Celebrity Voices for Disney Charcters or not?

[Prince Phillip]

Tis OK . I think talk about disney sequels is like talking about religion and politics, you are never going to change the other person's mind.

[2099net]

Talk about disney sequels is like talking about religion and politics, you are never going to change the other person's mind.

Hey Phillip, that should be your sig!

[Prince Phillip]

Done

[indianajdp]

I really don't care who does the voice, as long as their voice is suited for the character.

Word

I personally don't care at all who voices what. If it's a celebrity...great. If it's not...fine. As long as the voice and character are a fit and teh storyline flows well then I have no problems with whomever Disney/Pixar put in that studio.

It's not about the voices. It's about the story.

I absolutely detest Barbara Streisand, but I certainly would not boycott a movie like Finding Nemo if she had voiced Dory. And for what it's worth I thought Ellen did a fantastic job.

[poco]

Ellen did an excellent job!!!!!!

I can't see Dory with any other voice!!!!!

[Kenai]

I think everyone can agree with me that Disney has used star power very efficently this past decade or so. Disney has hired the biggest names of the biz to voice their characters in the past and present. Examples of just some of the actors/actresses that gave the characters life.

Mel Gibson/Christian Bale (Pocahontas, 1995)-
Mel Gibson was an unexpected choice for the English settler John Smith. He did an excellent job voicing Smith. Christian Bale, well voicing Thomas, had that whole young-and-wanting-to-prove-himself among the ranks kind of attitude going on. Very good choice on Disney for hiring both actors to play these characters.

Joaquin Phoenix (Brother Bear,2003)-OMG. I never knew how cool of a voice Joaquin had until I seen this movie. He had a brashness and even a certain savoir-faire when voicing the human-turned-bear. Phoenix was known for playing either a bad-boy rebel type or dictator type in his roles, so again, another good choice of actor.

Demi Moore (The Hunchback of Notre Dame,1996)-
Demi's obviously known for her sex appeal, so it was obvious she was cast as the Disney gypsy, Esmeralda. She seems to resonate the beautiful and mysterious Esmeralda very much so.

Eddie Murphy (Mulan, 1998)-
What can be said about this, other than a match made in heaven for a feisty little dragon with spunk. Mushu has always been one of my favorite characters, but that might, just might, not have been if Eddie never voiced him.

Robin Williams (Aladdin, 1992)-Everyone I'm sure can agree, with Robin Williams' vast talents, that it was necessary to cast him as the comedic and pop-culture almanac Genie. He personified Genie, and with Disney getting into the flow of using star power again (more extensively anyway) during this time, who else could it have been?

Billy Joel/Bette Midler/Cheech Marin (Oliver & Company, 1988)-
The delightful and cleverly casted celebs for this Disney movie before the 2nd golden age of animation proved that when you choose star power, you definitely have to make sure that celeb gives life to their character. Such so was the case for all 3 stars, playing the suave Dodger, snooby Georgette and feisty although slight stereotyped Tito. At the time, Billy Joel was a surprising choice to voice an animated dog, since he wasn't known for any acting ability, but he proved he can pull it off well.

Others big name celebs who've lent their voices in the past..David Spade, Joan Cusack, Vincent Price (an excellent, excellent Ratigan), Matthew Broderick, Whoopi Goldberg etc etc (the list goes on and on lol), I think, as long as the actor/actress behind the voice can perform well, than it's not problem. But if it's just hiring random names to voice an unotherwise forgetful picture (not Disney, but Dreamworks' Sinbad proves this), than not a good idea. I however, think it's cool to hire big names to voice. ^^

Whew, forgive this long post. LOL

[Iago]

I think it definitely can work. Especially in cases like Aladdin and The Emperor's New Groove, I think the only fail if the film itself is not up to scratch.

[tinkerbell-cup]

i think its nice when there are unknowns for the voices like paige o'hara but it is distracting when i watch hunchback i just keep imagining kevin kline. sometimes like in hercules with danny devito as phil and in finding nemo it wouldn't be as good with an unknown voice.

[Dan05]

I'd prefer unknown voices but I don't mind celebrities doing them.

[betorh]

well it depends I preffer celebrity voices in movies like SHREK(I Know is not a disney film) or KIM POSIBLE: LOST IN TIME but if they put voices in all the movies like FINDING NEMO I dont like it.

[Zoltack]

I think its better to have celebrity voice. For instance Tom Hanks in Toy Story is very good. However, in the new sequel for Bambi (Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest) they should do what they did with the orignonal where they have kid's who never acted before do the voices. But I think Patrick Stewart would be good in that movie.

[DreamerQ18]

Wow I never knew all of this learn something new everyday. Well personally I dont think a famous voice behind the character has much importance to me. I think my biggest concern is that the movie is good the plot the story and the the character and the voice fit togethere in good blen to make the movie a hit. Names mean nothing to me, but this just how I feel.

[ichabod]

I don't mind celebrity voices in animated films, as long as they are not over stated for example Eddie Murphy yapping his trap non stop through Shrek 2. In my opinion a good actor should mould themself to the role, the role should not be moulded to the actor. Jim Carrey is the worst perpatrator for this, this is why I class him as a bad actor, he's ruined one to many films for my liking, and his absurd performance in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" was the last straw for me.

[Luna]

I don't care either way whether they use Celebrities or Unknowns to voice characters,just as long as they have acting talent and the voice fits the character...

[Enchantress]

Normally, i prefer unknown actors, simply because if the cast is full of popular big name actors, i feel that sometimes it shadows over the story itself.

For example, i am a fan of animation, and wanted to see a Shark's Tale, but i didn't enjoy the story, it seemed as if Dreamworks had thought more about the big names than the story, which i think is wrong. I'm not dissing Dreamworks, but that an example that comes to mind.

But if the celebrity is the best person for the job! then i have no problems with it.

[RJKD23]

Sometimes it's good to have celebrities voice the characters, and sometimes, I can do without.

For example, when I was watching Finding Nemo (not knowing who any of the voice actors were), I was mostly wondering, "Dory's voice sounds familiar...who is that?" Needless to say, I had to watch the movie again after finding out just so I could ENJOY the movie!

But then again, when I knew that Robin Williams was voicing GENIE, I was totally into the movie! (C'mon, Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire?! )

Now this is totally off topic and Disney non-related, but you know what movie was "LUCKY" to have celebrity voices? Sharktale Those voices somehow made up for the sloooow story.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Celebrity voices or unknown vioces, it dosen't matter! As long as they can get someone to play a character great than they are a perfect voice weather they're famous or not. However I do think just trying to find a famous voice just to get people to see it is a bad idea because it can sometimes ruin the film(SharkTale,Shrek 2).

[Nicky]

It depends. If the celebrity is really well known, and the character looks like the celebrity it can be a bit distracting. I usually don't care though because most of the time they do a great job, and make the movie very enjoyable.

[Isidour]

It doesn´t matter if the character and the actor are physicaly alike.
I have to say than what matters is if the actor can give the intention to the voice and is no only famous but also a good actor.
I wouldn´t like than the english voices would be like here in Mexico:
Here what matters is if he is famous,not if he can act.

[Fidget1234]

oh I love it when the celebs take on animation.

My favs have been:

David Spade (Kuzco)

Rosie O' Donnell (Terk)

Nathan Lane (Timon)

Matthew Broderick (Simba)

Mel Gibson (John Smith)

Ellen Degeneres (Dory)

Billy Crystal (Mike Wazowski)

Jason Alexander (Hugo)

Julia Lewis Drefus (Atta)