It’s the end of an era. You will never hear the American actor dubbed in French again as in his previous films. A change noticed in his last feature film released on Amazon Prime Video …
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Thirty-three years after the first part, Eddie Murphy finds his character of “Prince in New York” in a sequel to the cult film released in 1988. A risky comeback to discover since Friday March 5 on the platform Amazon Prime Video.
As a reminder, in the first feature film, Eddie Murphy played Prince Akeem, who came from the imaginary kingdom of Zamunda, in Africa, to find a queen in Queens. Accompanied by his faithful servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall), he was a wonderful candid discovering the very liberal manners of the East Coast, before finding the chosen one of his heart, Lisa (Shari Hadley, who still plays his wife in this sequel) .
From their happy marriage were born three beautiful daughters. But the old traditions of the kingdom of Zamunda require that it be a boy who ascends the throne. Luckily, this is where Semmi learns Akeem that reluctantly, he left a male heir in the United States. Neither one nor two, it’s back to New York to find this bastard prince. It is all the more urgent that the bellicose General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) would see himself ejected this king without descendants who could claim the crown …
A page turns…
In this second installment, Eddie Murphy, soon to be 60, proves that he has not lost any of his legendary sense of humor. But if there is one thing that has changed about the American actor, it is his voice. Well, not quite his own, but that of his French-speaking voice actor.
For nearly thirty years, Med Hondo has dubbed no less than 28 characters played by Eddie Murphy. We have heard it in the trilogy of “The Beverly Hills Cop”, the two “Doctor Dolittle”, but also “The Nutty Professor”, “The Nutty Family”, and of course, “A prince in New York 1” . Without forgetting “Shrek”, in the inimitable skin of the donkey. Cult roles! But on May 2, 2019, we learned of the death of this Franco-Mauritanian actor, then 82 years old.
For this reason, Eddie Murphy had to find a new French voice. Now you will hear that of Christophe Peyroux, dubbing actor for American actors such as Michael Ealy, Anthony Anderson or Anthony Mackie.
Christophe Peyroux – Copyright Isopix
This passing of the torch represents for him “An honor and a little funk”, as he confided in an interview for Europe 1. But out of the question to copy the work of his predecessor, which he considers moreover as “One of the monuments of dubbing”
! He explains : “I think it would have been a mistake to want to do it. I will not be in imitation, I try to offer what I am. “ Christophe Peyroux therefore tries to “Stick as much as possible to what [Eddie Murphy, ndlr] propose ».
“Without Med Hondo, you might as well see the film in their original version”
Despite his efforts, the voice actor has inevitably been the subject of criticism, following the release of the film’s trailer. “Without Eddie Murphy’s official voice actor, it just totally blows things up”, “Eddie Murphy will never make me laugh without your voice again, Med Hondo”, “They could have chosen a voice that comes a little closer”, ” Without Med Hondo, you might as well see the film in their original version ”, can we read in the YouTube comments. “I can understand that people are surprised”, Christophe Peyroux then answers. “There is a question of habit and to pass after thirty years of a voice which is well anchored in the ears of the people, it is complicated”, he adds, denouncing however “A lot of unfounded criticism”.
For now, nothing says that the collaboration between the French voice actor and Eddie Murphy’s team will continue, but Christophe Peyroux “Touch of wood” so that the adventure continues.
