Released on June 13, 2005, this movie is 4Kids last
ditch attempt to make money off of a franchise they
themselves ruined.
Hyped as Kirby's first movie ever, this is actually
just the final five episodes of the series. 'Crisis of
the Warp Star' parts 1 and 2, 'Takeoff! Battleship
Halberd', 'Attack! Nightmare's Giant Fortress' and
'Fly! Kirby of the Stars'.
Despite their claims, the company did little to
make it seem any different from a normal episode,
except for a lack of commercial breaks and a fancy
title sequence.
If you've seen their dubs before- expect more of
the same. Only worse.
You may have seen the first two parts of the movie
on TV all ready, as Nintendo had them air Crisis of
the Warp Star early to advertise the Kirby's Air Ride
game. Possibly the only high point of this DVD is them
putting the episodes back into their proper order.
Following them, they get on track for the most
part. Cappytown has been utterly destroyed by the
ships, and everyone is angry and blaming Kirby. Meta
Knight leads the people to a secret chamber beneath
Dedede's castle where he shows what he's been up to
the past 90 or so episodes- building the great
Battleship Halberd.
And so after quite a bit of coaxing, a visit from
an old friend, and meddling from Dedede and Escargon,
the ship takes off and heads for Nightmare's
planet-sized fortress in space.
The plot is pretty much what you would expect.
Kirby is a nicely straightforward series with none of
the mind-twisting that some anime like to pull. Kirby
finds Nightmare, Kirby defeats Nightmare.
I have had the pleasure of seeing the original
episode in Japanese, thanks to someone there who
recorded it. (The video quality isn't great, but I can
show it to anyone who's curious.) What the show lacks
in surprises, it makes up for in style.
The dub lacks nearly all of the emotional impact
the original had.
In any show or movie, the imagery, music, voices
and dialogue should work together to create a certain
feeling. The voices and dialogue should fit the
characters. The music should enhance the scene.
The dub does none of this. The first thing you may
notice is the near constant, blaring, tuneless 'music'
that plays throughout the majority of it. To me, it
all just blended together into background noise. I
don't think they even made any new tracks for this.
The original uses a variety of tunes- from fast
paced to slow and ominous, creating feelings of
excitement and anxiety at other times.
Even having without comparing it to the original-
the dub stands about as well as a stool with two legs.
There's no impact. No emotion. Just being constantly
bombarded with the same repetitive music over and
over.
Considering that Nightmare has been the enemy Kirby
has been destined to face since the show's beginning,
you would have thought they would try to make the
scene all the more intense. Instead, Nightmare- or as
they incorrectly call him, 'eNeMeE', has been reduced
to a joke.
His English voice truly sounds like a 12 year old
boy who is trying to sound tough and evil. There's no
menace to it at all- and topping it all off he cannot
act. His lines- mainly puns or just plain corny- are
delivered terribly.
Perhaps it's not fair to compare it to his original
voice- deep, foreboding, voiced by a truly talented
veteran of voice acting Banjou Ginnga. But something
is terribly wrong when someone at 4Kids thought just a
lame sounding voice was fitting for one like
Nightmare.
And of course our usual voices are around- Eric
Stuart sounds more strained than usual as Meta Knight,
most of his lines coming out very forced or overly
melodramatic. But even his is still better than what
Nightmare was shackled with.
The final battle even in the original is short- but
intense. Kirby gains the power of the Star Rod,
screaming out as he launches a massive attack.
For some inane reason, the dub cuts his voice,
replacing it with a soft 'poyo' that doesn't fit the
scene in the slightest. They actually do this several
times throughout the episodes.
And, perhaps most distressing to me, they cut a
very important line. As Kirby and Fumu escape after
defeating Nightmare, originally you still hear him
speaking. Translated, the line is roughly-
"True to my name, I am but a dream that lives
in your heart. Therefore, I am immortal. For as lone
as there is fear in your heart, I shall someday
return."
The ending originally had a sense of foreboding-
their victory wasn't total. You can't truly vanquish
evil.
But 4Kids thinks that good must always win, and so
gave no hint as to Nightmare still being alive. All
endings must be happy and sanitized.
All in all, the dub screams of a half-assed money
making attempt.
If you really love Kirby, you shouldn't buy this.
This dub does Kirby no favors. It's done incredibly
poorly, no real effort aside from the bare minimum.
Wait for it to be on TV, they claimed it would be.
Watch it perhaps for the graphics if you must- HAL
did a nice job with very smooth CG battle sequences.
The Halberd is a very impressive ship, with a new
sleeker design from the games. Heavy Lobster even
makes an appearance.
Maybe ask 4Kids if they could release it uncut in
it's original language. Worth a shot.
