Pajiba

Nice list.
I liked Eddie Murphy as Donkey in Shrek, too.

I love Hammy SO MUCH.

"But I like the cookie."

I'd like to give a shoutout to the late great Joe Ranft, who voiced Heimlich in A Bug's Life. "Ooooh CANDY CORN! Let me help you to finish it!"

Hey Mr Grump Gills
You know what you gotta do when life gets you down?
Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming swimming swimming
What do we do we swim, swim, swim
OH HO HO How I love to swim
When you WAAAAAANNTTT to swim you want to swim

Uhm. I think you missed 1

1. Brad Bird as E in the incredibles. Amahzing.

Antietam

This is true. Also disconcerting, when watching him in The Merchant of Venice.

Jacques from Finding Nemo. Has anybody done more with less?

Edna Mole, (Brad Bird), The Incredibles

Ya know, we've tried watching the new NCIS:LA, but every time Linda Hunt shows up, Mr. Dammit turns to me and says, "No Capes!"

Which, honestly, is better NCIS:LA itself. So, yeah...

And, really, you left off Larry the Cable Guy as Mater? "Tractors are so stupid!"

\sarcasm\

Eep, may I note that Joe Ranft was also the voice of Jacques? He was awesome. :)

Without looking at the list, here's some names that pop right up into my head: James Woods as Hades, Robin Williams as Genie, Ellen De Generes as Dori, Tom Hanks as Woody, Jeremy Irons as Scar.

And they're all Disney/Pixar.

**

HA. I like my list better. Though I'd include Edna Mode. I didn't think Violet or Scrat were that great.

Wait wait wait. Brad Bird did the voice of Edna in The Incredibles?? How did I not know this? That is goddamn hilarious.

What I like is the story of how Ellen Degeneres got the part of Dory. Andrew Stanton, who wrote Finding Nemo, wrote the part specifically for her, after seeing a stand up routine she did.

The problem was that she wasn't signed on when he wrote it. So he contacted her and said something to the effect of, "I wrote this part for you and if you don't do it, I'm totally fucked." And her response was (again paraphrasing), "Well, I guess I better do it then."

Ahem... What about Vin Diesel in "Iron Giant"? As much as I loathe the man, he made his few lines of dialogue amazingly effective.

Okay, people: CGI films. From now on, any complaints issued about a non-CGI movie will be ignored and their owner laughed at.

"Dori" is the best vocal acting in the history of CGI movies? Having the most adorable dialog is not the same thing as best vocal acting.

Edna Mode is the best vocal acting in CGI history to date -- because you will never know it was Brad Bird until you read the credits. You may not know it until your see the "Extras" disc.

Patton Oswalt not getting recognition for Ratatouille makes me sad.

Unless the voice is REALLY distinctive (Ratzenberger), I wouldn't know whose voice it was. And I really don't care. I mean, who goes to an animated movie because "Look! We can hear Tom Hanks' voice in this one!" Does anybody do that?

Movies that use A-list stars to voice animated characters MUST pull much bigger B.O. action than movies that don't, or studios wouldn't spend big money on A-list voices, right? My question is: Why?

I'd second Patton Oswalt for Ratatouille, and would even add Janeane Garofalo as Colette in that movie: she did a great job acting it ("I hate to be rude, but...we're French."), she sounded exquisitely French, and I had no freaking idea it was her until I read the credits and did an actual double-take.

I mean, who goes to an animated movie because "Look! We can hear Tom Hanks' voice in this one!" Does anybody do that?

Movies that use A-list stars to voice animated characters MUST pull much bigger B.O. action than movies that don't, or studios wouldn't spend big money on A-list voices, right? My question is: Why?

Looks like you're answering your own question.

Name you know = trust. Just like in The Distinguished Gentleman.

You know what's the worst-voiced film in Pixar's output? WALL-E. It's like they knew the mouthless robots were gonna be where their bread was buttered, so they paid almost no attention to the human voices. Jeff Garlin's delivery as the Captain is good, but his character's facial animation is poorly designed around his line readings. True for all the other human characters in the cast.

I rarely post, but I was struck by something. It seems that the top 10 was ranked by how funny they were. Now, character acting is important to move a story forward, but these are mainly comedians playing themselves. (With a few exceptions)

In my opinion, the real acting takes place in a lot more of a subtle way. A way that makes you forget that the funny actor person is doing the funny voice for the funny looking blue fish, and instead is a character, that is separate from whatever gimmick the film is using. (Hey, it's fish! Cars! A floating goddamn house.)

I would change the list, not by movie, but by the selected character.

10. Diego (Dennis Leary), Ice Age (Funny, had a character arc)

9. (No one, cause I FUCKING HATED THIS MOVIE)Cars

8. P.T. Flea (John Ratzenberger), Bug’s Life (I'll leave it, cause I don't remember)

7. Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner), Up (Solid, loved it. Prolly should be higher)

6. Woody (Tom Hanks), Toy Story (In this case, I would say either, but Buzz was the stand out for me, because Woody worked the whole movie to stay the same, but Buzz was able to grow and change, while adding a large portion of the humor)

5. Elastigirl, (Holly Hunter) The Incredibles (Brad Bird is great, really, but here. Fuck it, the whole goddamn cast of this movie was GREAT!)

4. James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman), Monsters, Inc. (Yes! Also, shout out to Steve Buscemi)

3. RJ (Bruce Willis), Over the Hedge (See #10)

2. Violet (Sarah Vowell), The Incredibles (See #5)

1. Marlin (Albert Brooks), Finding Nemo (Could also be argued he was playing himself, but I thought his performance was very powerful however, the entire damn cast was great.)

As far as comma daddy goes, I don't go to a movie to hear a person do a voice, just like I do not go see a live action film to see a person act in it (I do follow certain actors, but that is because they consistently do well/pick great projects.)

However, just because I don't go specifically to hear them do their shtick, does not mean they are not worthy of praise should they do their job well. Which is why I say, the best voice acting should not be who is the funniest/most recognizable/most meta... but the one who can make you forget it is animated, take you out of the gimmick, and give you a heartfelt performance that will stay with you after the lights come up and the McDonalds tie ins go away.

Those are the good ones.

Theresa, I just did. In general, I agree with you. However, I find that often, it is the funniest cahracter that I find most believeable. Watching Dory, I wasn't thinking "That Ellen sure is funny!" I was thinking "I love Dory!"

Ooh, good one alphawhiskey.

I thought Craig T Nelson's work as Mr Incredible was incredible (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!).

The moment where he says he has to fight the robot alone because he's not strong enough to lose his family again is heartbreaking.

ALSO: Joan Cusack as Jessie in Toy Story 2.

dammitjanet:

Edna Mode reminds me of Linda Hunt too, but I get flashbacks to her character in If Looks Could Kill (a guilty pleasure of mine and a treasured childhood action favourite). Her necklace was a concealed whip and Michael Corben reeeally got under her skin --- Oh, oh, oh! And Roger Daltrey played a secret agent man but he gots exploded at the beginning.

Don't know if he would count, but no love for Ben Burtt as WALL-E?

Jordan Nagai, the kid that played Russell in Up. I thought he was great :) Worst voiced animated character = Miley Cyrus in Bolt x a billion. Ew. Just ew.

I hate Eddie Murphy in Shrek (well, in anything for that matter)

Jackie Chan as Monkey, with all of his seven lines?

Eartha Kitt as "Yzma" in "The Emperor's New Groove".