Modified On June 8, 2008
Linda Holmes has written an article on MSNBC.com asking “Will Jack Black survive ‘Kung Fu Panda?'” The article hinges on this premise:
When comic actors and stand-up comedians with big personalities venture into the realm of heading up a children’s animated movie, the results can quickly drain away whatever goodwill they have earned with adults, even as children are transformed into fans.
Standup comedians who are cited as having done disfavor to their careers are Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld and Robin Williams.
If you’re puzzled after reading that list (which, by the way, is also a list of some of the wealthiest and– still– most powerful people in Hollywood), you’re not alone.
The reasons are a hodgepodge of complaints masquerading as self-evident truths (“Almost no one holds up well doing funny voices for an hour and a half.”) and vague, tired rants against marketing, merchandising and hype.
Why should anyone “hate” animated voices because of product tie-ins? Someone needs to cut down on the caffiene. “If we do not become adequately exhausted by an animated character (and, by implication, the voice associated with it), we will certainly get sick of the part where every McDonald’s cup has his picture on it for a period of 10 agonizing weeks,” says Cranky Ol’ Grandma Holmes. We can’t recall the last time we were in any way exhausted or sick because of what appeared on our McDonald’s cup. It must be a frightening and grim world for Holmes.
It’s not all doom and gloom. She cites Patton Oswalt and Steve Carell as the examples of comedians/comic actors who avoided the fate of the poor, poor bastards cited above.
We could cite a few more– Ellen Degeneres (Finding Nemo), Larry The Cable Guy (Cars), Ray Romano (Ice Age, Ice Age2: The Meltdown), Billy Crystal (Monsters, Inc.)– who, we’re pretty sure, won’t wear out their welcome with adults for having done funny voices for 75 minutes. But that would blast to smithereens Holmes’ thesis.
We suppose the piece may have been intended to be funny. Maybe.
There is one unintended bit of humor. The video clip box that accompanies the article is captioned, “Actor Jack Black dishes on his role in the animated film ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and on his spilling the news that Angelina Jolie is expecting twins.” Click on it and we’re treated to Black being interviewed by Meredith Viera on NBC’s Today. If there’s anything that will kill anyone’s taste for a nutty, freewheelin’ iconoclast like Jack “Oh, My God, He’s So Crazy!” Black, might it be seeing him at 6 in the morning “dishing” to Meredith Viera and dropping names and talking casually about Cannes?
They cast superstars to voice the characters in animated films because it works when it comes time to promote the project– publicists have an easier time booking Jack Black than Dan LaFontaine or a mid-level actor or comedian who merely happens to have a facility for doing funny voices.
Here’s the cast from the 1962 animated feature “Gay Purr-ee”:
Judy Garland
Robert Goulet
Red Buttons
Paul Frees
Hermione Gingold
Morey Amsterdam
Mel Blanc
Joan Gardner
Julie Bennett
June Foray
At least three of the above were known primarily for their cartoon work. (Foray was the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Frees was a heavy hitter for Disney and Jay Ward. Blanc was BLANC! Bennett was an actress, but she also did old ladies for Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera. Gardner voiced cartoon characters for TV and features.)
Buttons and Amsterdam were comedians. Comedians are, we would assume, ideal for voiceover work, since they know how to sell comedy. They know where the punchline is and they know how to punch it.
Jack Black will survive “Kung Fu Panda” quite nicely.
Finally, there’s this, from Dose.ca:
Comedians tend to be the sort of people who are said to have “a lot of personality” as in: their face looks like a bucket of crushed bums. As a result, they actually do wind up with lots of personality, compensating for looks with laughs. Maybe that’s why they get a ton of voice work in cartoons, we’d rather hear than see them. Given the gimmicky, ADD-approved pop culture vomit that cartoons tend to be these days, maybe it’s not the best place for comedic genius. On the heels of the animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, we take a look at comedians turned cartoon characters and see which incarnation of them we like best.
Our thoughts exactly! Hit the link for more comedians– Tim Allen in “Toy Story,” Wanda Sykes in “Over The Hedge,” Sascha Baron Cohen in “Madagascar” and more.