April 09, 2007

Napoleón Dinamita

Don't laugh at me just because it 2:30 a.m. and I'm watching Napoleon Dynamite in Spanish...
This could just be because my Spanish skills are on par with those of a 3-year-old, but for a movie that's not all that funny to begin with until you start repeating lines from it over and over with your friends, it's even less funny in Spanish. I think it's because the actor who dubbed all of Jon Heder's lines comes nowhere near that signature Napoleon Dynamite delivery. He's just not the same without it. Maybe it's because Spanish seems to come off as so quickly spoken...Maybe people who actually talk and act like that are a purely American phenomenon? I guess I wouldn't know what the Central or South American equivalent of a Napoleon-like character would act like.

1 comment:

Cory said...

I think that manner of speaking is truly American in nature. Just like we don't have pikers ('Snatch'), no one else has the exasperative youth quite like English speaking North America.

(I am including Canada because no one ever does, and I don't want them to feel bad.)