Movie Musings: Animated Movies and Their Celebrity Voices, Part 1
My favorite animated movie ever is Beauty and the Beast. I remember seeing it in theaters when I was little and I loved everything about it. That beautiful stained glass opening sequence still gets me every time. I really identified with Belle’s independence and desire to be left the eff alone to read without judgement. I get a hankering to watch this movie probably once a year, but in my lifelong love I was never that curious about who did the voices. A google search tells me it was Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, and (holy shit!) Jerry Orbach. But I can honestly say I don’t care.
What kept me attached to Belle and the Beast all these years isn’t the voice of Lennie Briscoe. It’s the story.
So in the case of animated movies, if the target audience of children don’t know or really care who does the voices, then does it really matter if a celebrity is the voice? Does it even make a difference?
My snap thought is no, it doesn’t.
Nobody really cares about your fancy actor voices.
I will admit that when I watch an animated movie and I realize I’ve heard a particular voice before, I get a special thrill out of being able to guess who it is correctly before the credits roll. But let’s face it, if the story is no good, at the end of the day I won’t watch it again. Story is essential. Characters and movies become beloved because of the tale they weave not because Will Smith was the voice of the talking fish.
But coming at it from the studio’s perspective, it must make some difference given the increased use of celebrities to voice movies rather than voice actors. Movies like Shrek from Dreamworks and Toy Story from Disney/Pixar have promoted the celebrities attached while raking in tons of cash. I imagine that featuring Jack Black as a kung fu panda might make adults more willing to take their kids to the theater, or for those without kids, might just help in filling the seats at the theater regardless. For audiences who really care about this sort of thing, having a celebrity attached might give the movie credibility, thus making it worth watching.
Furthermore, celebrities are reportedly jumping at the chance to do a job where you could show up to the studio in pajamas and just talk into a microphone (see here for a great article from Fox News discussing further why celebrities would pursue this work). Meanwhile, a studio can claim a celebrity name if it will help with marketing. Seems like a win-win for everyone.
But when you give a quick glance at the numbers of some major hits (I focused on the two major animation studios of today, Dreamworks and Disney), it appears that celebrities really don’t matter. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas featured the voices of mega celebrities Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer, but doesn’t even come close to the numbers for say, Frozen, a movie with only two semi-recognizable names at best (sorry Kristen Bell).
Box office hits like Inside Out and How to Train Your Dragon for example were all largely positively received (both currently have 98% scores on RottenTomatoes.com). Meanwhile, Sinbad and Planes received overall bad reviews and have been pretty much forgotten.
Numbers, unlike children, don’t lie.
Proof is in the profits and the common thread flowing through the hits is a great story.
To really drive the point home, look no further than Delgo, a film with no shortage of celebrity voices but terribly received by critics, which might explain its paltry $694,782 at the box office (per boxofficemojo.com).
A great voice that can bring a character to life definitely matters, be it famous or not.
Who at this point can even imagine the whimsical, forgetful, caring Dory from Finding Nemo as anyone other than Ellen?
But the celebrity status of that voice seems to matter little compared to plot. Audiences still care about plot, and a truly great story will pull us in and keeps us regardless.
-Delia
