Bad Voice Acting - Despicable Me (2010) Discussion

[–] Animam 14 years ago

I've seen the movie in its original version and in the french one and I can say that, compared with the french version, the english one's pretty good.

Usually I find french animation voices very good even better than the english ones sometimes (The Simpsons for instance) but this movie's was quite bad. It's in part due to the very poor french dialogues.
Still, Agnes's voice is excellent in both languages.

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[–] brenda50841 14 years ago

at felixmaybe- What are you talking about???? The voices are great! Steve Carell and Russell Brand are excellent! Always a nay sayer!

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[–] zerobeat 14 years ago

Carell's accent reminds me of when Michael Scott from The Office does impressions. But the entire premise is that Scott isn't supposed to be all that talented.

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[–] jjk488-1 13 years ago

"Carell's accent reminds me of when Michael Scott from The Office does impressions. But the entire premise is that Scott isn't supposed to be all that talented."

- this!

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[–] toontock 14 years ago

No freaking way. Wow. That was an amazing comic performance. He made the movie.

If you didn't like him i can't understand how you could even enjoy it. He is the movie.

It's called comedy. Think about Dr. evil in austin powers. Was that a realistic performance? Or accent? Same thing here.

Toy story for example took a more realistic approach with the characters. This did not.

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[–] hecantune 14 years ago

Just, no.

Back off! ... Way off!

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[–] Buzz-Duh 14 years ago

Totally agree with the topic creator, Steve's voice was pretty bad and even distracting at times. I think he was definitely miscast along with Jason Segel as Vector, but they're big names right now in Hollywood so they're going to draw people in no matter how crappy their voices are in the film. It's sad, I know.

--
Youngblood II: Racki's Revenge

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[–] schlob77 13 years ago

Wow, the OP is totally clueless!!!!!!! "intentionally bad impression of a Russian" you hit the nail right on the head. YES, Carrell was purposely doing an off kilter BAD voice.

I thought he was great, he stayed away from the stereotypical crap that most voice actors would have done. The voice he came up with was PERFECT!!!

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[–] Suki_Weeks 13 years ago

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?

_________________________________________________

Complete crap - the voices were excellent.

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[–] Amarillo10 13 years ago

If I had to watch this movie without knowing anything about the voice actors, especially their names, I never would've guess it was Steve Carrell, Julie Andrews, and even Russell Brand. Brand sounded like a typical old British guy; he did sound like a specific actor, but I can't put my finger on his name. Carrell is not one of my favorite actors, but he made the character his by not using his own voice. Julie Andrews didn't sound like herself at all.

The best way to enjoy these movies is forget the actors and consentrate on the characters. You'll be much happier.

*Amarillo* --Euripides? Eumenides!

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[–] iluvcallalilies 13 years ago

I didn't know the actors prior to the film and loved all the voice work. My kids ADORE Vector most - especially "oh yeah"... I loved the nerdy/villain and Segel was great in the role. Loved Gru's voice. Julie Andrews (yes, I knew who she was)... never would've guessed it was her.

Bottom line - they all played a "comic book" character come to life (but no comic book exists) - they weren't playing real people... it was terrific!

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[–] hecantune 13 years ago

Jason Segal/Vector was awesome. By far my favorites, and yes, the kids' favorite also (twin 2-year old boys). I was surprised to find out it was Jason Segal but I was shocked to find out Russell Brand was Nefario. Excellent job.

Also really like:

Jack McBrayer as the carnival stand operator.

Kriten Wiig as Ms. Hattie. I can't get over the way she says "Do ya still think it was a 'Great sale day"?

Back off! ... Way off!

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[–] schlob77 13 years ago

SukiSoo you're an island unto yourself with your opinion.

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[–] david-2271 13 years ago

You really don't get the concept of "farce," do you?

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[–] Brian11 13 years ago

Steve was a terrible choice for this part. Just about anyone else could have made the character a lot more. In truth a lot of the characters were flat, not just the voices. Russel Brand did a great job disguising his voice for his part, but lacked the enthusiasm of a memorable animated character. A good comparison to this movie would be The Incredibles. Now I'm sure everyone is tired of the Pixar comparisons but it's just fact that they have it right and these Illumination or whatever their company is called aren't there.

The subpar voice acting is really just on par with the quality of the rest of the movie. I just watched Despicable Me for the second time and I enjoyed it a little more than when I saw it at the theater. Got a few laughs out of it this time but it's not a very memorable movie. It's overly obnoxious in a lot of parts for the purpose of a forced laugh instead of just being funny.

Now Jason Segel on the other hand did a fantastic job.

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