Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

I'd like to throw in my two cents for Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo. Probably the most memorable voice performance of my childhood even moreso than James Earl Jones as Mufasa and Jeremy Irons as Scar. My closest friend can't feel any sympathy for a Jeremy Irons character in any film after he played Scar. I'll also agree with Magilla that Orbach and Lansbury are spectacular in Beauty and the Beast as is koook's correct opinion on Robin Williams in Aladdin.

mlrg wrote:

Reza wrote:

koook160 wrote:As for comedic voice acting, I have to mention Robin Williams in Aladdin and Levi Stubbs in Little Shop of Horrors. Obviously Williams was the comic relief, so he had to be funny, but Stubbs, not known for his acting, was a riot. He easily had the best singing voice of the cast (no shit, he was the lead singer of The Four Tops), but his taunting tone and delightfully over-the-top delivery made him the stadout of the film.

Since we're talking about one of Damien's pet peeves - friggin' cartoons - one of the best voice jobs was Eddie Murphy in Mulan.

... and in Shrek too

I always thought Eddie Murphy was a lot better in Mulan than in any of the Shrek movies. I can't help but scratch my head and wonder why he got so much acclaim for the latter film but hardly any for the former film.

Damien likes Shrek 2 though, mostly because of the Puss in Boots character. He's a huge cat person.

Reza wrote:

koook160 wrote:As for comedic voice acting, I have to mention Robin Williams in Aladdin and Levi Stubbs in Little Shop of Horrors. Obviously Williams was the comic relief, so he had to be funny, but Stubbs, not known for his acting, was a riot. He easily had the best singing voice of the cast (no shit, he was the lead singer of The Four Tops), but his taunting tone and delightfully over-the-top delivery made him the stadout of the film.

Since we're talking about one of Damien's pet peeves - friggin' cartoons - one of the best voice jobs was Eddie Murphy in Mulan.

... and in Shrek too

koook160 wrote:As for comedic voice acting, I have to mention Robin Williams in Aladdin and Levi Stubbs in Little Shop of Horrors. Obviously Williams was the comic relief, so he had to be funny, but Stubbs, not known for his acting, was a riot. He easily had the best singing voice of the cast (no shit, he was the lead singer of The Four Tops), but his taunting tone and delightfully over-the-top delivery made him the stadout of the film.

Since we're talking about one of Damien's pet peeves - friggin' cartoons - one of the best voice jobs was Eddie Murphy in Mulan.

My personal favorites are Robby Benson in Beauty and the Beast. It's not just because you couldn't tell it was him, but because he added a level of vulnerability to the Beast. He helped make the character more sympathetic, and it aided the film enormously.

Another would be Douglas Raine in 2001: A Space Odyssey. His delievery of the lines was just chilling. He ended up making HAL 9000 the most interesting character in the film.

As for comedic voice acting, I have to mention Robin Williams in Aladdin and Levi Stubbs in Little Shop of Horrors. Obviously Williams was the comic relief, so he had to be funny, but Stubbs, not known for his acting, was a riot. He easily had the best singing voice of the cast (no shit, he was the lead singer of The Four Tops), but his taunting tone and delightfully over-the-top delivery made him the stadout of the film.

Don't know about voice performances but some of the most memorable (and instantly recognizable) voices on film have been those of (in no particular order):

Richard Burton
John Gielgud
James Mason
Jack Hawkins (who sadly lost his vocal chords to cancer during the 1970s and was subsequently always dubbed by actor Charles Gray)
Tallulah Bankhead
Anne Baxter
Greta Garbo
Eleanor Parker
Orson Welles
James Earl Jones
Marlene Dietrich
Ethel Barrymore
James Stewart
Cary Grant
Katharine Hepburn

I'm sure you mean voice-overs in animated films but I can;t think of any other than Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach singing in Beauty and the Beast.

The single most memorable voice-over for me remains Mercedes Mccambridge as the voice of the demon in The Exorcist.

I have to ask, has anyone heard a voice performance that stirred up emotions the same way regular performance does? Has anyone ever truly heard a voice in an animated film (or otherwise) that was truly special? I can think of a few, but I'll save them once I hear some of your opinions.