moving Castle.
Select an additional Studio Ghibli anime movie.
Click the Add to Cart button at the bottom of the page.

The select Anime you can save on is Castle in the Sky, Whisper of the Heart, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Ponyo.

As to why you can't just buy Totoro and Howl and save $6, I haven't got a clue why.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by disneywildcat

The select Anime you can save on is Castle in the Sky, Whisper of the Heart, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Ponyo.

As to why you can't just buy Totoro and Howl and save $6, I haven't got a clue why.

Because most people will be buying the new ones, and they need the excuse to shift some of the older catalog.
And if you're actually buying Howl's Moving Castle, there's an 8 out of 10 chance YOU need the excuse to watch the older catalog, too.

[kedavis]

The user who posted a review of Totoro above did so for the _Japanese_ release.

I'm eager for a review of the American Blu-Ray. I know the last DVD that came out was missing a Japanese soundtrack or something. I am holding on to my original DVD until I know the Blu-Ray has everything on it that I want.

[Mounix]

Anyone know if there's any difference between the earlier released UK version of Totoro and the new US version? I would assume they are almost identical, maybe some minor differences in bonus features?

[MJW]

Not sure if this will work, but I guess it's worth a shot. For anyone that has pre-ordered through Amazon and wants to keep their pre-orders, we can submit the following lower prices:

My Neighbor Totoro
$25.99 @ Family Video: http://www.familyvideo.com/catalog/p...ucts_id=414894
$26.99 @ ImportCDs: http://www.importcds.com/movies/2578...eighbor-totoro

Howl's Moving Castle
$25.99 @ Family Video: http://www.familyvideo.com/catalog/p...ucts_id=415080
$26.99 @ ImportCDs: http://www.importcds.com/movies/2578...-moving-castle

I doubt Amazon will price match these sites but maybe if enough people submit?

[It Never Ends]

Anyone know how much this will cost in stores? Didn't see this in the ad.

[GOMEZFAN69]

Originally Posted by it never ends

anyone know how much this will cost in stores? Didn't see this in the ad.

$29.99

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by vandeetz

The US version of Whisper has the lowest bit-rate by far of other international releases, and if you see it side by side with the japanese release it is certainly noticeable, and that's watching it and not just looking at the bit rate.

The dubtitles were inexcusable, I don't know what they were thinking throwing that onto the release.

other than these 2 releases Disney has done a fairly good job, but they are very slow about getting these released and who knows if they will ever release them all. My hesitation with the Disney releases of these stems from these 2 releases, it's these that show that the attention to detail just isn't there. So, right or wrong I'm always waiting for the next disney/ghibli snafu.

that's just my opinion though, everyone should feel free to have their own

You just compared the US release to the JP release. I wanted to know how it compares to the UK release. The US release has a lower bitrate than the UK release but the UK release is DNR'd.

Can nobody give me an answer as to which of these releases looks better? I'm not taking the JP releases into consideration because there's no way I can afford them.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by GOMEZFAN69

$29.99

God damn, this is outrageous.

And I'm still thinking about buying it.

[It Never Ends]

Originally Posted by GOMEZFAN69

$29.99

WTF why so high?Really wish this was $22.99

[DenOfEarth]

I recalled seeing this movie 20 years ago on video after seeing Siskle and Ebert doing a review on it when i was 12 as i was hooked into anime after watching Vampire Hunter D and decided to give this a look on video and i loved it, such a unique and magical anime with appeal to all ages and great animation. I also loved the score with that Winds theme that has that 80s synthesizer feel to it.

I did sold my old 2003 2-disc DVD with other DVDs for upgrading once i heard the news. It should look and sound excellent on high def no doubt as Disney has done good deeds.