Billy West once mentioned in an interview that at the premiere of Space Jam in 1996, he and the film's other voice actors weren't invited to the big Grauman's Chinese Theater. They were invited to the smaller one next to it. His fellow voice actor Bob "Porky Pig" Bergen asked someone about this, and they said that the party at the big theater was for the actors. His exact words were, "It's like they treat us like we're not actors."
Mr.
West is one of the MANY voice actors who isn't a huge fan of a trend that’s
been going on since the early 2000s (well, it technically started even earlier
than that, but the 2000s were when it was basically a necessity): casting
celebrities as the voices of characters in animated movies and only letting
professional voice actors play a character that only has, like, one line. And I
can’t say I blame them. Nowadays it's far more likely that a YouTube star will play a role in an animated movie (for example, Ricky Dillon in DreamWorks' Trolls and the SMOSH guys in The Angry Birds Movie) than a professional voice actor. It’s not like all celebrity voice acting is bad, but
for the most part it’s pretty pointless.
_poster.jpg) |
| Here is the poster for Blue Sky Studios' Epic. Its cast includes Pitbull and Beyonce as characters that are barely in the movie at all. |
I
mean, could somebody please explain to me what Kristen Bell brought to Frozen that a professional voice actress
wouldn’t have? Was it really that necessary to have Jay Leno as a fire hydrant
in Robots (or Paula Abdul as a watch,
for that matter)? Would Shark Tale have
suffered without the presence of Will Smith and Angelina Jolie?
The
main reason I hear for why celebrities always voice characters in animated
movies is because people apparently won’t see it unless there’s a big name
attached. This is, in my opinion, a load of tripe. Yes, Madagascar made money, but it clearly didn’t simply because you had
Ben Stiller and Chris Rock voicing the main characters. Heck, look at Rise of the Guardians or Delgo – those films had celebrities in
them up the whazoo and bombed.
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| Other examples of this: Penguins of Madagascar, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Turbo... For some reason, most of DreamWorks' recent movies have been flops. Not sure why. |
But
like I said, not all celebrity voice performances are bad. For every Shark Tale, there’s a Monsters Inc., after all. So today on Animation and All Things Related, we’ll
be talking about five cases where a performance by a celebrity worked out in an
animated movie’s favor… and five cases where it didn’t.
NOTE: I just want to make it clear that I have nothing against these actors as people or actors. I'm sure they're all very nice people.
Number 10: (Worst)
Anne Hathaway as Red Puckett (Hoodwinked)
Okay, uh, I could be wrong,
but isn’t this character supposed to be, uh, a child? I wouldn’t have a problem
with Anne Hathaway voicing a child if she actually, you know, tried to make her
voice sound younger, but she doesn’t. She just uses her natural voice, and it
doesn’t work. That’s not to say Anne Hathaway is a bad actress; I mean, I
haven’t seen much of her live action work, but she was pretty good as Jewel from Rio. But I don’t think having
her voicing a character that I’m pretty sure is supposed to be a child was such
a good idea. For what it’s worth, though, the actress who they got to replace
her in the sequel, Hayden Panettiere, doesn’t do that much better.
Number 9: (Best)
Ray Romano as Manny (the Ice Age movies)
The original Ice Age, released all the way back in
2002, is in my opinion quite underrated. How so? Because it’s a genuinely good
movie that got overshadowed by its lousy sequels (although I do sort of like
the third) and bizarre holiday specials. In particular, Ray Romano does a great
job as Manny. Every usually comedic actor, it seems, has at least one role
where they get to show just how good of an actor they can be (for example,
Kevin James as Otis in the also underrated Barnyard).
This is that role for Ray. It’s such a great fit that it’s hard to imagine
anyone else pulling off the world’s most famous wooly mammoth. By the way, I’d
also like to give a shout-out to John Leguizamo and Denis Leary’s equally quite
good performances as Sid and Diego.
Number 8: (Worst)
Everyone from those stupid live action Smurfs movies aside from Jonathan
Winters as Papa and Anton Yelchin as Clumsy
Seriously, what was the
casting process for this like? Did they just pick the names of celebrities out
of a hat? Was it seriously too hard to at least ask Michael Bell and Frank
Welker if they wanted to reprise their roles as the Smurfs they played in the
original series (I mean, Frank was in the movies as Azarel the cat!)? Smurfs
are teeny, tiny characters. They’re supposed to have cute, high-pitched voices
that sound natural coming out of teeny, tiny characters. They’re not supposed
to sound like George Lopez and Kenan Thompson! And of course, there’s the
casting of Katy Perry as Smurfette. Apparently they didn’t know it was her when
she auditioned or something and they amazingly DIDN’T just cast her in the film
because she was popular at the time. But she doesn’t bring anything to
Smurfette that a professional voice actress couldn’t have (to her credit,
though, I think she does a better job in The
Smurfs 2 than in the first one). These films were so bad that even Sony
Pictures Animation seems to regret making them, hence why we’re getting an
all-animated Smurfs film in 2017.
Number 7: (Best)
Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc. and Monsters University)
For those unaware, Monsters Inc. is my favorite PIXAR
movie, which probably stems from the fact that it is (in my opinion anyway) the
FUNNIEST. Much of the film’s humor comes from Mike Wazowski, played by Billy
Crystal, who really gives it his all. I mean, what’s NOT funny about Mike
screeching out a love ballad to his girlfriend in the lobby of his workplace
while everyone in the room stares at him, baffled? Or him telling everyone as
he and Sulley are trying to cover up the fact that they have a human child with
them that they are rehearsing for the upcoming company play (called Put That Thing Back Where it Came From or So
Help Me, no less?). That said, though, like Ray Romano in Ice Age, Billy also does a good job with
the film’s more dramatic moments. The same holds true for the 2013 prequel, Monsters University, where it’s really
hard not to feel just a LITTLE sorry for Mike when he’s sadly sitting at the
bank of a river, lamenting that nobody finds him scary. Though in general the
two films have a really great cast (John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, ect.), Billy
Crystal is definitely the best part of Monsters
Inc.
Number 6: (Worst)
Shakira as Gazelle (Zootopia)
While Zootopia in general has a pretty solid cast, I can not for the life
of me figure out what the purpose of Shakira and the character she played in it
was. The character is barely in the movie at all, contributing little more than
a few lines here and there and a song. She is clearly only here because Disney
didn’t think they could sell the movie on the names of Jason Bateman and
Ginnifer Goodwin alone (notice how she was the first voice actor after them to
be announced for the movie?).
Number 5: (Best)
Justin Timberlake as Boo-Boo Bear (Yogi Bear)
Remember when it was first
announced that Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake would be providing the voices
of Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo? Remember how that sounded like a horrible idea at the
time? Well, as it turns out both of them did a pretty good job. Justin
Timberlake in particular was a surprise, I mean, he’s SPOT-ON. Unlike in The Smurfs, where the actors just use
their natural voices and call it a day, Justin actually makes an attempt to
sound like Boo-Boo, and it works out pretty well. I wonder what the odds are of
him becoming the voice of Boo-Boo full time (like how Matthew Lilard became the
official voice of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo a
few years after playing him in the live action movies)…
Number 4: (Worst)
Ty Burrell as Mr. Peabody (Mr. Peabody and Sherman)
Let us ignore for a moment
that DreamWorks’ adaptation of the Peabody’s
Improbable History segments of The
Rocky and Bullwinkle Show took what was first and foremost a silly cartoon
about a genius dog and his “pet boy” traveling through time and turned it into
some sort of drama about how a dog isn’t a good father and how he’s just SO
MISJUDGED BY THE WORLD. Ty Burrell suffers from the same problem in this movie
as the cast of The Smurfs. Speaking
with a British accent does not automatically make you sound like Bill Scott’s
Mr. Peabody. In Ty’s case, it makes you sound like Ty Burrell trying to do a
British accent. Perhaps even worse is the fact
that the director, Rob Minkoff, intentionally chose an actor who DIDN’T sound
like the original Mr. Peabody because “there was an opportunity in casting a
new voice to modernize the character.” That’s like making a Rocky and
Bullwinkle movie and casting David Spade as Rocky and Chris Rock as Bullwinkle
to “modernize them”. If you'd like to see good voiceover work from Ty Burrell, watch Finding Dory, where he voices a beluga whale named Bailey (he's also going to be in Warner Brothers' Storks).
Number 3: (Best)
Mike Myers as Shrek
Ah, Shrek. How exactly did
this character go from the star of one of DreamWorks’ best movies to little
more than a punchline? Despite the fact that the first two Shrek movies absolutely
REEK of the 2000s (there’s a better term here I could use), I think they both
still hold up, mainly due to how FUNNY they are. And I think a big chunk of
that comes from the performances of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy. Mike’s idea to
go with a Scottish accent for this character was pure genius: not only does it
give Shrek a recognizable, cartoony voice (in the same way that the voices of
Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants are recognizable and cartoony), it makes
a large percentage of what Shrek says even funnier. It’s too bad Mike hasn’t
done much in the way of voice work aside from these movies. Hopefully if that new Austin Powers movie and Shrek 5 are a
success, it’ll lead to Mike getting cast in more things. I’d love to hear him
in another animated movie.
Number 2: (Worst)
Rihanna as Tip (Home)
I admittedly haven’t seen Home (and I plan to keep it that way).
The advertisements looked pretty lousy (every single commercial had that scene
where Jim Parsons Alien screams, “MY HANDS ARE IN THE AIR LIKE I JUST DO NOT
CARE!”), the storyline didn’t sound interesting, and the fact that ALL FOUR of
the characters who have big roles in it put this film on my not-to-watch list
(I did watch the prequel short, Almost
Home, on YouTube and thought it was decent). While I like Jim Parsons, he
wasn’t enough to pull me in. Rihanna here suffers from the same problem as Anne
Hathaway did in Hoodwinked: this
character is a child (and yes, in this case I know for a fact that she is
indeed supposed to be a child). She could've at least ATTEMPTED to sound younger.
She doesn’t. She just uses her natural voice. They could’ve gotten Cree Summer to voice Tip for half the
cost.
Number 1: (Best)
Robin Williams as the Genie (Aladdin)
It’s an obvious choice, I
know, but I had to put him on the list somewhere. Now, Robin Williams was no
stranger to voiceover work (in addition to Aladdin,
he also gave voice to characters in FernGully:
The Last Rainforest, Robots, and
the Happy Feet movies). The Genie is
undoubtedly his best role. He basically WAS the Genie. Like Billy Crystal and
Mike Myers, he clearly plays a big part in what makes the Genie a fun
character. What else is there really to say?
Honorable Mentions (as far as good celebrity voice-acting goes)
- Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz Lightyear (the Toy Story movies)
- Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres as Marlin and Dory (Finding Nemo and Finding Dory)
- David Hyde Pierce as Slim (A Bug's Life)
- David Spade as Emperor Kuzco (The Emperor's New Groove)
- Bryan Cranston as Vitaly the Tiger (Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted)
- Phil Harris as Baloo (The Jungle Book)
- Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant (Horton Hears a Who)
- Danny DeVito as the Lorax (take a wild guess)
Honorable Mentions (as far as good celebrity voice-acting goes)
- Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz Lightyear (the Toy Story movies)
- Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres as Marlin and Dory (Finding Nemo and Finding Dory)
- David Hyde Pierce as Slim (A Bug's Life)
- David Spade as Emperor Kuzco (The Emperor's New Groove)
- Bryan Cranston as Vitaly the Tiger (Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted)
- Phil Harris as Baloo (The Jungle Book)
- Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant (Horton Hears a Who)
- Danny DeVito as the Lorax (take a wild guess)
