The Italian dub of The Devil Wears Prada 2 is generating surprising controversy

One thing is certain about The devil wears prada 2: The ambitious task of producing a sequel to a film with cult status 20 years later has succeeded, at least as much as box office The numbers are worrying. The numbers speak for themselves, as it has grossed $77 million in US theaters and another $157 million in the rest of the world since its April 29 release.

In the face of such Box office smashthis installment inspired heated discussions for days about its quality and comparisons to the original. In Italy, these arguments extend to film dubbing.

The controversy stems from the choice of voice actors in the Italian version of The devil wears prada 2who are themselves an indication of continuity; It’s the same cast as the original. Connie Bismuto returns as the voice of Anne Hathaway as Andy, Francesca Manicone calls Emily Blunt as Emily, Gabriele Lavia once again voices Nigel as Stanley Tucci, and above all, Maria Pia Di Meo, the actress who has been the familiar, expressive voice of Meryl Streep in almost all the Italian film adaptations of recent years – including the creepy Miranda Priestly – returns in the sequel.

While many fans were happy to revisit these familiar voices, other viewers noticed some idiosyncrasies, largely due to the advancement of the voice actors themselves, especially Di Meo and Lafia.

Di Meo, born in 1939, is undoubtedly a master of Italian dubbing, and her performances associated with such great Hollywood actresses as Jane Fonda, Julie Andrews, Mia Farrow, Barbra Streisand and Streep have made her one of the most recognizable and expressive voices of cinema in that country’s theaters.

However, some say that her performance now reveals too much of the passage of time, and that there is a disconnect between her 87-year-old voice and that of a lively, sharp character like Miranda (originally played by the 76-year-old Streep). Could this nine-year gap be too big to bridge? The same has been said of Lafia, who dubs Stanley Tucci with a score that often feels a bit forced.

But more than the issue of age, there is perhaps a broader debate about dubbing in general and its effectiveness in an era when first download platforms and then streaming platforms are accustomed to seeing more and more content in the original language.

Even just listen to the trailers released online for devil wears prada 2, Not only will a native Italian speaker notice that the sounds are stale with varying degrees of mismatch, but they will also notice that the speed of the lines makes them difficult to follow. What about adapting the dialogue? “I’m a features editor at Runway,” Anne Hathaway’s Andy says proudly, but how many of those outside newsrooms know what a features editor is? And again, when the second assistant says to Miranda, “I have to pee, I drank a soda,” how many people outside the United States quickly understand that she is referring to a Starbucks drink?

Perhaps, then, what has not aged well is not so much the voices of individual dubbers as it is a dubbing system that – in most cases – no longer keeps up with the speed and specificity with which the content itself is produced. But faced with this consideration, one cannot ignore that, at least in a market like Italy, and especially in cinemas, people overwhelmingly go to watch dubbed versions of films.

So these same online discussions may serve to keep attention focused on how many countries outside the United States watch these films. Not only does it deserve more respect, but it also deserves quality that is not entirely guaranteed with today’s frenetic pace.

This story originally appeared on Wired Italy It was translated from Italian.