MovieChat Forums > Despicable Me 2 (2013) Discussion > Voice actors

Voice actors

posted 11 years ago by evil_east777
6 replies | jump to latest

What I never got about the Despicable Me movies is, why cast these famous actors if they don't sound anything like themselves in the movie..? Russell Brand and Ken Jeong especially...

[–] papablue 11 years ago

For many people, viewing an animated movie and immediately tying a character's voice to the actor providing it can be a distraction.

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"Son, you have a pantie on your head."

[–] evil_east777 11 years ago

Well, I don't think that's true at all... When you watch Toy Story, are you distracted by Tom Hanks as the voice of Woody..?

[–] slyle 10 years ago

When you watch Toy Story, are you distracted by Tom Hanks as the voice of Woody..?

Yes. It's not the worst offender (Seth Rogen in "Paul" is probably the worst), but it does distract me when a celebrity with a highly recognizable voice does the voice for an animated character because I already associate that voice with the actor or actress. Steve Carell is still pretty recognizable but the accent fits with the character so well that it's not as distracting. I liked that Russel Brand, Ken Jeong and Jason Segel did voices for their characters because it wasn't as distracting to me.

It seems to help when the animated character looks similar to the voice actor ("The Incredibles" did that well). They did that in this movie as well which probably helps. Woody looks a little like Tom Hanks, which is why it's not that bad, but Paul looks nothing like Seth Rogen so the mismatch is even more distracting.

[–] Mississippi20 11 years ago

Marketable names so they can sell the movie - put it on movie posters and trailers. People might wonder if it's an A-list production with a bunch of no-names.

[–] janiceross22 10 years ago

Marketable names so they can sell the movie - put it on movie posters and trailers. People might wonder if it's an A-list production with a bunch of no-names.

Exactly!

[–] SuperBobster 10 years ago

There's an element of that. But also remember that the actors are responsible for giving life to the character and fleshing them out. The voices are recorded before that character is animated, so the animators have to pay close attention to the actor's voice and pick up on what sort of personality they have given to the character, so they can animate them to match.

It therefore seems more reassuring to the audience that an experienced and well-known actor has been brought in to play that character, and the audience knows that they can play it well, rather than bringing in a nobody who would just be an unknown quantity.