Amir here, with this month’s edition of team top ten. As the art of acting and our interpretation of it evolve, definitions of what we consider a good performance change. It’s become an annual tradition to discuss whether a motion capture performance or some “alternative” form of acting deserves to be in the awards race. Last year’s topic of conversation was Scarlatt Johansson’s voice work in Her and that's the topic we’ve turned our attention to. (Thanks to Michael Cusumano for his suggestion!)
Voice acting has existed since cinema found sound and it has contributed to the medium in more memorable ways than a list of ten entries can represent. We were not limited in our option to animated films or any genre. So long as the voice performance was not accompanied by visual aids from the same performer (e.g. Andy Serkis’s work in LOTR was not eligible), it was fair game. Naturally, our list is animation-heavy, but there were others firmly in the race like Alec Baldwin's exquisite narration of The Royal Tenenbaums or especialy Marni Nixon – of whom The Film Experience is a big fan – who received several votes but just not enough.
Without further ado, here the collective top ten created from the rankings of each contributor's individual ballot
Top Ten Voice Performances of All Time
10. Peter O’Toole (Ratatouille)
Peter O’Toole’s Anton Ego doesn’t have much screen time in Ratatouille but his contribution to Pixar’s best film outside of the Toy Story trilogy is immeasurable. The final monologue by Ego – what an apt name for the food critic, or any critic, really – has become a reference point for film writers. The text is definitive, reminding us that “in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” Yet, the bitter truth in the text wouldn’t strike the right chords had it not been for O’Toole’s sombre, elegiac tone. Remarkably balancing his authority with a palpable sense of resignation, O’Toole’s final words elevate the scene beyond criticism.
-Amir Soltani
9. Eleanor Audley (Sleeping Beauty)
Angelina Jo-who? While the voluptuous star brought sexiness and unnecessary warmth to the part of Maleficent in this summer's blockbuster adaptation, she still doesn't hold a candle to the incomparable work of Eleanor Audley in the 1959 animated version. The actress bookended the 1950s for Disney through two of their most iconic creations, having also voiced Cinderella's stepmother in the 1950 version. For Beauty however, she was firing on all Machiavellian cylinders as she brought a sense of immeasurable dread to what was considered to be a children's film. Her Maleficent is barely in the film, but she makes every line count. We don't need to hear her entire (or any) backstory to know that she was truly evil in ways we could only begin to imagine. In a time before villains were cool, she's the most interesting character and when she says "listen well, all of you", you couldn't pay us to ignore her command.
- Jose Solis
(more on this performance)
8 more great vocal performances after the jump...
8. Jeremy Irons (The Lion King)
In key ways you can see where Irons draws inspiration for Scar from previous Disney work – like the slightly bored antagonist from excellent George Sanders as Shere Khan in The Jungle Book or the subtle hints of macabre sensuality from Pat Caroll in The Little Mermaid. With that in mind, Scar is just one in a long line of Disney films overwhelmed and stolen by (the voice-work of) its villains. Still, Irons manages to even surpass those two. His drawling superciliousness could get old quickly but he succeeds in making Scar’s ostensible detachment legitimately charismatic and even perversely sensual. He's clearly relishing every line and Scar's every intonation becomes essential idiosyncrasies informing his character motivations. When The Lion King is over, it’s likely that any random line-reading stuck in your head is one from Scar – not so much for the line itself, but for the skill with which Irons delivers it.
- Andrew Kendall
Kathleen Turner made two other movies in 1988 but the performance people remember from that year is Jessica Rabbit7. Kathleen Turner (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
Turner's feature film debut came in 1981's Body Heat, playing an amped-up, hypersexual version of film noir's traditional femme fatale. Which made her the obvious choice to voice the same character type in the form of an amped-up, hypersexual version of a '40s sexy girl cartoon in a noir comedy. Obvious, and absolutely perfect: the insinuating sexuality that the character wields like a broadsword is given added heat by Turner's smoky line deliveries ("I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" is surely one of the sexiest laugh lines ever). But there's more here than turning Jessica Rabbit into, forgive me, a cartoon character. In the moments that she expresses tenderness, or fear, or pragmatism, it becomes clear that Jessica's robust sexuality is a performance, not an identity, and Turner's layered emotions make this 2-D character one of the most rounded women in noir.
-Tim Brayton
6. James Earl Jones (Star Wars)
Darth Vader was famously played by multiple actors: David Prowse, who lent him his body (and got sole credit for the first two installments of the franchise), Sebastian Shaw, whose face was the one revealed at the end of The Return of the Jedi, as well as –shudder- Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen. But the actor most associated with the part will forever be James Earl Jones, whose legendary baritone proved even more character defining than John Mollo’s iconic costume design. Originally dismissing his own voice work as ‘special effects’ (comparing it to Mercedes McCambridge’s devil voice in The Exorcist) and refusing credit, Jones nevertheless shaped one of cinema’s most memorable characters by managing to gradually infuse anger, fear and regret within the character’s trademark menace, without ever breaking his creepily robotic, unflappable cadence. Forget those redundant prequels: all of Darth Vader’s aching tragedy was already contained in James Earl Jones’ unforgettable performance.
- Julien Kojfer
5. Scarlett Johansson (Her)
In Her, a man falls in love with a voice, technically that of a computer operating system. It is feminine; inviting, enticing and sometimes challenging. Alongside the protagonist Theodore (a bespectacled, mustached, high-waist panted Joaquin Phoenix), all we have is this voice (a disembodied Scarlett Johansson). The beauty is not only in how easily it is to see (hear) Theodore falling for her, but also her own development throughout their relationship. Without falling into vamp or wisp or bot, Johansson captures our hearts with arguably and ironically one of her most full-bodied performances, from helpmate to friend to lover. She not only suspends our disbelief (she is a computer!), but eases us into a meditation on love, relationships and understanding, however projected those may be. Without her, Theodore would just be a massively creepy geek. Her performance validates his humanity as well as that of the film. Go ScarJo!
- Diana Drumm
4. Douglas Rain (2001: A Space Odyssey)
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." There are a million ways to read this line, and probably half a million ways to read it as the voice of a computer. But, decades before emotionless android voices practically soundtracked our lives on our phones and in our cars, Douglas Rain somehow managed to create the perfect blank slate of a voice as HAL 9000. Other voices could have worked as HAL, but what makes Rain's work transcendent is that complete and total lack of affect, the absence of anything remotely human. How effective is Rain's voice? Siri is female for a reason.
- Daniel Bayer
3. Pat Carrol (The Little Mermaid)
The Supporting Actress Smackdown has recently wrapped up, and the performance from 1989 that looms largest wasn’t even on the ballot, she was animated with a pair of eel henchmen twirling around her. The Disney animators must have been beside themselves with joy when presented with Carrol’s performance as Ursula.
Pat Caroll regarding her now legendary performance in "The Little Mermaid"
Does the actress have a single line of dialogue in the whole of The Little Mermaid that she doesn’t twist into a dark comic classic? I can imagine, for example, a lot of actresses giving a decent line reading of “Life’s full of tough choices, innit?” but it’s tough to think of any performer, living or dead, making the meal of it that Carrol does. Carrol’s work didn’t just become the gold standard for Disney Villains. Hers is the achievement towards which divas everywhere still aspire.
- Michael Cusumano
2. Ellen DeGeneres (Finding Nemo)
While I was somewhat disappointed to learn the list leaned so heavily on animation – I made an impassioned pitch for Roger Jackson from the Scream films, but to no avail – it’s hard to deny that there’s something about the artform that allows certain people to shine. I repeat, certain people. While we’re sadly long gone from the days of voice specialists in motion pictures, I imagine that Ellen DeGeneres could have made the job a fallback position if her talk show didn’t take off the way it did that very same year. Unlike Eddie Murphy in Shrek, DeGeneres’ “Dory” feels like much more than just an extension of her own personality. Thanks largely to a wonderful screenplay, DeGeneres elevates it a sort of strange, absurd level that is constantly surprising and unexpected. Hilarious and affecting in equal measure, DeGeneres would’ve been an Oscar contender if I had a say.
- Glenn Dunks
1. Robin Williams (Aladdin)
The loss of Robin Williams casts a pall over this list in a way that’s hard to even believe. But say this for Williams, and never forget it: his Genie is a miracle of spirited, jazzed-up, and finally poignant character embodiment that needn’t any posthumous sentiment to warrant its place here. Williams’ roadrunner showmanship was never employed to greater effect, carrying “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” to giddy musical-comedy highs and making himself so generously available to the audience, while still insisting on Genie’s layers: so genuine despite the fatigue in his devotion to Aladdin, so heartfelt amid the hysterics in his desire for freedom, and so grateful yet hilariously full of possibility when freedom is finally granted. Williams ensured Aladdin's legacy, as well as the artistry and hard-won ingenuity of voice-only performances, by imbuing Genie with all the surprise and exuberance that the screen can possibly hold, and, really, could ever hope to.
- Matthew Eng
Previously on Team Top Ten
Best Working Cinematographer | Directors of the 21st Century
Oscar’s Best Actress Losers | Oscar’s Best Actor Losers
Comic Book Adaptations | Women For Honorary Oscar
Horror Films (Pre-Exorcist) | Horror Films (Post Exorcist)
Awards Season Flops