Collider is proud to announce three of Disney’s animated classics are getting indigenous language dubs on Disney+. Film dubs are essential tools for people who have difficulty reading subtitles to enjoy a film, making them especially relevant for children. So, with Disney+ increasing the scope of its indigenous languages dubbed movies, more people will be able to watch some of Disney’s most beloved animated classics.
Starting this Friday, Disney+ subscribers can watch Bambi in Arapaho, an indigenous American language spoken by roughly 1000 people. The movie follows the tragic story of a fawn whose mother is killed by a hunter. Alone in the woods, Bambi must learn how to fend for himself with the support of his friends, a rabbit named Thumper and a striped skunk named Flower. Bambi’s Arapaho dub was first recorded in 1990 and represents Disney’s first indigenous language dub ever.
Another classic Disney movie added to the company expanding Disney+ library of indigenous language dubs is The Lion King. The fan-favorite journey of Simba will now be available in Zulu, a Bantu language spoken by more than nine million people, mainly in South Africa. A good chunk of the movie’s characters is named in Swahili, another language from the Bantu family, and the Zulu dub dates from the movie’s original release, when directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff traveled to South Africa to find a Zulu-speaking voice cast themselves.
Finally, the third Disney animated film to get an indigenous language dub on Disney+ is Moana, which will be available in Tahitian, a Polynesian language spoken in Tahiti and other islands in French Polynesia. The Tahitian version of Moana was the first film to be fully dubbed in the language. So far, Moana’s Tahitian dub was only available for schools and institutions but never to the general public. There’s also a version of Moana dubbed in the Māori language, so maybe that can come next to Disney+?
Bambi, The Lion King, and Moana are not the first movies to get an indigenous language dub available on Disney+. Currently, the streaming platform features Navajo dubs of Finding Nemo and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Recently, Hulu, another streaming platform belonging to Disney, also released a version of Prey fully dubbed in Comanche, which underlines the company’s intention to keep improving its accessibility features.
The new indigenous dubs of Bambi, The Lion King, and Moana debut on Disney+ this Friday, October 7, at 12 a.m. PT / 3 a.m. ET.