I think a special award needs to go to Spencer Fox as Dash in The Incredibles for one very specific bit of voice-work. When he’s running away from the flying-saucer things on the jungle island and unkowningly starts running on top of a body of water, he lets out this little giggle that is absolutely pitch-perfect. It’s the joy of a boy discovering he can do something cool, with just a hint of, “Oh, man, I can really mess with some people with this.”
Maybe the credit more properly belongs with the editor or director, but it’s just such a perfect little sound that I’m going to give credit to the voice actor.
One of my few complaints about Pixar movies is that they use celebrities for voices. I’d much prefer they used proper voice actors.
None of the Pixar leads have been bad, per se - but to me it seems like the actors are just giving good reads of their well-established movie personalities.
Example - Woody. Tom Hanks doesn’t play “Woody”. Tom Hanks plays Tom Hanks, and Pixar kind of fits the Woody character around him.
Ditto on Buzz Lightyear with Tim Allen.
Ellen in Nemo was good, but again she was just playing a slightly loopier version of Ellen DeGeneres.
Worst offender - Billy Crystal in Monsters inc. Again, it’s not a bad performance - but it’s so clearly just Billy Crystal playing himself.
She’s my favorite (minor) character. From what I heard, they wanted Lily Tomlin to do the voice, but when she heard Brad Bird speaking the dialogue she said, “What do you need me for?”
I notice a suspicious lack of Kevin Spacey in A Bug’s Life.
Anyways, I’d choose from:
Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Nemo
Patton Oswalt in Ratatouille
Albert Brooks in Finding Nemo
Joan Cusack in Toy Story 2
Lou Romano in Ratatouille
But I also love:
Bob Peterson in Finding Nemo (he played Mr Ray the Science Teacher)
Wallace Shawn in Toy Story (playing Rex)
Wayne Knight in Toy Story 2 (playing the Toy Collector, Al from Al’s Toy Barn)
Supermodels. Ha! Nothing super about them… spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. Feh! I used to design for gods!
While there is truth to what you say consider how much of an actor is represented by timing and voice inflection. Combine that with a writer who can write to that voice.
When I saw Nemo I was so tickled by Ellen DeGeneres’ character. The way she talked to the whales was priceless and yes it was Ellen. I actually burst out laughing when I played it again and forgot to hit “play movie” only to hear Ellen saying “choose choose choose”. The creator’s of the movie knew what the were doing.
I’d have to go with Holly Hunter in “The Incredibles” for Best Actress, with Ellen Degeneres as a close runner up. For Best Actor, it’s cliche, but I gotta give it to Hanks, with Albert Brooks a close second; his work as Marlin was his finest performance.
Actually, Holly Hunter has two Oscars too, so I guess that’s cliche as well.
It’s hard, offhand, to think of any BAD performances in a Pixar film. None jump to mind.
For supporting parts, I always liked Willem Dafoe as Gill in “Nemo,” (When I first saw the movie, of course, I thought it was Denis Leary) and Jason Lee’s work as Syndrome.
Amazingly, this was another Pixar “promotion from within.” Elissa Knight, who provided Eve’s voice, was a mere assistant working at Pixar when she got the role. Her entire previous filmography consisted of two minor characters in “Cars” and “Ratatouille,” respectively. And yes, her performance in “Wall-E” is heart-wrenching, as is that of Ben Burtt - another non-actor - as the titular robot himself.
I was watching the extras for UP and one of the artists who visited the Roraima location in Brazil spoke, and I instantly recognised his voice as Linguini from Ratatouille, Lou Romano.
I own the “Ultimate Toy Box” DVD set (a present from my wife, thanks again!) and it has various documentaries about the production process. It is clear that one of the reasons that Pixar’s films work so beautifully is that they are acted out by the writers, story people, directors and animators long before anyone touches a computer. They draw storyboards on cards that they pin up on the walls of rooms lined with corkboards and act out the story. It has to work at that level, and the characterizations are defined before the actors come in to record. So, somebody like Bob Peterson “writes” scenes with Dug by being a great storyteller. A Pixar film works as an “animatic”, a video of the still drawings of the completed storyboards with a soundtrack. If a professional actor could have done a better job as Dug, they would have cast the part.
Alpha’s first appearance was, without a doubt, the hardest I have ever laughed in a movie theater. I nearly fell out of my seat, and got an endorphin rush from laughing so hard. Laughing like that, when I had been crying half an hour earlier - Up is not just a great animated film, it is a great film, full stop.
Funny, I’ve mentioned that very scene in another thread. You may not have picked up on it, but what I loved about that scene is that Craig T. Nelson mimics that sound perfectly earlier in the movie, right as the first robot cracks his back. Like father, like son. Great moment.
