Why does Disney pay for name recognition and pay these twits big bucks, when they could find a voice that suits the character more. Crystal was, well, Billy Crystal. Wow. Terrible choice.
shareCrystal was one of the few voice actors who didn't phone it in. I thought he was great.
shareI have a Japanese-language version of the film with subtitles, and FYI the original Japanese voice actor used a similar broad comic voice.
So Crystal was simply carrying on with a bad choice made by Miyazaki himself, and I still don't get why he did it. IMHO it would have made more sense for Calcifer to sound mysterious, or sinister.
I liked Billy Crystal as Calcifer, but I didn't like him in the Princess Bride.
shareI saw the undubbed Japanese version (with subtitles), and FYI the original Calcifer voice was very jokey and comedian-ish, apparently the Japanese Billy Crystal was hired to do the original voice.
And that's what Miyazake wanted.