#578 Correctly guessing the actor voicing the animated movie character

Everybody loves cartoons.

Ain’t it fun cuddling up under the blanket or plopping down on the plushy seats and getting absorbed in the tall tales about lost clown fish, tough-talking great white sharks, or Parisian sewer rats with dreams of becoming five-star chefs?

Yes, after the movie starts rolling and you fall into the cartoon fantasy, there’s always that moment where a new character enters the story and starts stealing the scene. And everyone recognizes the voice and everyone knows the voice, but without a visual it’s tough guessing which big name star’s sweating in the dark studio holding crumpled sheets of printed lines wearing giant Princess Leia head phones.

That’s why it’s great when the electrons suddenly go boom in someone’s brain and they jump up and scream out a name. Then everyone smiles and laughs and breathes a big sigh of recognition relaxation. Oh sure, sometimes there’s online fact-checking or the occasional wait-till-the-credits confirmation, but how sweet is it when someone just shouts it out and totally nails it?

Pretty sure we all know the answer to that.

AWESOME!

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45 thoughts to “#578 Correctly guessing the actor voicing the animated movie character”

  1. Oh, I absolutely love this. It’s a talent of mine.

    Impressive: Being able to tell the difference between a real person and someone doing a dead-on impression of them.

    Also impressive: Watching Looney Tunes cartoons and being able to tell which characters were NOT voiced by Mel Blanc.

    1. You, sir, are awesome. But especially if you can manage to do this without sounding or being pretentious.

    1. Oh, that’s a good one. Here’s a challenge: Is it Don LaFontaine, the late “Movie Trailer Guy” that still has a few backlogged ads airing, or someone doing a very good impression of him? I frequently lose.

    1. I assume you mean seeing someone on one commercial and then recognizing them on another. AWESOME! I do believe that I will become… A COMMERCIAL ACTOR!

  2. This is totally awesome! I pride myself on that talent and it drives me crazy until I figure out who it is. And here I thought I was all alone. Awesome!

  3. I spent a good 30min in A Princess & the Frog trying to figure out who the voodoo guy was. Thankfully, my little cousin figured it out before we missed the entire movie!

  4. Man! I SO agree with this!! I actually take great pride that I can name really obscure actor voices when watching animated movies, which is why when I’m at a loss, it drives me CRAZY!! Seriously, I can’t enjoy the movie, I am CONSUMED with naming the actor!

    That’s why I’m DEEPLY relieved when someone yells it out! YES!!

  5. I usually am that person who can shout out the actor name, especially when it comes to Disney movies.

    Although I have to say that an entry on the 1000 annoying things list would be when you are absolutely convinced you recognize a voice but you can’t place where. And a search of their IMDb page doesn’t help you either.

  6. By far my favorite entry… because, I do this ALL the time within my group of friends. And it can be voice overs in commercials, voices of animated characters… anything, but I always get it. To the point where, if my friends are without me somewhere and can’t figure out a voice… they’ll call me real quick to have me identify it. I’m glad us voice-identifying geniuses are being recognized once and for all. Can’t wait to show my buds this post. :)

  7. While watching Where The Wild Things Are… me and my sister could not figure out who voiced Carol. I recognized the heavy breathing of an out of shape italian. And sure enough about 1/2 way through the movie I had a break through. JAMES GANDOLFINI!!! OF COURSE! I wispered it into my sisters ear and she squirmed as everything clicked and she knew then I was better at life then her.

    AWESOME!

    1. I had a similar experience when watching Where the Wild Things Are, but the voice I identified was Paul Dano. It was bugging me for several scenes and then I just blurted the name out (which annoyed a couple of girls sitting in the next row over.)

  8. I don’t remember the last time I went into a movie without knowing everything about the cast and crew. One of the downfalls of being a film snob I guess.

    1. I knew that Nicholas Cage was the mole… It was victory! :-))

      I’m much better at naming the actor on live-action films though. ;-)

  9. Just watched “Ransom of Red Chief” and I thought I had nailed Tom Hanks as the postman…by just seeing an obscure profile and hearing the voice. Turned out to be his brother (who knew?) Jim!

  10. Two voices I will always cherish:

    Mark Hamill – particularly during his many years playing The Joker. This one took me by surprise many years ago, but the voice fit perfectly. Anyone else think he could pull off a good Heath Ledger replacement on the big screen?

    Keith David – Sure, there’s no guesswork for this guy. You can’t mistake him. But anytime his voice pops up I want to shout “That’s him!”

    Make that three: Another awesomely distinctive one is Pat Warburton. Best signature line: “Quit screwin’ around!”

  11. Really this app is great but some of this stuff isn’t awesome to most people
    Eg. Watching old people swim
    Taking your bra off
    Or undoing your ponytail (If your a man most of the time)

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