Good/bad celebrity voice over work in animation/Hollywood

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cksunshine

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Kiddington's post in the mainstream animation thread made me curious:



What celebrities have done really well in your opinion in mainstream animated movies? And likewise, what celebrities stood out as being not so good? Among the good I'd have to say are Mike Myers as Shrek, Tom Hanks and Tim Alan in Toy Story, Steve Carrell as Gru in Despicable Me (If his name wasn't on the poster you wouldn't have noticed it was him, unless you listen really close), the team of Moore and Levi in Tangled was very cute and they played off each other very well, and Eddie Murphy as Donkey in Shrek and Mushu in Mulan. All of these actors had the right voice for their characters, and the ones that had to go over the top and deliver did. But there are so many others that didn't stick out to me, those being the ones who didn't give anything special to their character. I'll think of some specific examples later.
 
Eh, when I watch an animated film long enough (So like, the whole movie), I get used to the voice, regardless of how normal it sounds or how much it sounds like a celebrity.

Take Horton Hears a Who! for example. Those actors really don't compliment the film very well, they just seem like choices to put as advertising. Horton doesn't have a Jim Carrey personality, likewise, he shouldn't have his voice. But I got used to it and now when I watch the film, I just sort of expect it.

I did like Robin Williams as Genie, Will Ferrel as Megamind, Steve Carrel and Jason Segel in Despicable Me were great, the Toy Story duo, and Mike Myer's Shrek.

Do I think it'd be great if voice actors got roles in big animated films, a medium in which they love and cherish? Of course, it's almost unfair to exclude them because they were BORN to do that sort of stuff.

But just being they're not being picked up doesn't mean these voice actors are suffering or sitting on the sidelines. They're alive and kicking in the TV industry, and if anything, have made bigger names for themselves by playing iconic characters.

Such as Tom Kenny and his famous Spongebob voice, his voice has become more recognized than most of the animated films released today. He's also recognized by many other characters, such as The Mayor, Eduardo, Heffer, Carl (Johnny Bravo), the list goes on. He IS going to be playing Rabbit in the new motion picture Winnie the Pooh movie, so it should be exciting to hear his voice outside of television.

John DiMaggio has gotten pretty famous for his Bender voice, typically whenever someone hears his voice in another cartoon, most of my friends will go, "Hey! Doesn't that sound like Bender a little bit?".

And of course we've got Tara Strong, as well as Billy West, Grey DeLisle, Jeff Bennett, all the people mentioned above, they've gotten some great recognition because of television. When you're playing characters who become household names/pop culture names, I'm sure people are going to remember you more than "The guy who did the raccoon in Over the Hedge, oh wait, who did that?".

So while I feel bad that these voice actors won't get as big of a chance to be in animated films, probably their dreams, they're still getting a lot of great work, so it's not like they're sitting at the sidelines begging for jobs or anything.
 
I guess since you've singled me out here, I should clarify; I don't think all major celebrity voice-overs in animated movies are bad. Pixar has made a lot of good casting choices over the years, and some of Disney's selections of non-VA's aren't half bad either. This practice (the bad side of it) mostly comes down to DreamWorks, as they are by far the worst offender when it comes to stunt-casting.

We'll start things off with the bad side. Probably the worst actual movie I could name off, as far bad celebrity voice acting (and the act of stunt-casting in general) is Shark Tale. This movie reeks for a lot of very obvious reasons, and the celebrity-packed voice cast is definitely one of the many problems I have with it. Seriously; just take a look at this apparent "all-star" cast:

Will Smith
Robert De Niro
Renee Zellweger
Angelina Jolie
Martin Scorsese
Doug E. Doug
Katie Couric

I mean, really; give me a friggin break. Selecting one or two of these guys for a titular character is one thing, but come on; they've got Katic Couric and Marty Scorsese playing bit roles for pete's sake. They hardly gave any of the available roles to a professional voice actor in this movie; the closest thing I could even find was Phil LaMarr being credited as "Prawn Shop Owner". I'm sorry, but that's just pathetic.

...and hey, you know what's even worse about all of this? Nobody here gives a memorable performance at all. If they even did a half-way decent job, I wouldn't mind so much... but man, the voice acting in this movie is so utterly forgettable, just like everything else about it. Would a cast of professional VA's, with a wide range of talent and potential voices, have done as badly? No, I'd say probably not. This movie would have still stunk anyways (because the script was absolutely horrible), but at least the voice acting could have been decent.

For the good side? As I said, there are definitely some cases of non-VA celebrities doing good voice work. I always thought the Monsters Inc. duo of Billy Crystal and John Goodman did a fine job with in that movie; especially Billy Crystal. He's no professional voice actor, but I thought he did a fantastic job as Mike. The Toy Story cast was always one of my favorites as well, and heck; just to show that I'm not completely anti-Dreamworks, How to Train Your Dragon boasts some of the finest voice acting I've ever heard in an animated film, and not a single one of the cast members (outside of maybe Craig Ferguson, who does have Freakazoid on his resume) is a professional VA.

So... yeah, it's not all bad. As I said, though; my problem with celebrity voice acting comes down to, in many cases, movie studios selecting these guys based not on their qualifications, but on this perceived notion that their presence alone will sell more tickets. Looking at the cast of Shark Tale, that is exactly what I feel they had in mind on that one. They thought throwing in Angelina Jolie would really make them that much more money, when in reality, she was no more qualified for that role than, say, Kath Soucie. In the end, the project ultimately suffers from this kind of mentality, and you've got a laundry list of rather forgettable animated movies (as far as voice acting goes) because of it.
 
Mark Hamill has proven himself as versatile as nearly any voice actor out there.

So many actors have voices that are blank and colorless and fail to bring animated characters to life.

And then there is the John Goodman type, whos regular voice naturally has lots of character. A little enthusiasm on their part really brings a character to life.

I really like Wendie Maleck in that category.
And lets not forget the incredible Eartha Kitt who I wish had done more voice work.

Look out if Alec Baldwin. He could have bigger career in animation if he wants. Not only does he have an excellent natural voice I think he has range too. And he can correctly pronounce ?rural juror.?
 
Yeah, I didn't assume you meant all, just the overall trend of hiring non VA celebs for big animated movies, I just wanted to get ideas from people since there are a few Hollywood animated movies I haven't seen.

And to the previous post, I didn't know Tom Kenny would be voicing Rabbit. That rocks!
 
One thing that irks me about celebrity voice-casting, besides the "putting butts in seats" mentality behind it, is that some of them don't really have that distinctive a voice, like say Julia Roberts. Not to mention they'll probably treat it as just reading lines into a microphone, when there's more to it than that.
 
I look at Justin Timberlake as an example of both: He didn't really fit the role of Artie in Shrek The Third, but he did a great job as Boo Boo in Yogi Bear.
 
I wanted to wait a bit so I didn't derail this thread, but this thread does seem like a good place to talk about this:

Why do we need celebrities to be voice actors in a movie to be good? To me it really feels like too much of a gimmick that short changes the really good voice actors who made a career out voice acting.

I really tend to think there's not enough importance placed on 'normal' voice actors.

I'd really like to hear movies highlighting career voice actors like Tara Strong or Maurice LaMarche or Billy West

If there was more done in this direction, I think Voice Acting would be a much more stable career and we could really see some of them really shine.
 
To me, voice acting from actual voice actors is better than somebody who is a celebrity. There are times where it is done correctly and times when it is done incorrectly. Pixar is good with this, they dont need a big name. They just look at the acting and compare it with a character that they have to see that it is suitable. Dreamworks on the other hand does it just for the heck of it.

It annoys me on how when it comes to most voice acting done by a celebrity they dont even try to do much of anything. And instead use their normal voice to voice the character, which in my own view isn't very creative. Most of the time a normal voice is suitable while other times its not. Like look at Duckman and Ratagain. Both of their voice actors used their normal voicing for the character and it was both perfect in every aspect. Most of the time its just plain annoying when its the same. I mean look at Patrick Warburton for crying out loud. This guy isn't even trying. And you can just hear his same old voice that is in everything else. It worked for Kronk, but it cannot work for anything else.


Because most studios think people are not familiar with actual voice actors providing the voices for characters in animated features. And just rely on the big bags of $$. Disney on the other hand is kind to actual voice actors, and giving them some decent work to do.
 
Well, I certainly feel that there are more good celebrity VA performances than some of y'all do. The important thing is to cast good actors above all else; if they have a distinctive, interesting voice, that's even better. James Woods' Hades is a particularly good example of this; he already has a great "voice with character" and he's certainly a great actor, so he doesn't try and slum the role. He's really acting in that part, not just doing schtick even though he's very funny.

Heck, the fact that he's come back to do nearly every appearance of Hades in other Disney projects (House of Mouse, Kingdom Hearts, the Hercules TV series) says a lot. He clearly enjoys playing the role.

There are also some celebrities who work better in animation than in live-action. I feel like David Spade, for instance, gave his best performance in The Emperor's New Groove, and Adam West seems to be much more lively in his voice-over work.
 
Agreed. I LOVED his Boo Boo impression. You wouldn't even notice it was him had he not said anything about it. He also does well with Roxas in Kingdom Hearts.
 
I couldn't imagine Slade in Teen Titans being voiced by anyone other than Ron Perlman. Really, he was perfect for that role.

James Woods as Owlman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths was also amazing. He just made the character so creepy.
 
Robin Williams as Genie has to be the single funniest celebrity casting ever. I just watched the movie last month for the first time in years, and I think I laughed more at his performance than ever before.

I also would like to nominate Samuel L. Jackson in The Incredibles as a good example. In a movie filled with so many memorable characters, Frozone managed to steal every scene he was in. If Pixar ever comes up with a good idea for an Incredibles 2, he better be in it.

As for bad celebrity voice castings, Jackie Chan as Monkey in Kung Fu Panda gets my vote. Not because it was bad casting per say, but because the tiny, practically speechless voice Monkey got was a waste of celebrity voice talent. Why even bother casting Chan if they weren't even going to use him for anything besides a few animal noises? :sweat:
 
BAD: Dan Akyroyd as Yogi Bear

Akyroyd's Yogi sounds terrible because it sounds like he came from an ABC sitcom or something, maybe Coach or some other show part of the TGIF block, or maybe someone goofy from the interstitals or actual cartoons from One Saturday Morning (but certianly not Goofy himself).

Possibly because of Jim Belushi?


Especially in the trailer when he says "This is the most advanced pic-a-nic basket device ever invented"
 
It's Ron Perlman.

He was also good as Afro Samurai, and his friend. As well Rummy from The Boondocks. His best lines were when he was quoting the "Say What Again" conversation from Pulp Fiction.
 
Yeah, sorry, I didn't have Wikipedia up at the time of posting. If I did, I'd might not have made that mistake. But oh well.

oh, and sorry for slightly derailing this topic, you may continue with the subject at hand.
 
Specifically ones that really didn't work:

Sinbad
Shark Tale
Monsters vs. Aliens
Robots
Astro Boy (Charlize Theron in a pointless throwaway vocal cameo)
TMNT (Chris Evans as the worst Casey Jones ever; Sarah Michelle Gellar as April the Ninja Slayer; Pointless throwaway vocal cameo of Laurence Fishburne when there was a fantastic monologue from the late great monologue that was right there and thrown away and never appeared in the final film)
 
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