Movie sign!

[palabrajot]

Megamind today- the latest from Dreamworks. Not bad, really. Will Ferrell has a good chemistry with his David Cross-voiced henchman. Brad Pitt as Captain Hammer Metro Man; lovely square-jawed character design.  Really, all the gold stars go to presentation, but it's a bit like a Big Mac lovingly arranged on a silver platter.  The potential for

Comments

[kinkyturtle]

I remember when the animated Sinbad movie came out in 2003, and I saw a trailer for it. Near the end of the trailer, the announcer said, "Featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad", and I saw a split-screen view with video footage of Brad Pitt in a recording studio on the left, and the Sinbad character on the right.

And I thought to myself, "I've been listening to the voice of Brad Pitt? Huh. Okay, I guess I'll take your word for it."

I don't care how famous the voice actors are; just how good they are.

[palabrajot]

I'm inclined to agree, though it depends on how it's approached. Audiences know the mannerisms and appearance of, say, Stephen Colbert, so when he appears playing a bombastic exaggeration of his public persona as the President in Monsters Vs Aliens, it fits. But when, say, Britney Spears is brought in to re-dub a voice on the British Robbie The Reindeer to make it more commercially viable in the U.S., it's effort and money wasted.
I can see how designing a character with a particular actor in mind has its place, but I have to wonder where along the line of a major movie's production that someone says that we just must have Eddie Murphy as Donkey. My guess is that it's a more of a studio head concern than a creative decision. Who knows whether a cartoon movie will do well? But a Brat Pitt movie, that gets the attention!

[equusmaximus]

Voice actors means nothing to me, so that's never a factor as to whether or not I want to see a film. I thoroughly enjoyed Megamind, as campy and clichéd as it may have been in places. It exceeded all my expectations, and I left the theatre entirely delighted with the experience.

For what it's worth, on the recent direct-to-TV special "Scared Shrekless", Donkey is not played by Eddie Murphey. I can't recall who did the voice, but it wasn't Eddie.

[palabrajot]

Another Shrek special; sounds like they did it on the cheap if they couldn't even get Eddie Murphy. Voice actors don't have a whole lot of leverage when it comes to contract negotiations. Nobody is the definitive voice for Donkey, because there's a line of starving voice actors wrapped around the block, and their talent for mimicry can be uncanny. I've seen them use an alternate Shrek voice for commercials. I know it would have been too much of a hassle to get Mike Meyers in a booth for ten lousy seconds of dialogue, but after the Love Guru, if I were Mike Meyers, I would swim through a river of cold snot for the chance to get decent work.
I hear that they got Harvey Korman to reprise his role as The Great Gazoo for a Pebbles commercial, but they used a sound-alike for future projects, as it was easier than having to work with Harvey, rest his soul.