Following the retirement of animation icon Hayao Miyazaki, the beloved Studio Ghibli may be going through a restructuring process that will limit their output for the foreseeable future, but they’ve still got one more in the chamber, “The Tale of Princess Kaguya.” We all know that American audiences apparently hate to read movies, so the film is getting an English-dubbed makeover courtesy of some big name Hollywood stars, and this version just got a new trailer.
Originally released in 2013, Isao Takahata (“The Grave of the Fireflys”) directed and co-wrote the film, and this marks the legendary animator’s first solo helming effort since 1999. A retelling of the folktale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” the film tells the story of a magical princess, Kaguya, who is discovered inside a stalk of bamboo, and traces her life from infancy to adulthood in the human world.
After its initial release in Japan, where it earned a ton of money and awards and acclaim, the U.S. distribution rights for ‘Princess Kaguya’ were picked up by GKIDS, and they set about working on a new English dub. They put together a cast full of recognizable names, including Chloe Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, Daniel Dae Kim, James Marsden, Oliver Platt, John Cho, George Segal and Dean Cain.
While dubs are questionable endeavors, at best—we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out on that front—‘Princess Kaguya’ is, of course, stunning to look at. Studio Ghibli are really the last ones consistently turning out traditional 2D animation on a regular basis, and as you know, they’re rather good at what they do. This is no exception.
The English dub of “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” hits North American theaters on October 17th. Watch the trailer below and read our review right here.