Disney History
Topic: Are the character voices today as good as ever?

#	Author	Message
1	boomerbob Sat 4/12/2008 7:08a	I was listening to some Phil Harris and Alice Faye and realized that Phil Harris' voice carried without "pictures". I then watched the Jungle Book and especially Baloo...What a character and the voice carried the picture in many ways. So my question is are the "character voices" of today as good as past "character voices"?
2	mawnck Sat 4/12/2008 8:28a	My opinion - depends who and what you're talking about. If you mean, is the guy who's playing Baloo now as good a Baloo as Phil Harris, then I'd say of course not, nor would I expect him to be. It's an imitation. You do what you can. If you mean, Disney features now vs. Disney features then, I'd say in general, about the same. FWIW, I'm not so sure having Phil Harris do any voice work is necessarily such a good idea, because Phil doesn't become the character, the character becomes Phil. But I can't think of any recent Disney voices that I thought detracted from the movie. PIXAR? Better. Their voice casting is consistently brilliant. Other studios? In general, much worse. There's a tendency to populate animated features with A-List actors, which works great for promotion, but not so hot for the movie itself. Voice acting is a totally different skill from screen acting, and a lot of screen actors just ain't got it. The poster child for this was Brad Pitt in Dreamworks' Sinbad. He was awful. I thought Horton Hears a Who was ruined (in part) by the non-stop ad-libbed jabbering of its two stars, Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey, but I guess that's what the "filmmakers" were after.
3	Sport Goofy Sat 4/12/2008 8:32a	<< Other studios? In general, much worse. There's a tendency to populate animated features with A-List actors, which works great for promotion, but not so hot for the movie itself. >> I don't think you could get much more A-List than Tom Hanks & Tim Allen for Toy Story. Pixar has also used quite a few A-List voices -- Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, John Goodman all come to mind.
4	mawnck Sat 4/12/2008 8:48a	>>I don't think you could get much more A-List than Tom Hanks & Tim Allen for Toy Story. Pixar has also used quite a few A-List voices -- Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, John Goodman all come to mind.<< True, but compare Tom Hanks' performance with Brad Pitt's. I still stand by my opinion. There are A-Listers who can do a fabulous job. PIXAR finds them. Other studios don't go to the trouble.
5	boomerbob Sat 4/12/2008 11:26a	Personally I think the voice actors of the past reflected much more the reality of "true America". Someone like Parley Baer or Howard McNear are much more real in the performance than many of the character actors of today. As for the voices most actors of today do not realize that the voice is more of an acting tool than appearance. The voice is what stays with the audience. As an example of the two voices of today that I think are like the voices of the past are Gilbert Gottfried or David Sedaris. They are distinctive voices that bring certain images to mind. Those mental images come about due to their wonderful ability to bring life to us through their acting tool the voice. Most actors today practice to "standardize" their voices. Sad we don't hear the regional variations that voice actors like Chet Lauck and Tuffy Goffe used. Or take Parker Fennelly or Mason Adams. Children today must believe we all are from the same location.

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