MovieChat Forums > Despicable Me (2010) Discussion > Bad Voice Acting

Bad Voice Acting

posted 14 years ago by felixmaybe
57 replies | jump to latest

Steve Carell put on a terrible, silly Russian accent which sounded like an intentionally bad impression of a Russian or Eastern European accent. It wasn't good voice acting. It wasn't cartoony, animated, funny or energetic. Just a bad and flat voice. There are so many people out there who can do a huge amount better than that. It's a real shame that they sell more tickets for what is, in truth, a worse final product. But hey, it's about the money I guess.

Not to mention Mr. Brand...

Obviously there has been an influx of famous actors doing voice acting in recent years. The thing is, it's not all bad. Some do a wonderful job. I feel that Carell's attempt, in this film, is grating and weak. Any takers?

[–] ggeorge747 14 years ago

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I thought his performance was hilarious.

[–] RemusMoon 14 years ago

True they could've got someone else to do the main part, but I still think Steve Carell did a relatively good job. He didn't bother me.

Russell Brand on the other hand. Well.. that's an entirely different matter.

[–] jules2012 14 years ago

Now i think(dispicable you)our Russ rocks in this voice over...Steve("thats wot iam tolking abbelt")and Jason("curse you tiny toilet")rocked also...and as all three of them are gifted with ok singing voices,i am looking forward to"Dispicable Me-The Musical"..."OH YEAH".

[–] Mr_Garak 13 years ago

Couldn't agree more.

Carell was good, but Bland, as usual stinks up everything he's in, he's neither funny nor talented at either comedy or acting, he's just an unfunny, untalented, immature 30+ year old who never reached maturity.

[–] adburg27 14 years ago

I'm gonna have to "go ahead and, disagree with you there". That's what makes the character work. The fact that the voice is flat and dry and not at all goofy or cartooney is what makes it more endearing that his character is "softened" by the girls in the end. If the voice were silly or "animated or funny or energetic" the feeling one gets at the end that these girls were able to break through the coldness of an evil old villain would not be as great. It would just be like, "well, he was silly to begin with anyway, so of course he would have liked the girls in the end". I think the directors and Carell were spot-on with their take on the voice for this character. As for the others, I didn't know who they were until I looked on this board. Jason Segal as Vector?! It sounded nothing like Jason Segal, I was impressed with that one. Overall I think the voices were good in this movie, not like that gawd-awful "Shark Tale" that came out so many years ago. I think THAT movie is a better example of what you're speaking of when studios hire big-name actors to do voices in films to make more money. That movie was such a disappointment.

[–] Primeval_Scum 14 years ago

Animation does not work without stereotypes & overacting.

[–] jules2012 14 years ago

[–] Symarip 12 years ago

For kids movies maybe. You don't want stereotypes and overacting in movies like Waltz with Bashir.

I'm the grim reaper, lardass, and you're my next customer.

[–] bgdc 14 years ago

Brand was great. Not a fan of Carell's voice work but Brand was unrecognizable.

[–] JeffersMorningToYou 13 years ago

Asbolutely agree, Russell Brand did a terrific job. I usually find Steve Carell fairly funny, but I couldn't say I thought he was amazing in his role here, just decent. Brand though, like you said, was unrecognizable. If I hadn't known the cast beforehand I never would've guessed. Not to mention not only was it an unrecognizable performance, but a good one.

I really do have love to give, I just don't know where to put it

[–] purpledragonfly0505 13 years ago

I was convinced Russell Brand was actually Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. I thought he was hilarious, in any case. When he gave the minion the anti-gravity shot (or whatever) and saw him floating up to the skylight, I almost broke a rib laughing when he said, "I meant to close that."

It's a guarranteed disaster...like eating a burrito before sex.

[–] spring_june 14 years ago

It wasn't a Russian accent. It wasn't a real accent at all, Steve kinda invented it and fused different accents together. Much funnier. I loved the voice acting because it was all familiar voices to me :)

[–] kill-the-boxtrolls 14 years ago

The film takes place in Asia which is somewhere across from Russia so I think it's nice for Gru to have that famous Russian accent voice.

Like someone else said, Despicable Me couldn't have been brillant without Steve Carell.

He sounds just as I would imagine any Russian guy would sound like. It would be funny if Steve Blum dubbed over Gru, ha ha lol.

"You're a cowardy custard. Cowardy cowardy custard. Cowardy cowardy custard." - Anne

[–] KTope 14 years ago

"The film takes place in Asia which is somewhere across from Russia"

I...I don't even know where to begin with this sentence.

I am Jack's IMDb post.

[–] Bucko-2 14 years ago

Julie Andrews' accent rocked! She really captured the essence of the across from Russia phonemes.

[–] DJConz 14 years ago

Vector sucked. Jason Segal doesnt have a distinct voice, stupid casting. Actually, Vector was the reason this movie isnt great, he was lame as hell.

[–] katspajamas22 13 years ago

HAHAHAHA!!!! Oh man...that made my *beep* day.

[–] dancinggold24 14 years ago

No kidding! I never realized these message boards were the place to come to find the absolute stupidest people on the planet.

[–] robocat893 14 years ago

No kidding! I never realized these message boards were the place to come to find the absolute stupidest people on the planet.

Then apparently you haven't around here for awhile!

What does this do?

[–] ZeeBee_1970 14 years ago

I loved Gru's voice. And I could have sworn Vector was voiced by Andy Dick. (thought he even looked like him)

[–] tdevereaux 14 years ago

First of all most of Russia is in Asia.

Second, what makes that a famous Russian accent? It's not even a real accent. Steve Carell made it up.

I'm really worried that you have suffered some type of cranial trauma and I hope you recover soon.

[–] kill-the-boxtrolls 13 years ago

Shut up, you. I already told you I have (or did) NOT possess any trauma or amnesia back then. Even if I did have amnesia, how am I going to remember tne Internet or even Despicable Me for that matter? You should gtfo and get a life you pessimist!

"WHAT. ARE. YOU. GETTING. ALL. SENTI. MENTAL. ON. ME. FOR. YOU. LITTLE. SQUIRT?!" - Vash

[–] dwacon-2 14 years ago

Unknown voiceover artists could do passable work. Do the kids watching these even know they are listening to big stars?

Dwacon
http://dwacon.com/
http://blog.dwacon.com/

[–] missik777 13 years ago

Perhaps some kids don't care but the adults appreciate the voices of the actors. Adults often get jokes that go right over the kids heads, too.

[–] hernandez_harold12 14 years ago

steve carell's voice acting wasnt bad it was good and funny its just a animated movie.