Celeb voices yeah or nay?

[Aladdin from Agrabah]

Like people have previously said, Dreamworks is terrible about that. For that matter, who would watch their movies if they didn't have celebs, anyway?

I couldn't agree more. It's really funny! Just look at these cast lists below:

The Prince of Egypt: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin
The Road to El Dorado: Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Armand Assante
Sinbad: Legend of the 7 Seas: Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer (again!), Joseph Fiennes
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron: Matt Damon, James Cromwell
Shark Tale: Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese, Ziggy Marley, Katie Couric, Christina Aguilera, Missy Eliott
Antz: Woody Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bankcoft, Danny Glover, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone
Madagascar: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer

And all these without including the Shrek movies!

[Ariel'sprince]

Jada Pinkett Smith (Will Smith's wife) was also in Madagascar.
There's more:
Flushed Away:Hugh Jackman,Kate Winslet,Ian Mckellen,Andy Serkis.
Over The Hedge:Bruce Willis,Steve Carell,Wana Sykes,William Shanter,Avril Lavinge,Thomas Haden Church.
Bee Movie:Jerry Seinfield,Renee Zellweger (again),Matthew Broderick,John Goodman.
And the upcoming Kung Fu Panda:
Jack Black (again),Jeckie Chan,Dustin Hoffman,Angelina Jolie (again,they ran out of celebrities or what?) and Lucy Liu.

[Someday...]

well consider corpse bride,
a movie where the entire cast are famous people,
its a very good animated movie.
It all depends on the talent of the people involved

[PeterPanfan]

A celeb voicr would only work if they bring something original and interesting to the charecter they are portraying.

If it's just some big, Hollywood stunt to get people to come see the film, it wouldn't work.

[Dottie]

I am not entirely against the celeb voices, because there are some terrific ones like Jeremy Irons or Robin Williams, but it's because they have distinctive voices that fitted the character that they got the job and not because they might bring more people to the theaters. And then there's the point that many of the good celeb voices are actually trained in acting which means that they know how to use their voice properly and what a voice can do. They've studied that for years. (Robin Williams is anexception here) Somebody like Ben Stiller who just stumbled into the business doesn't know that.
Some people have the talent for voce acting, some don't. I gotta say I think most of the time the celeb voices feel wrong, but sometimes they're amazing, so it's actually hard to say. Right now there's one celebrity whose lending her voice to a Disney character that I can't wait to hear: Kristin Chenoweth as Rapunzel in 2009 and as Rosetta in the Tink movie this year.

[SpringHeelJack]

Is the Cheno still doing "Rapunzel"? I thought that was just something that was considered.

[Dottie]

No, she's still doing it. It's still there on imdb.com now listed as post-production, so I guess the voice work has already been done and they're gonna continue animating now.

[carlaird]

well consider corpse bride,
a movie where the entire cast are famous people,
its a very good animated movie.
It all depends on the talent of the people involved

Thats because Jennifer Lumley is a Royal She Devil DIVA!

[SpaceAce]

I agree with poody Dont take away from voice actors!
Celebs may be great but there voice actors that are better!
think Mel Blac! or KASEY KASAM
as for James Woods
it was James Woods you liked not the character he voiced thus, as I said earlier you never drop the actor from the character!

I didnt know who James Woods was before I saw Hercules. The only thing I had seen well actually heard him in was the Simpsons. Hades is in my top 3 of favorite Disney Villains.

[lord-of-sith]

well consider corpse bride,
a movie where the entire cast are famous people,
its a very good animated movie.
It all depends on the talent of the people involved

Thats because Jennifer Lumley is a Royal She Devil DIVA!

Are you talking about Johanna Lumley? Well, she was great in The Corpse Bride. But on the contrary, the cast were famous people, but not huge stars (besides Depp). And plus, many did character voice and the others fit the characters to a T.

[Someday...]

Kristin Chenoweth as Rapunzel in 2009

Chenoweth is doing it?
Thats awesome, I love her (as do a lot of people I'm sure, she is very cutesy)

[UmbrellaFish]

Chenoweth is doing it?
Thats awesome, I love her (as do a lot of people I'm sure, she is very cutesy)

I do, too. She may be the only reason I haven't burned my copy of Bewitched. But wasn't Reese Witherspoon supposed to play Rapunzel first? Then I believe it was switched over to Kristin Chenowith.

[pap64]

KEVIN SMITH AS A NON SPEAKING FARTING MOOSE????????????????????

So he played Silent Bob in that movie too, huh?

Haha! I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they were trying to do with the character.

But what I meant was this; In the original British version the moose character had NO lines nor farted. There was never an instance in which he spoke. He was a full pantomime character. Hell, there wasn't even a moment where the moose farted!

When they brought the movie over to the US, they decides to give him a voice and gas problems, for no reason whatsoever. Maybe they thought that the moose was a boring character and that it would've been better to make him fart and talk like Kevin Smith.

The end product is a disaster. Its perhaps one of the most forced elements in the movie...

The WHOLE movie is embarrassing and gives animated films a bad name.

[Prudence]

It can hurt or heal; we've all seen both cases. I have no preference.

[Lazario]

For the most part, I'm completely against celebrities doing voices for characters

What about Edward Brophy as Timothy Mouse or Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards as Jiminy Cricket?

Well, I tried to make it clear that I think Disney screwed up after The Rescuers. But to be fair, I don't have a clue how much of a celebrity people like Pat Carroll were before doing The Little Mermaid. And when The Lion King came out, I had no clue who Jeremy Irons was- but I do now. The same cannot be said for Carroll. Still no clue who she is.

You guys forgot Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz respectively .

Very good example. I may have forgotten about that. In fact, I think that was probably Tom Hanks' best performance. Of his entire career.

[Balto123]

I think the only time Disney seems to have gone for the 'celeb voice pull' is in the inclusion of John Travolta as the main voice in the upcoming "BOLT". Apart from that, I think they've steered clear of major celebrity voices being hired just for the stardom rather than voice acting talent.

[pap64]

So, we can all agree that it all depends on how the directors and producers use these actors to their benefit, and that Disney and Pixar are the best at these while Dreamworks still has ways to go before they learn that it all lies on the performance, not the performer.

[candydog]

Kristin Chenoweth as Rapunzel in 2009

Chenoweth is doing it?
Thats awesome, I love her (as do a lot of people I'm sure, she is very cutesy)

As much as I love her too, it always makes me laugh here on UD when people complain about Snow White's shrill squeaky voice but then get excited over Kristin voicing Rapunzel.

But yeah, if that's true I have to admit I can't wait either!!!

As for celeb voices, I have to admit, I never really gave it much thought. I took it for granted that in Hollywood, big parts in big movies are usually given to big stars and if the movie happened to be animated then so be it.

It really does happen everywhere throughout the film industry and it's taking over other areas of entertainment too (poor Broadway!!).

But honestly, I don't have too much of a problem with it. soem like the ones listed are ingenius. I love Ellen Degeneres as Dory!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes the great thing is that a character can be written with a particular star in mind, and to be honest, most of them wouldn't be stars if they couldn't do a good job.