Hollywood’s Continuous Issue With Voice Roles In Animated Movies
Hollywood’s Continuous Issue With Voice Roles In Animated Movies
by Wardculture
27 Comments
kolt437
Oh no, Hollywood makes money, not tries to do things! First time that ever happened!
Aleclom
In Gabriel Iglesias’s latest comedy special, he talks about being contacted for the role of Speedy Gonzales in the latest Space Jam, and how the execs were surprised he could actually do the voice (since he actually does voices for a living). They said he could just use his normal speaking voice, but Gabriel fought back and said that he wanted people to think of Speedy Gonzales when the character was talking, not Gabriel Iglesias.
I wish Chris Pratt and Illumination would take notes.
PMC-I3181OS387l5
In short, they use star power to market their movies when they should make way for actual voice actors… I can cite a few examples:
* Peter Cullen reprised his role as Optimus Prime in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, but Frank Welker (Megatron) lost to Hugo Weaving.
* For the Ratchet & Clank 2016 movie, James Arnold Taylor (Ratchet), David Kaye (Clank), Jim Ward (Qwark) and Armin Shimerman (Nefarious) all reprised their roles from the games, but the movie poster listed Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylverster Stallone in the forefront.
* Zendaya took over Lola Bunny’s voice for Space Jam: A New Legacy, when most of the Looney Tune cast reprised their roles.
They don’t need star power, they need professionals…
Lievan
People are acting like this is something new. These movies sadly are made for the general audience of movie goers and that’s it. Not saying I hate these movies but people will see Chris Pratt as Mario on the poster and that will get people in the theaters. Again, nothing new big budget animated movies like this.
CurlySuefromSweden
I wish Hollywood would stop using famous actors for animated movies. It’s fine when there are one or two actors who actually have the talent or are suited for the part – say Robin Williams as the Genie or Jeremy Irons as Scar etc. Hell, even the Rock was great as Maui in Moana but I wouldn’t want to hear Dwayne as Mario. Which is something I believe that Hollywood would do if they thought it would bring in more money.
fakemuseum
Pratt spoke like a sentence in the trailer and people reacted as if they saw the whole movie.
RockmanVolnutt
What’s weird is Chris Pratt is perfectly suitable for all kinds of animated roles and has done well. Thought his voice worked great in Onward along side Tom Holland, both perfectly suited to those characters. Chris Evan’s did well as Lightyear. I don’t think it’s a hard rule to never cast them, but when the role calls for something specific find someone suited. Jack Black is going to work great as Bowser.
Mmicb0b
I’m fine with it as long as the celebrity in question is doing a good job and no one’s getting exploited
Fluffy_Mood5781
Personally I think he did fine. Sometimes things are just good, they could be great! But I don’t think one part really ruins any part of the movie.
UsualCut6497
Even if they’re not the best choices for the characters, most (if not all) of the cast in the Mario Movie have done voice acting before, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see wether it’s good or bad.
compacta_d
Chris Pratt can do some range at least. He was the main character in both Lego Movies, as well as the other main character in lego movie 2 which was based on chris pratt.
KinopioToad
I agree with what most people are saying, but crisp rat has only said three lines, in one trailer. He hasn’t really had a chance yet.
PurpleComet
There are some mangled-ass sentences in this article. Like this:
>Disney in the past is a prime example of if a voice actor dies or is replaced who played a historic character such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh, or Goofy, the voice replacement such as Bill Farmer or Jim Cummings has always stayed true to that established character’s voice.
Did anyone proofread this at all?
OgichiGame
I’m honestly kinda annoyed by this idea that keeps coming up that people just “wouldn’t like” Martinet’s high pitched voice for that long cause it’s simply not true. Even excluding the fact that he could just tone it back a bit, you literally hear his voice for countless hours playing through the games. And add on top of that the numerous animated characters which already exist with high pitched voices that people don’t have any issues listening to. Like Pinky, a number of MLP characters, bubbles, flapjack, etc.
They weren’t the least bit concerned with whether Mario’s voice would be grating. It just boils down to: Celebrity guy has big name. Big name make people watch movie.
Just straight caveman brain thinking.
Umber0010
Shoutout to all the big name actors who respect Voice Acting just as much as physical acting and are able to do both exceedingly well.
Mark Hamil, JK Simmons, and Jack black are the ones who come to mind.
I heard the Rock also respects voice acting a lot and worried about not doing well in Moana, but that’s the only role I know him for, so I’ll make him an honorable mention sense he did, in fact, do well.
Sharrty_McGriddle
No clue why animation studios are so adamant about having an all star cast when there’s so many phenomenal voice actors who work for the fraction of what these A-listers require
3now_3torm
I don’t really care who voices who as long as they make an effort and the character sounds good. As long as they don’t just use their normal voice in other words. I think Jack Black did a great Bowser for example. Not exactly what I expected for Bowser but it does sound evil and it fits the character so I think it’s a good choice. Chris Pratt on the other hand just sounds like Chris Pratt and that’s my biggest problem with it. If they at least tried to make it sound better I wouldn’t care but they really didn’t.
AtsignAmpersat
I just don’t see anything more wrong with celebrities voicing animated characters I movies, games, tv then I do with them playing parts in movies. Robert Pattinson as Batman in a movie or in a video game? Who cares? Pratt as Mario is fine. They were never going to cast the game voice for the movie because that would be a bad decision. Let’s wait for the movie to release before we act like we know everything about how good it will be.
YoshiPilot
I would rather they hire voice actors, but it’s Illumination. They will always hire celebrity actors for forever.
Sixth_VI
“Sassy female talking animal” tough call guys so do we call beyonce or queen latifa
“funny guy” uhhh is Seth rogan available haha he’s so funny.
“tough character” the Dwayne “Johnson rock” yas
MRRoberts
when it comes to the mario movie, i will simply wait for the japanese dub
blade740
This topic again. There is absolutely no way a major studio was going to release a Mario movie with 90 minutes of Charles Martinet’s voice. It was never going to happen. There’s a reason Mario has so little dialogue in the games. Don’t get me wrong, I love Martinet’s voice and it’s perfect for the character in the games, where 90% of his lines are “wahoo!” But try to get him to speak a few sentences in conversation and it’s going to start to sound like a charicature.
As for Chris Pratt… we’ve heard about five words so far and everyone has decided that he’s terrible, that he didn’t even try, that he’s phoning it in, etc. Can we at least wait until the movie comes out?
To me, it’s clear that Pratt was cast for the same reason he was cast in the Lego movie – he’s got a plain, bland, forgettable voice. He’s just some dude, thrust unwillingly into a whimsical, wonderful world. His performance is not meant to be the star of the show – he is just there to make Mario seem like a person, in contrast to the larger-than-life cartoonish denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.
mewfour123412
Jack Black is an actual voice actor with many roles under his belt….Chris Pratt only ever plays the same character
Zandrick
Holy run on sentence Batman. That article is a chore to read.
Elranzer
No matter how much Redditors complain about Chris Pratt as Mario, he’s not getting recast and the movie is going to make bank.
w00dm4n
I still can’t wrap my head around Uncle Phil being the voice of an Japanese Ninja Clan Leader who fought Ninja Turtles in the Sewers of NYC.
27 Comments
Oh no, Hollywood makes money, not tries to do things! First time that ever happened!
In Gabriel Iglesias’s latest comedy special, he talks about being contacted for the role of Speedy Gonzales in the latest Space Jam, and how the execs were surprised he could actually do the voice (since he actually does voices for a living). They said he could just use his normal speaking voice, but Gabriel fought back and said that he wanted people to think of Speedy Gonzales when the character was talking, not Gabriel Iglesias.
I wish Chris Pratt and Illumination would take notes.
In short, they use star power to market their movies when they should make way for actual voice actors… I can cite a few examples:
* Peter Cullen reprised his role as Optimus Prime in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, but Frank Welker (Megatron) lost to Hugo Weaving.
* For the Ratchet & Clank 2016 movie, James Arnold Taylor (Ratchet), David Kaye (Clank), Jim Ward (Qwark) and Armin Shimerman (Nefarious) all reprised their roles from the games, but the movie poster listed Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylverster Stallone in the forefront.
* Zendaya took over Lola Bunny’s voice for Space Jam: A New Legacy, when most of the Looney Tune cast reprised their roles.
They don’t need star power, they need professionals…
People are acting like this is something new. These movies sadly are made for the general audience of movie goers and that’s it. Not saying I hate these movies but people will see Chris Pratt as Mario on the poster and that will get people in the theaters. Again, nothing new big budget animated movies like this.
I wish Hollywood would stop using famous actors for animated movies. It’s fine when there are one or two actors who actually have the talent or are suited for the part – say Robin Williams as the Genie or Jeremy Irons as Scar etc. Hell, even the Rock was great as Maui in Moana but I wouldn’t want to hear Dwayne as Mario. Which is something I believe that Hollywood would do if they thought it would bring in more money.
Pratt spoke like a sentence in the trailer and people reacted as if they saw the whole movie.
What’s weird is Chris Pratt is perfectly suitable for all kinds of animated roles and has done well. Thought his voice worked great in Onward along side Tom Holland, both perfectly suited to those characters. Chris Evan’s did well as Lightyear. I don’t think it’s a hard rule to never cast them, but when the role calls for something specific find someone suited. Jack Black is going to work great as Bowser.
I’m fine with it as long as the celebrity in question is doing a good job and no one’s getting exploited
Personally I think he did fine. Sometimes things are just good, they could be great! But I don’t think one part really ruins any part of the movie.
Even if they’re not the best choices for the characters, most (if not all) of the cast in the Mario Movie have done voice acting before, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see wether it’s good or bad.
Chris Pratt can do some range at least. He was the main character in both Lego Movies, as well as the other main character in lego movie 2 which was based on chris pratt.
I agree with what most people are saying, but crisp rat has only said three lines, in one trailer. He hasn’t really had a chance yet.
There are some mangled-ass sentences in this article. Like this:
>Disney in the past is a prime example of if a voice actor dies or is replaced who played a historic character such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh, or Goofy, the voice replacement such as Bill Farmer or Jim Cummings has always stayed true to that established character’s voice.
Did anyone proofread this at all?
I’m honestly kinda annoyed by this idea that keeps coming up that people just “wouldn’t like” Martinet’s high pitched voice for that long cause it’s simply not true. Even excluding the fact that he could just tone it back a bit, you literally hear his voice for countless hours playing through the games. And add on top of that the numerous animated characters which already exist with high pitched voices that people don’t have any issues listening to. Like Pinky, a number of MLP characters, bubbles, flapjack, etc.
They weren’t the least bit concerned with whether Mario’s voice would be grating. It just boils down to: Celebrity guy has big name. Big name make people watch movie.
Just straight caveman brain thinking.
Shoutout to all the big name actors who respect Voice Acting just as much as physical acting and are able to do both exceedingly well.
Mark Hamil, JK Simmons, and Jack black are the ones who come to mind.
I heard the Rock also respects voice acting a lot and worried about not doing well in Moana, but that’s the only role I know him for, so I’ll make him an honorable mention sense he did, in fact, do well.
No clue why animation studios are so adamant about having an all star cast when there’s so many phenomenal voice actors who work for the fraction of what these A-listers require
I don’t really care who voices who as long as they make an effort and the character sounds good. As long as they don’t just use their normal voice in other words. I think Jack Black did a great Bowser for example. Not exactly what I expected for Bowser but it does sound evil and it fits the character so I think it’s a good choice. Chris Pratt on the other hand just sounds like Chris Pratt and that’s my biggest problem with it. If they at least tried to make it sound better I wouldn’t care but they really didn’t.
I just don’t see anything more wrong with celebrities voicing animated characters I movies, games, tv then I do with them playing parts in movies. Robert Pattinson as Batman in a movie or in a video game? Who cares? Pratt as Mario is fine. They were never going to cast the game voice for the movie because that would be a bad decision. Let’s wait for the movie to release before we act like we know everything about how good it will be.
I would rather they hire voice actors, but it’s Illumination. They will always hire celebrity actors for forever.
“Sassy female talking animal” tough call guys so do we call beyonce or queen latifa
“funny guy” uhhh is Seth rogan available haha he’s so funny.
“tough character” the Dwayne “Johnson rock” yas
when it comes to the mario movie, i will simply wait for the japanese dub
This topic again. There is absolutely no way a major studio was going to release a Mario movie with 90 minutes of Charles Martinet’s voice. It was never going to happen. There’s a reason Mario has so little dialogue in the games. Don’t get me wrong, I love Martinet’s voice and it’s perfect for the character in the games, where 90% of his lines are “wahoo!” But try to get him to speak a few sentences in conversation and it’s going to start to sound like a charicature.
As for Chris Pratt… we’ve heard about five words so far and everyone has decided that he’s terrible, that he didn’t even try, that he’s phoning it in, etc. Can we at least wait until the movie comes out?
To me, it’s clear that Pratt was cast for the same reason he was cast in the Lego movie – he’s got a plain, bland, forgettable voice. He’s just some dude, thrust unwillingly into a whimsical, wonderful world. His performance is not meant to be the star of the show – he is just there to make Mario seem like a person, in contrast to the larger-than-life cartoonish denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Jack Black is an actual voice actor with many roles under his belt….Chris Pratt only ever plays the same character
Holy run on sentence Batman. That article is a chore to read.
No matter how much Redditors complain about Chris Pratt as Mario, he’s not getting recast and the movie is going to make bank.
I still can’t wrap my head around Uncle Phil being the voice of an Japanese Ninja Clan Leader who fought Ninja Turtles in the Sewers of NYC.
Idk the voices seemed to fit just fine to me