If you had control of character design...

Goofy_Moe said:

If you had control of character design... What voice would you cast to what type of character...???

For example... I picture A Cranky Old Beaver with tons of Dam problems having the voice of Jack Nicholson...

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i was going to say the same thing but i hear my voice.....

Disney has had some perfect voice actors and some questionable calls. Robin Williams as Genie? Who gets to transmorph and do all kinds of other voices too? Best ever. Mater and Larry the Cable Guy was perfect. Marlin and Albert Brooks was perfect too. Gilbert Gottfried as Iago is up there on the list.

For the not so good...I really wish Owen Wilson wasn't Lightning McQueen. His voice annoys me. John Travolta as Bolt? :eye roll:

Freebie...Tazmanian Devil, while not Disney, should be voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait.

hmm....

• Tom Cruise as a neurotic ant in Bugs life sequel (if they made one)Maybe he could even think Aliens were coming. lol
• Geena Davis as snow white as an old lady telling her story to grandkids...

a great casting choice: Bette Midler as the show poodle in Oliver and Company. that rocked!

I though Zachary Levi did a great job in Tangled. I liked how he went for the sleezy theif to the charming rescuer.

I think Chelsea Handler should play some type of villian. She can kill you with all of her puns.

The BEST IMHO, Jeremy Irons voicing Scar in Lion King. Just PERFECT!!

Mike S.

Soooo many great choices by Disney with the voice actors! Brian Blessed as Clayton in Tarzan was amazing too! I agree that hands down Genie was THE best choice possible.

I do wonder what Mike Myers would make of a character though, I mean I know he's Shrek and all but I'd like to see him do some sort of comical character in a crazy way. (Assuming he's not already done a Disney and I've completely not noticed :S)

I felt that Hercules wasn't the best casting choice Disney has ever made, Tate Donovan, right? Herc's singing voice was waaaay off... there's a YouTube guy called Nick Pitera, he does this 'One Man Disney Medley', his Herc voice in that is the real deal! Just my 2 cents though.

p.s. I agree with markheardjr, Robin Williams as the Genie was GENIUS! ^_^ He could voice every single character in a movie, and nobody would notice it was all one guy...

I love James Woods as Hades. Apparently Disney almost completely rewrote the character based on his audition, and you can see why!

+1 for James Woods, yay!

one area where Disney has excelled is in managing to turn even well known vocal actors into their characters. As opposed to the some of the results at Bluth and Dreamworks where the character has morphed back into the voice actor - ie it's Burt Reynolds - not Charlie in Dogs Life.

But Disney has had some failures. Terk is still Rosie O'Donnell - although to her credit she tried hard. Mushu is Eddie Murphy - although again they tried their best to reign him into character. You encounter the same issue with Rosanne Barr as Maggie (Home on the Range).

But Disney has also had FANTASTIC success. As everyone has already commented on Robin Williams as the Genie, I'll skip him. but look at the vocal work from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the uncredited Kathleen Turner (Jessica), and in one of his last performances the LEGENDARY Mel Blanc. Another Disney workhorse has been George (Mr Sulu) Takei from Sensei (Kim Possible) to First Ancestorial spirit (Mulan) to Glactius (Super Hero Squad - now that Disney has inherrited Marvel). You also have Eartha Kitt (Yzma), Tim Allen / Tom Hanks (Toy Story), or Zsa Zsz (Dutchess) Gavore and James Earl Jones (Musafa).

The key has always been Disney brings in the actors to become the characters. Or in the few instances where an actor overpowered the character Robin Williams (Genie) and David (Kuzco) Space, adapted to take maximum advantage of the actor.

I actually wish animated films cast big name celebrities less and real voice over actors more. Voice over acting is a completely different talent that not all actors have. And as some of you have pointed out the character became the actor, whereas what should be happening is the actor creating the character. And while I'm not saying that some name actors haven't been brilliant, as mentioned Robin Williams, James Woods, Kathleen Turner. I think overall animation studios nowadays rely too heavily on the names attached than to the talent of the animation and the story that was created even before casting began. A great voice over actor can bring a character to life, but all a lot of named celebrities bring is just that, their name.

PrincessxJasmine89 said:

I felt that Hercules wasn't the best casting choice Disney has ever made, Tate Donovan, right? Herc's singing voice was waaaay off... there's a YouTube guy called Nick Pitera, he does this 'One Man Disney Medley', his Herc voice in that is the real deal! Just my 2 cents though.

p.s. I agree with markheardjr, Robin Williams as the Genie was GENIUS! ^_^ He could voice every single character in a movie, and nobody would notice it was all one guy...

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I LOVE that Nick Pitera video! That guy needs to get Disney voiceover work, he's huge on youtube now and only getting better. His Enchanted bit makes me laugh everytime when he bounds in wearing the costume xD

xPrincessEmilyx said:

I LOVE that Nick Pitera video! That guy needs to get Disney voiceover work, he's huge on youtube now and only getting better. His Enchanted bit makes me laugh everytime when he bounds in wearing the costume xD

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OMG someone knows him! <3 I actually adore him, he is so brilliant! ^_^ He tweeted me a few weeks ago, I was so happy! LOL... Pixar NEEDS to hire him, he even works there so he should totally do voiceovers!!! I love the Enchanted part :') The costume suits him LOL! Nick FTW!

Also, on the voiceovers note, I think that eva Gabor as Duchess in The Aristocats was also a great choice. She suited the character very well! ^_^

I think the best casting was probably Genie - Robin Williams! So Good!

disneyheart said:

Actually, Roger Bart performed the singing voice for Hercules, while Tate Donovan was Hercules' speaking voice. (I agree that Bart doesn't exactly fit; he always sounded a little nasally for me!)

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Oh, thank you for letting me know! ^_^ Glad someone agrees with me, though! ^_^