#globi and the stolen shadows

[ruerock]

commission for @amainoyuki !!

[amainoyuki]

Scenery and backgrounds in Globi and the Stolen Shadows

[amainoyuki]

The music of Globi and the Stolen Shadows

One of the main things this film is remembered for now is its' involvement with the Swiss band Lunik. A small handful of their songs, mostly from their 2003 album Weather, were used in the movie, and lead singer Jaël voices the character of Lucinda.

The opening credits play over the song You Won't Stop Me, which personally speaking, is quite possibly my favorite song off the album. In context I find it very effective at building excitement for what is to come and setting a rebellious tone.

The main track used in the movie is titled The Most Beautiful Song. It's what Benji and Lucinda play during band practice and the concert at the end of the movie that plays into the ending credits. There's even a promotional music video made using clips of the film with Jaël styled similarly to her character.

There's also Virtual Shadows, an instrumental piece that plays in the background when Globi tries using technology to make Benji a new shadow. It later reappears during the ending credits after The Most Beautiful Song is done playing.

And while I'm at it, I'd like to bring attention to the song used in this trailer, which isn't in the film itself. I haven't been able to identify it, either with Shazam or by searching the lyrics online, so if anybody could tell me what it is, I'd be quite grateful. It has such a good energy to it so I'm hoping there's a longer version somewhere.

[amainoyuki]

Character bios from the Globi and the Stolen Shadows website (retrieved using the Wayback Machine)

[amainoyuki]

more Globi and the Stolen Shadows icons

[amainoyuki]

This is so stupid and yet my brain would not put it down.

[amainoyuki]

Globi and the Stolen Shadows flower crown edits using PNGs from this post.

[amainoyuki]

Globi and the Stolen Shadows + letterboxd reviews

[amainoyuki]

Doodled the blorbos.

(characters are from Globi and the Stolen Shadows)

[amainoyuki]

As much as I love Globi and the Stolen Shadows, it is rather unfortunate that they didn't give Lucinda her own musical-number-of-sorts the way they did with Maestro and Benji.

The scene where Maestro plays the stockpile of instruments at the abandoned opera house, and the scene of Benji walking home while playing air guitar only to switch to playing his actual guitar on the roof once he gets there both go a long way toward characterizing the two of them through music. We get the sense that Maestro has a lot of anger over being misunderstood, and expresses himself through music in an over-the-top and unorthodox way. We get the sense that Benji is a little forlorn and finds his solace in his music when he doesn't have much else. Both of these scenes feature limited dialogue, instead relying on expressive animation, cinematography, and strong instrumentals to communicate who these characters are. They're two of my favorite scenes in the movie. It's just a shame Lucinda doesn't get one.

The closest thing we get is her introductory scene at the new opera house, where she's listening to more modern music on her portable CD player instead of the more traditional music being performed on stage. The key differences are that this scene is much shorter, Globi and Squidney are also there, and, most importantly, she is listening to music rather than playing it. The first time we see her playing music is in the garage band scene, which introduces Benji and moreso sets up the way they relate to one another.

For a movie with such a heavy focus on music, both conceptually and narratively, it really shoots itself in the foot by not giving more depth to what music means to one of it's major protagonists. Especially considering Lucinda is instrumental (pun very much intended) in saving the day by playing a keyboard medley in the Maestro's concert hall (at Globi's behest, which I also have some feelings about).

tl;dr: Lucinda deserved better.

[amainoyuki]

Ngl, I kind of love the detail of the graffiti in this scene saying Iris and PAC in reference to Iris Productions and Pacific Animation Corporation, Tokyo; two of the companies that worked on the movie.

[amainoyuki]

Virtual Shadows by Lunik as it appears in Globi and the Stolen Shadows. A rendition of this instrumental piece was later included as a hidden bonus track on the band's album Weather. This audio is clipped from the end credits of the film.

[amainoyuki]

Globi and the Stolen Shadows posters and covers

[amainoyuki]

Does Globi und der Schattenräuber have an English dub?

To make a long story short, Globi und der Schattenräuber (a.k.a. Globi and the Stolen Shadows) is a 2003 Swiss German animated film intended to modernize the beloved Swiss childrens' character Globi by placing him in an anime-inspired adventure helping a pair of teen musicians opposite a shadow-stealing villain. I've been interested in this movie for years because it sounded bizarre as hell, and earlier this year I was finally able to watch it. I'm super grateful, and I really enjoyed it, but the search is not over.

The film is documented on numerous cartoon and movie databases across the internet, some of which allege it is available with English audio. I know from an interview published prior to the film's release that an official English release was planned, but what I haven't been able to confirm is if that plan came to fruition.

Evidence of this supposed dub is sparse, and much of it could be interpreted as further proof that the dub was planned even if it never ended up happening. For one thing, the songs used in the film are in English, as is the text in the opening and closing credits. Plus, a piece of promotional artwork featuring the English title exists, which may have been used to market the film to potential distributors.

As well, the lip flaps just don't match the audio that well. Rather, it looks as though the animation was made to synch up with English dialogue. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of cartoon-characters-rotely-opening-and-closing-their-mouths in a way that's very common for productions of this scale from this time, but there are also multiple scenes where, when watching with the sound off, you can clearly make out what the English line would have been. Examples include when the Maestro first transforms and asks "What- What happened to me?" or when Globi rolls out the device for creating digital shadows and Benji appears to ask "Woah. What the heck is that?".

But if an English audio track for this film exists, how would it have been released? The original Swiss German version was released theatrically and then on DVD, but I can't find any evidence of the supposed English version of the film receiving this treatment. No TV broadcast that I know of either, nor any other method of distribution. Not to mention, I can't find who the cast and crew would have been on this dub, with one exception.

For whatever reason, IMDB has exactly one voice actor listed for an English version of this film: Alan Marriott in the role of Maestro. It's unclear why the rest of the English cast is missing, why the only character credited isn't even the title character but instead the villain of the piece, or for that matter where they even got this information, but I have reached out to Alan Marriott through his website to confirm the accuracy of this credit, and I'll update this post if he or his team get back to me.

In the meantime, if anybody out there has any information about this hypothetical dub, please let me know. I would love to unearth a watchable copy, or at the very least confirm whether or not the dub is real. Thank you!

[amainoyuki]

Globi - Globi and the Stolen Shadows

[amainoyuki]

Lucinda - Globi and the Stolen Shadows