The 6 Best Pixar Vocal Performances
Even though they’ve been stumbling recently, Pixar has made a name for themselves as one of animation’s forces to be reckoned with. They’ve found it through smart storytelling, ambitious projects, and original ideas. And, I think, by their willingness to elicit actual performances from their voice actors.
Often, animated movies simply round up a bunch of celebrities and ask them to play to a type, but Pixar goes above and beyond. They seem to look for the best actors to take on their characters, and ask them to craft genuine, 3-dimensional performances through the use of their voices.
Since the Academy hasn’t seen fit to create a “voice acting” Oscar, this article will have to do to start.
Billy Crystal — Mike Wazowski, Monsters, Inc.
There’s something to be said for comic timing. Often, animation finds its biggest laughs in sight gags. Makes sense — anything goes in a cartoon universe. It takes a lot of personality, then, to deliver a vocal performance that’s so funny it trumps any visual gag the animators could come up with. I’d contend Billy Crystal manages this in Monster’s, Inc.
A lot of Pixar’s movies are buddy movies, or even ensembles, but Mike Wazowski is the kind of “sidekick” who winds up simply taking the whole thing by theft. Some of that can be attributed to writing, some of it to great character design, but the lion’s share oughta go to Crystal’s fun, fast, and intelligent readings of the dialogue handed to him by the Pixar guys.
Billy Crystal — like, say, Bill Murray or Steve Carrell — is a legitimate comic actor, as opposed to simply being a comedian. If, for some reason, you ever doubt his acting chops, just watch him take on Shakespeare in Branagh’s Hamlet.
Or watch his perfect comic timing in any scene from Monsters, Inc.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkdj6oIi5oU
Tom Hanks — Woody, Toy Story 1, 2, 3
I never expect Tom Hanks to have as wide a vocal range he does, but he actually breaks out of his “everyman” voice pretty often. From Forrest Gump to the recent Cloud Atlas, Hanks likes to indulge in a bit of vocal wackiness from time to time. But he might have found his most fun performance to date in the voice of the enthusiastic cowboy, Woody.
All of the Toy Story characters are memorable in their own right, but the character of Woody has to bear the brunt of the series’ emotional core. Hanks manages this with ease, able to flawlessly shift gears from enthusiasm to comedy to terror to melancholy and back again throughout each of the three movies.
And he also has to be kind of a jerk at times while still staying likeable. No easy task.
Take this scene:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XplfK5m7FvU
Jordan Nagai – Russell, Up
A lot of times, kids in movies just sound like miniature adults. They’re either too articulate, too controlled, or simply too insightful for their own good. Russell from Up, to my ears, is one of cinema’s most authentic little kids so far. He’s awkward and hilarious in a way that sounds almost totally improvised.
To give credit where credit is due, it was largely Pete Doctor’s coaching of Jordan Nagai that created this memorable performance. I could sit here and describe how they achieved Russell’s unique cadence, or you could just watch it:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiz-j-hbCQw
No matter who should take the most credit for it, there’s no denying the authenticity and effectiveness of Nagai’s vocal track in the movie.
No love for Patton Oswalt’s Remy the Rat?
That is my absolute favorite by far. So great was his voice acting, the animators actually infused a lot of Patton’s mannerisms into Remy himself, to properly convey his amazing performance.
How could you not mention John Ratzenberger?
Ed Asner as Carl in Up is my favorite.
What kind of list is this? Ellen was amazing in Nemo. Ben Burtt rocked Wall-E. Billy Crystal did not even turn out the best performance in Monsters Inc.
Ellen DeGeneres nailed. there was that moment where she struggles so hard to remember, it gives me goosebumps. For anyone that has had a loved one suffer from dementia or memory loss, she evoked the frustration with the perfect amount of restraint.
Ben Burtt. All the actors had the benefit of an amazing script, but Ben…do you think that those sounds were written into the script? He evoked emotion without saying a word. An incredible vocal performance in any voice-over role.
Can’t really complain about the rest of the list
All those are memorable. I specially agree with your choices on Elastigirl and Mr Incredible. I also loved that movie. I saw that they make the characters look a little like the real-life actors who provide the voices. This helps the voice match the character somehow.
I need to mention that I’m a Spanish speaker and the voice acting for the dubbed version is just as great-sounding. Just further proves your point that they do take their time to select the voice talent for their movies.
How have you not seen Coach?!?
It’s a good list, but I have to agree with adding Ellen DeGeneres to the top. Out of all the Pixar characters, she may have had the most complicated. She needed to play a combination of smart and borderline dumb, confused and innocent, fun-loving and caring. Again, agreed that her scene with Marlin where she was explaining why she didn’t want her to leave him is phenomenal. She hit all the right notes in every scene, I can’t imagine any other actor playing Dory.
And Ratzenberger definitely needs a honorable mention!
Your list does not contain Ellen Degeneres’ performance in Finding Nemo = Your list is invalid.
I liked Kelly Macdonald when she played Merida in Brave… I don’t know I just love her… also when Ellen DeGeneres played Dory.
I agree. These “lists” that you call them ( at the most blogs) keep on getting shorter and shorter as if they are trying to fill some type of quota. They need to fine BETTER WRITERS to accomplish more indepth writing. There are SEVERAL more characters that could be added with out doing any research such as Dori, Wall-E, Buzz-Lightyear even. (despite tim allens lack of “range” his voice made the chracter).