The Best – and Worst – of Celebrity Voice Acting in Animated Movies

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.

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.

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)