Celebrities doing cartoon voice overs

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Vijay A

New member
What do you think about this "Lets have as many celebrities as we can do voices for our movies" craze in cartoon movies lately?

Jim Carrey, Steve Carrel, and Carol Burnett in Horton Hears a Who!
Jack Black in Kung Fu Panda
Jerry Seinfeld in Bee Movie
George Clooney in the upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox

Etc etc.

Do you approve of them as long as the voice matches the characters, find it as a gimmick, or think voice acting should be left to the people who actually train to do that form of acting?
 
Celebrities doing voice overs in animated features is the "in thing" to do in Hollywood right now. For me, it's only an issue when the celebrity voices distract you from the role that he/she is playing, when you're thinking more about the actor/actress and less on the character that they are voicing.

For example, when I saw Dreamworks' Over the Hedge, I knew coming into the film that Bruce Willis provided the voice of R.J. the raccoon, but as I get involved with the story, I momentarily forgot about Willis and instead began thinking of the character as strictly R.J. and not Bruce Willis voicing R.J. Willis became R.J. in the film for me. As long as the celebrity voice actors don't distract me from the story in any way, I have no problem with it.
 
Just remember that celebrity voices are a device studios use to merely get the parents watching with the kids.

The seemingly endless array of celebrity guest appearances on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show is also a result of this logic. I mean, the kiddies (when they're very young) don't know Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg or Mel Gibson, but adults do. Without this, the parents would seem embarrased to accompany their own kids to the theatre to see the latest Disney feature!
 
It only becomes a bad idea when the studios try to sell the movies based purely on this star power alone. DreamWorks' Shark Tale is a prime example - the only thing anyone remembers about this movie is that it had Will Smith, Jack Black, and Angelina Jolie doing the voices.

It also seems to cheapen the art of voice acting. Some of these celebrities are very talented actors, but they aren't specifically "voice actors". I remember reading an interview where, I think, Chris Rock said that doing his part in Bee Movie was the easiest job he's ever had - "I go in, I read the script, and I go home." Any professional voice actor (i.e. Joe Alaskey, Billy West, Grey DeLisle, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, etc.) will tell you that there's a lot more to it than just reading the lines off the page.
 
It's not a new phenomenon. Ever since Robin Williams helped elevate Disney's Aladdin to one of the highest-grossing films of the year, the practice of using A-List actors to boost box-office ("stunt casting") has been standard operating procedure for any animated film that represents a nine-figure studio investment.
 
I think we all know why it's done; I believe the question being posed here is what we think of the practice?

Myself, I'll echo others here to say that I personally don't have a problem with it, except when the voice actors are bigger than the characters they portray or they're the only reason why I care about these characters. When the voice and the character compliment each other, then it's perfect.
 
Chris Rock was only in there because his voice is very recognizable and very funny on its own. He really doesn't have to try to sound funny, his voice is just ridiculous on its own.

And, as my opinion on celebs voice acing, I really don't mind it, as they're usually quite good at it. But, they're still not as good as professional voice actors are, and they truly are in their just to give the movie some added star power.
 
I don't mind it, unless the actors make the characters become themselves more than making a character of it's own. Also, they shouldn't cast every role in the movie as a celebrity, and leave room for at least some of the regular voice actors.
 
I don't really mind that they're casting celebrities to do voice-overs for animated films (Let's face it,sometimes that's the only way to get people to see the film),the only thing that bothers me is if the celeb talent overshadows the actual film (as was the case with Shark Tale....just barely made it through the movie once)...
 
It's nothing really new. Heck, Transformers: The Movie had Orson frikkin Welles, and G.I. Joe: The Movie had Don Johnson and Burgess Meredith.

As others have said, I don't mind big-name celebrities doing the voices as long as they don't distract. I mean, I can't imagine anyone else as the voices of Buzz and Woody. Though it would be nice to see a more varied mix of celebrities and voice actors like Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Michael Bell, etc., all the names you usually only find in cartoons. Would be nice to hear them as the leading voices in some of these big movies, but I understand the need to draw a sizeable audience with a big name since these movies often have large budgets.
 
Ugh. Don't remind me of that horrid, horrid, horrid movie.

Every time Smith's character appeared on screen it was impossible to forget that it was Will Smith. It was basically his face (sans nose) and all his mannerisms on a fish body. How unbelievably lazy.
 
I don't really mind if a celeb does a voice or two, as long as it's not the MAIN FOCUS, and everybody is so busy pimping the names they forget to make a good story! I've seen this on more than one occasion.
 
Honestly, we do have Disney to blame for this after Aladdin. Beauty and the Beast, maybe the most recognizable voice was Angela Lansbury. Aladdin had Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Lion King had James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Matthew Broderick, and it just went from there.
 
I'll echo some of the other comments in saying that as long as the fact that the film uses A-listers doesn't distract from the actual film, then it's usually OK. However, using A-list actors and succeeding at this is pretty much impossible. PIXAR probably does it best, they generally use recognizeable actors, but not the most famous (Toy Story is the exception here). I listened to an interview with Scott McNeill (very talented Canadian voice actor) and he pretty much said the same thing; in fact he did kinda imply that Dreamworks are by far the wort offender in using names rather than talent for their movies.
 
It doesn't bother me so long as:

A) The voice matches the part.

and

B) The celeb they snagged can actualy act. :B

Otherwise, it's just gimmicky. :P
 
It only really bothers me when the characters the celebrities are voicing already have official voice actors in an animated series or another form of media.

Other than that it's fine but, real voice actors should really be getting these roles though.
 
Yea, you're right. It all began with Robin Williams as the Genie. Just look at it this way. What was Disney's follow-up to Aladdin? Lion King. And who were the "voice actors" in that movie? Jonathan Taylor Thomas, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, etc.
 
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