Mexico Gets a New Wildwood Dub on Thursday. Three Star Voices Are Out, and the One Dubbing Pro Stays

Mexico is getting a second Spanish version of Laika’s Wildwood. From Thursday, 12 November, cinemas can show a new dub that replaces three of the film’s four lead voices with working dubbing actors. The one lead who stays is the only dubbing professional who was cast the first time.

Imagem Films Mx, the film’s Mexican distributor, announced the new version on Tuesday, 12 days after Wildwood: El bosque salvaje opened on 29 October. “We’ve worked on a new dubbing performance for Mexico of Wildwood: El bosque salvaje,” the company said in a statement quoted by Infobae, adding that it believes “in the power of stories to move, connect and create experiences that go beyond the screen.”

It’s a rare thing in Latin American cinema: a distributor re-recording the leads of a film that is still on release, because audiences asked. Voice Over Herald reported on 6 November that a petition for a new dub was gathering signatures and that one of the actors had answered his critics. Four days later the answer came from the distributor.

Hear the voices being replaced: the original Mexican Spanish trailer for Wildwood: El bosque salvaje, with Prue first and Curtis answering. Video: Imagem Films Mx, on YouTube

Who’s in, and who’s out

The first Mexican track gave three leads to well-known names from outside dubbing, the kind of casting the industry calls “star talent”. Actress Macarena García voiced Prue McKeel, the girl who goes into the Impassable Wilderness to find her baby brother; Expansión reports it was her first dubbing job. TV presenter Natalia Téllez voiced the Governess, Alexandra Svik, and film critic and content creator Javier Ibarreche voiced Brendan, the Bandit King.

In the new version, according to Imagem’s announcement as reported by N+ and by Expansión’s LifeandStyle, Danna Alcalá takes over Prue, Erica Edwards takes Alexandra and Erick Selim takes Brendan. All three are dubbing regulars. Expansión lists Edwards as the Mexican voice of Claire Underwood in House of Cards and Agatha Harkness in WandaVision, and Selim as Toji Fushiguro in Jujutsu Kaisen and Charlotte Katakuri in One Piece.

Curtis and the Governess, Alexandra. Image: LAIKA

The fourth lead doesn’t change. Emilio Treviño, the voice of Prue’s friend Curtis, posted the news himself: “For everyone who’s been asking… my work will still be there in this new version of the dub.” He signed off with “See you at the cinema.”

The voice Laika’s films already knew

Treviño’s survival is less of a surprise once you look at his credits. Infobae’s list of his dubbing work includes Norman Babcock in ParaNorman and Eggs in The Boxtrolls, both Laika films, so Wildwood is at least his third trip into the studio’s stop-motion worlds in Spanish. He’s also the Latin American Spanish voice of Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films, Mark Grayson in Invincible, Denji in Chainsaw Man, and one of the regular Spanish voices of Timothée Chalamet, from Paul Atreides in Dune to Willy Wonka.

That’s the point the petition’s backers kept making. In the first version, the one professional dubbing actor among the leads was the one nobody complained about. The new cast simply extends that to the other three roles.

It’s worth saying that the original dub wasn’t all star casting. As we reported on 31 October, the supporting cast included working actors such as Lissy Jiménez Guajardo, who won her way in through a 48-hour contest recorded from a home booth in Durango. Imagem hasn’t said whether any supporting roles are being re-recorded, and reports so far only name the three leads.

What the distributor says about the first version

Imagem isn’t calling the first dub a mistake. According to CNN en Español, its statement says the original was made “in line with established creative and professional standards,” and that the new version doesn’t aim “to invalidate or discredit” the earlier one. CNN says the company wanted to “consider the different perspectives” it had heard from audiences, and N+ reports that it describes the new track as “an alternative for viewers”.

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Infobae adds that cinemas across the country will be able to schedule screenings of the new version. The announcements talk about Mexico only; nothing has been said about other Latin American countries.

The criticism started almost as soon as the film opened. On Change.org, a viewer named Stefanny Alanis launched a petition addressed to Laika and Imagem asking for a complete new dub with professional voice actors. Xataka México counted a little over 6,600 signatures on 6 November. According to Xataka, the petition argued that the voices make it hard for audiences to get involved in the story, and it warned that whatever Spanish track ships now will follow the film onto streaming and home release.

“I didn’t take a job to take it from a dubbing actor”

The most direct response from inside the booth came from Ibarreche, who works as a film critic and so spends his days on the other side of reviews. On 6 November he posted a long message, quoted by El Financiero and Publimetro.

Brendan, the Bandit King, on the stop-motion set. Image: LAIKA

“I didn’t take a job to take it away from a dubbing actor, I took it to become one,” he wrote. He said he accepted the audience’s right to say when something didn’t work for them, and that “if your feeling is that the dub wasn’t up to the standard of the film, I understand the frustration.” He was blunt about the intent behind it, Publimetro reported: “There was no malice. Ignorance, maybe, but no malice.”

He also seemed to know what was coming. “Of course it hurts to know I’m out of this project, but pain is sometimes part of the back and forth of criticism,” he wrote. “And today it was my turn to be on this side.” Publimetro noted at the time that he didn’t explain what he meant by being out of the project. Four days later, the distributor’s announcement did.

Has this happened before?

Not often, and rarely this fast. Crónica points to Space Jam: A New Legacy in Spain, where the singer Lola Índigo voiced Lola Bunny and Warner Bros. re-recorded the character for the HBO Max release after criticism. Older Mexican redubs of Disney classics such as Snow White came out of royalty and rights disputes, not audience complaints.

Petitions don’t always win, either. Xataka México recalls that in 2019 more than 31,000 people signed a campaign asking Paramount to keep Yamil Atala as the Mexican voice of Sonic for the first film, and the studio didn’t change its mind.

What makes Wildwood different is the timing. The new track lands while the film is still in cinemas, the original remains on record as the version Imagem stands behind, and Mexican audiences get to choose between the two. For working dubbing actors in Mexico, who’ve watched star casting take lead roles in animated films for years, it’s a clear message from a ticket-buying public: they can hear the difference, and they’ll say so.

Readers who saw the film in its first two weeks have a reason to go back. From Thursday, the Bandit King has a new voice.

Sources: Infobae; CNN en Español; N+; Expansión LifeandStyle; El Financiero; Publimetro; Xataka México; Crónica; Imagem Films Mx; Emilio Treviño on social media; Change.org petition by Stefanny Alanis. Quotations from Spanish sources are translated by Voice Over Herald. Images: LAIKA.

Lee este artículo en español: Wildwood estrena nuevo doblaje en México este jueves. Salen tres voces famosas y se queda el único actor de doblaje

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