September 16, 2024 • 52 mins
With the passing of James Earl Jones last week, Mike wanted to take time to recognize his amazing work in voice acting from voicing Mufasa in the Lion King to Darth Vader in Star Wars. Mike shares his Top 10 favorite voice acting performances in animation. In the Movie Review, Mike gives his review of Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy. It’s about a family who gets invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they'll soon realize that the family who invited them has a dark side lying inside them. Mike shares how the movie did with a $15 million dollar budget, why James McAvoy is an underrated actor and whether or not you need to see this movie in theaters or wait for it to stream at home. In the Trailer Park, Mikes shares how he is excited for someone to finally have a biopic that breaks the mold. LEGO bricks tell the life story of singer/songwriter and record producer Pharrell Williams. From his childhood in Virginia to his success in the music and fashion industry ... .all while the people being interviewed for the movie had no idea it was going to be a Lego movie!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I want to share
with you my top ten best voice acting in animated movies.
You saw the news last week that sadly James Earl
Jones passed away, a n iconic legendary actor with the
most powerful voice in Hollywood, a true legend. We're gonna
(00:21):
honor him, and we're gonna also talk about more actors
who have delivered just amazing performances in animated movies. Only
in the movie Review, we'll be talking about a new
horror movie starring James McAvoy called Speak No Evil, Full
On Go in Spooky Season as we head into October,
and in the Trailer Park, we'll kick it back to
animation and talk about Peace by Piece, which is the
(00:43):
lego adaptation of Pharrell. So thank you for being here,
thank you for being subscribed, Shout out to the Monday
Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners never
before in a movie podcast, a man with so much
movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses
from the Nashville podcast Networks.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
This is Movie Mike's Movie podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
James L.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Jones passed away last week. He was ninety three years old.
He was the voice in Mufasa Zimba's dad in The
Lion King in both animated movie from nineteen ninety four
and the live action remake.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
He was also the voice of Darth Vader.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
If he only did those two roles, he would be
a legend already. But he was also the dad in
Coming to America. He was Terence's man in Field of Dreams.
He had an amazing performance even though it was a
smaller role in the Sandlot, and that was one that
hit me in a different way as far as celebrity deaths.
I saw it posted and he just kind of punched
(01:50):
me in the gut. He was a pillar in the
movie industry. So I wanted to do this episode to
honor his legacy and talk about some other accomplishments in
animation when it comes to voice acting, which is still
mind blowing to me that there is no oscar for
voice acting, and a lot of people argue that if
(02:11):
they made one, it would lessen the impact of winning
an Oscar, because if you're winning an Oscar for voice acting,
therefore it takes away from Best Actor, Best Actress supporting.
I think that is ridiculous. I think so much work
goes into voicing animated movies that people don't realize. And
I think the reason it's lessened a little bit is
(02:33):
because sometimes actors will just take voice acting roles and
not really give a whole lot of dynamic range in
their voice. They're like, I'm a celebrity already, I'm gonna
do this because it's easy and I get paid. But
there are other instances where actors go above and be
on to at times alter their voice so they are
(02:56):
completely unrecognizable, which I guess sometimes movie exactly with not
like that because you're paying for the A list star,
we want it to sound like that person. But that
is the entire reason that voice acting exists. That is
why it is so significant. And there are other cases
where an actor just has a great voice on their
own and they don't really have to do a whole
(03:17):
lot to change it. But because they are such great actors,
they still put in the emphasis and the range of
emotion that they would if they were on screen and
just because they're in recording booth doesn't take away from
that same practice.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
So that is why I decided to.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Come to you with my top ten best voice acting
in animated movies only, so not looking at anything live action,
not even word. There's a character who's animated and there
are humans. This is pure animation. Although it will range
in different types of animated movies, We're only focusing on
animated movies for this list. Kicking it off with number ten,
(03:56):
I have Trey Parker's performance in Bigger, Longer and un Cut,
which is the South Park movie from nineteen ninety nine.
Trey Parker is just one of my favorite minds in
Hollywood in animation, and I think he goes unrecognized a
lot because a lot of people just associating with South
Park being an overly vulgar show. But if you look
(04:18):
at the significance of his impact in TV with South
Park alone, but also in movies, who has consistently been
pushing the barriers on what you can do in film
in a movie, and I think the biggest test to
that was in nineteen ninety nine with the South Park movie,
which at the time was just seen as the ultimate
(04:40):
thing that you could not watch as a kid because
how bad it was. And I love the story that
went into this movie that also mirrored a lot of parents'
worries about kids watching that TV show. Because what this
plot does in the movie is it follows the four
main kids who want to see this movie by Terrence
and Phila, who are these two animated characters who, just
(05:02):
like south.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Park, are very vulgar and over the top.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And then by them watching this movie, they are now
exposed to cursing, and they curse all the time. So
they go from being innocent kids to being these little
vocal terrors, and then of course it escalates from there.
But why I put Trey Parker on my list is
because he voices four of the main characters in south Park.
He does two of the main kids, Stan Marsh and
(05:27):
Eric Cartman. He also does Stand's dad Randy mister Garrison.
He also does in this movie Gregory Mulnead mister Mackie,
Philip from Terrence and Phillip and Moore, and doing that
many voices is just impressive in itself. Here's just a
little bit of his performance as Cartman in the south
Park movie.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Somebody Doesn't Dark.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
I can't say the KNA. What are you guys doing here?
Speaker 5 (05:51):
Dead?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, So what they do with their voice is they
do manipulate it a little bit because obviously they are
grown adults and in order to sound like kids, they pitch.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It up just a couple of octaves.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But for the most part, he can do that voice
on his own without any alterations, and it is fascinating
to watch. If you've never seen the documentary Six Days
to Air, which is all about their process on making
the TV show. A lot of behind the scenes of
them recording the voices because they would be working on
an episode in one week that had to come out
(06:26):
in six days, so you see how stressful it is
for them to have to write it, record it animated,
make a bunch of changes. And I think that is
the main reason that they do so many of the voices,
is because they just need.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
To be around all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So it's also astonishing to me that at the same
time that they were making this movie, they were also
working on the TV show. So it is a fascinating
process and that is why I put Trey Parker in
South Park, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut at number ten. At
number nine, I have Shamik Moore as my Miles Morales
(07:01):
in both of the End of the Spider Verse and
across the Spider Verse movies, and for the most part,
when we think about Spider Man and the best Spider
Man of all time, we always go to the live
action ones, even though there have been different iterations not
only in the movies but also in the TV shows.
But you probably think of Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and
(07:21):
Tom Holland before you think of Shamik Moore. And Shamik
Moore is somebody that I first discovered when I watched
a coming of age movie called Dope back in twenty fifteen,
which is a fantastic I would actually put it in
my top five coming of age movies of all time.
And it was because of that movie that a few
years later he got a call from some of the
(07:42):
people working on Spider Man into the Spider Verse, and
they got in touch with this team that they potentially
wanted him to be Miles Morales in this movie that
they were working on, and they had him send a
voice note and that ended up being his audition to
be Spider Man, and he became Miles Morales.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
After that I would have still loved to have.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Seen Donald Glover aka a childish Gambino to voice the character.
But you cannot deny how great of a performer that
Shamik Moore is, and he is somebody now that I'll
see him do interviews and I can only picture Miles
Morales as he is talking. Here's one of my favorite
deliveries of his as Miles Morales in across the Spider Verse.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
Everyone keeps telling me how mad story is supposed to go.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Nah, I'm gonna do my own game.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And I think that is a true example of voice
acting being taken up a level because you are not
just reading lines off of a page. I can feel
his performance in that moment, and that was such a
significant part of this movie that the emotion is not
lost because it is animated. In that moment right there
that I just played, I was completely unaware that I
(08:55):
was watching something animated, And in this case, I attributed
it to the amazing animation style that is just so
encompassing and really engulfs you in this world.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
But also it.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Has fantastic acting between Shamik Moore, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson,
Hayley Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry. This movie goes above and
beyond in its voice acting. But at number nine I
have Shamik Moore as Miles Morales in both of the
Spider Verse movies. At number eight, I'm going with George
(09:25):
Clooney as Mister Fox in Fantastic Mister Fox. This is
my favorite animated Wes Anderson movie. And this is one
of those examples of actors I was talking about earlier
who are just great actors and they're gonna put their
all into her performance, whether it be live action or animated.
And George Clooney I wouldn't watch in a movie, say
(09:47):
like The Oceans movies, or even him as Batman and think, ah,
he has a great, fantastic voice, but it is undeniable
that he is a great actor, one of the best
in our lifetime. But this movie really changed how I
saw him as an actor by completely rounding out all
his capabilities of not only being able to be a
(10:08):
great fantastic lead while on screen, but having that exact
same effect when you only hear his voice. And also
just to play such a unique stop motion Fox, you
had to have somebody like George Clooney and the rest
of this amazing cast to really pull it off. Here's
my favorite example of his performance as mister Fox in
Fantastic Mister Fox.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Honey, I'm seven, non Fox years old now.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
My father died at seven and a half. I don't
want to live in a hole anymore, and I'm gonna
do something about it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And not only do you have George Clooney in this
Wes Anderson movie, you also get the entire list of
reoccurring actors from Wes Anderson movies, with Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman,
Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, and it's so fun
to hear George Clooney behind them in this adaptation of
a role doll story. I also wanted to include this
(11:05):
movie on my list because I feel sometimes stop motion
doesn't get the credit it deserves in the world of
animation because it has such a unique style, and to
some people it's a little bit off putting because it
doesn't have that same flow. It's not as pretty as
all of the other styles of animation. But I've always
just been instantly drawn to it because of the handmade
(11:27):
quality that it has. It feels like something you can touch.
I love the fur on mister Fox that moves throughout,
and that is a really hard thing to do when
it comes to stop motion, because they have to move
all these little hairs and all these.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Little positions to get it just right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
But this movie feels alive in its animation, and it
has the voice acting at an entirely different level than
I would expect in anything animation. To have this elite
level of talent behind the mic Oscar nominated Oscar winning
talent all in ste this movie and only made for
a mere forty million dollars. That's why I included at
(12:05):
number eight George Clooney as mister Fox. At number seven,
I have Steve Carell as grew in the Despicable Me franchise.
And Steve Carell is somebody who I would say just
has a funny voice on his own. If you look
at clips of the office, he is very animated in
his delivery, even going back to forty year old Virgin.
(12:25):
He has this comedic range just in his voice that
he could easily just have went into the booth for
Despicable Me and just done his normal regular voice and
it would have worked. But would it have been as
memorable if he didn't completely change it and turning to Grow,
which has this very obscure super villain accident.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Would it have sparked an entire franchise if he didn't
give the performance that he did completely altering the voice
we know as Steve Carell. Here's just a little bit
of his voice, indespicable me Won.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
We are going to.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Steal ja this for a thing?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
He's fine it Wald, who give me whatever I want?
Other than that?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And I will be tried to sculling of all time.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's what I'm talking bout.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So it's this vaguely Eastern European accent, and at times
he talks a mile a minute. Perfectly fits the character
design of Grow, which I think that is the method
that a lot of actors do, is they get the
sketch of the character and think, what does this person
sound like? I know that sounds so basic, but that's
(13:51):
really what you have to do to give the performance
that matches the actual character, and not just oh I
have this voice that I normally do, maybe it'll work
here A number seven. I have Steve Carell as Grew
indespicable me one, two, three, and four at number six.
I have Jeremy Iron's voicing Scar in The Lion King
from nineteen ninety four. Scar was a villain that I
(14:15):
hated as a kid and also feared a little bit,
even though he was an animated character. But that was
largely due to Jeremy Iron's performance creating this menacing character
who had a really low tone, very menacing, very ominous,
and at times this level of rage that would just
shout out. And that is the same level of acting
(14:37):
that you would expect in a live action movie. Best scene,
hands down, when it comes to Scar in The Lion
King has to be the fight between him and Simba
at the very end of the movie. And this scene
by Jeremy Iron still gives me chills.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Now, this looks on me. Where have I seen this?
Beforn to me? Wo sight of him?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
This is just the way your father looked before he died.
Oh no, he has my little secret.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Guilt falser.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I mean that tone in his voice right there is
my little secret I can't like. Oh my gosh, that
still gives me choked. But Jeremy Irons took it a
step above in The Lion King. I have him at
number six. Ass Scar at number five, getting into the
top five. Now would it be a top five if
(15:41):
I didn't include one of my favorite animated movies of
all time, my hands down favorite Disney movie of all
time at number five. I have Chris Sanders ass Stitch
in Leelo and Stitch. So not only is he the
voice of Stitch in this movie, he is also the
creator of Li Lo and Stitch, which is getting a
(16:02):
live action movie next summer that I'm actually excited for.
I think the character design a Stitch actually translates pretty
well into live action, but I can't wait to see
the full trailer to that. But I didn't just include
it on my list because it is my favorite Disney movie.
I put it on here because you think about the
actual energy it takes to voice Stitch in this movie
(16:25):
and the toll that it actually took.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
On his voice.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Because the more you do the voice of Stitch, the
more it shreds your vocal cords. He has to go
into this weird, nasally mischievous voice that does a number
when you're just sitting in a vocal mood, take after
take trying to get it perfect. And if you think
about the times that Stitch speaks in this movie. It
is often a little burst of energy like.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
This one now much.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Fare and the one time that he really had to
dig in to his soul and actually have a little
bit of acting on his part, which you don't really
look at the character of Stitch and think, oh, he's
gonna have to give a really great performance. And that
is the hard thing about some animated characters that have
a very unique voice, but you think are you going
(17:18):
to be able to carry that throughout an entire film.
An example I think of this was during the Super
Mario Brothers movie, where everybody was outraged about Chris Pratt
voicing Mario. They wanted the original actor who did Mario
in the video games. But the problem with that is
in the video games you only hear Mario talking for
(17:39):
seconds at a time. He has some catchphrases here and there,
but is that going to carry out through an entire movie.
You're probably gonna get sick of it in ten, maybe
twenty minutes. So that is why they went with Chris Pratt,
and it actually worked pretty well in that movie. Leelo
and Stitch would have been along those same lines. I
(17:59):
don't thing you could have this same type of movie
if Stitch had to speak as much as Leelo, but
he speaks in these very quick bursts that when they happen,
they are so memorable and so great and so much
fun that it's almost like in monster movies, where you
don't see the monster a whole lot, but it adds
(18:21):
to his impact. So every time Stitch opens his mouth
is very significant. And then later in the film, the
scene where he gets captured and they're gonna take him back,
he actually has to act a little bit, and you
really get the range of Chris Sanders here having to
take this character that has just been in these little
fits and outbursts and really hone it in and give
(18:41):
up performance.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Here's that moment.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
This is my family. I found it all on my own.
That's little and broken but still good. Yeah, still Grudt.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Still gets me every single time. Just for that scene.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I've put Chris Sanders at number five as Stitch and
Lilo and Stitch, and I can't wait for his new movie,
The Wild Robot to come out later this month on
September twenty seventh. At number four, I have Tom Hanks
voicing Woody in the Toy Story franchise one two three,
and four and soon to be five, six, seven, eight, nine,
(19:23):
and ten. And Tom Hanks is one of those people who,
unlike George Clooney, I do watch him in movies and thinks, man,
he has just a great voice, because not only does
he have great facial expressions and mannerisms and just a
great presence on screen, he has a voice with.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
A lot of range.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Particularly when Tom Hanks gets excited is my favorite thing,
and not often do we get it. But when he
gets angry is also really great. But he usually doesn't
really play characters that get angry a whole lot. He
is primarily the good guy in movies. Whenever he as
a villain, it's like, oh weird Tom Hanks as a villain.
(20:03):
But I think this particular moment in Toy Story one
where he is fighting with buzz Lightyear and shows how
much control he has with his voice to really make
you feel that emotion. Here's the scene I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
What what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You are toy, You weren't the real buzz light You're
you're an accent fig yard.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
You are a child plaything.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Oh yeah, well, good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Ridden Sillney because you hear him getting mad, but it
also has a comedic tone to it.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I don't know what he gets really frustrated.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
That is just voice acting at its finest, and the
range he has with what you a loan to make
you laugh, to make you feel something there that maybe
has a little bit more of a tone of anger,
but then also to make you feel that sadness. The
ending of Toy Story three so long, partner, Ah, that
is so good. I can't believe that they almost made
(21:03):
Woody a ventriloquist doll in Toy Story. That was the
original design of the character. Then they thought, oh, this
looks a little bit too freaky, and they decided to
change Woody and make them a cowboy instead, because, Ah,
kids would probably be more inclined to want to play
with a cowboy than a creepy ventriloquist doll. I think
if we would have been the ventriloquist, it would have
(21:24):
reminded me of Slappy from Goosebumps, and I would have
been terrified. Every kid in the nineties would have been terrified,
and Toy Story probably would have tanked. So I'm glad
they switched Woody to be a cowboy.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
At number three.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I have Eddie Murphy voicing Donkey in the Shrek films,
which they are coming out with a new Shrek movie,
not for a couple of years. I think it's supposed
to come out July first, twenty twenty six. I kind
of forgot about Shrek four, one, two, and three.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Were so big.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Four it came a little bit later, so I feel
like my excitement was a little bit watered down to
the fact that Shrek four it exists. But even more
so than Mike Myers's performance as Shrek, I think the
true standout star is Eddie Murphy along the same lines
of Tom Hanks. Eddie also has such great control over
his voice. But the reason I rank him just a
(22:14):
little bit higher is because I think Eddie Murphy on
his own is just funnier. He has the stand up experience,
he has all the characters he played on SNL, and
I think he was born to do comedy and I
wouldn't have thought that his best work would come in
the world of animation. But he is just so dynamic
(22:34):
as Donkey. This is still hands down my favorite performance
of his out of any of the movies.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Night Only, Oh It's gonna be fun. We can see
m late swapping manless stars and in the morning, I'm
making waffles, we do a sleep outside.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Oh well, I guess that's cool.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
I mean I don't know you and you don't know me,
so I guess as sad as best you know.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeahcho, that clip right there encompasses everything, the comedy, the sadness,
the range of Adie Murphy. Steven Spielberg actually bought the
rights to the book that Shrek is based on. Even
though Shrek is just a big parody of all the
Disney fairy tales and that's kind of what these movies
served as in the two thousands, but he originally wanted
to make a little bit more of a traditional animated film,
(23:25):
and he wanted Bill Murray to be the voice of
Shrek and Steve Martin to be the voice of Donkey.
I think that would have been fine, but it would
have had a much different just overall feeling, and no
way that Steve Martin would have done as good a
job as Donkey. And the other casting change that they
had was Chris Farley was actually originally going to be Shrek,
(23:47):
and there's test footage with him. Even the character of
Shrek is modeled to look like Chris Farley. If you
look at them side by side, which the design did
change from the first iteration, it kind of resembles what
Chris Farley look like. And I think it was a
role that Chris Farley was really interested in doing because
he was seen for the majority of his career as
(24:10):
being the big dumb, fat guy. And as a former
big dumb, fat guy, I know what kind of an
impact that can have on you. Where you have been
celebrated for all the wacky things you do, falling down,
getting hurt, saying ridiculous things. Sometimes you just want somebody
to take you seriously. And I think Shrek was going
to be that for him. And if you listen to
(24:32):
this clip of him and Eddie Murphy doing some early
lines with some very rough animations, you can really hear
that in his voice.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Oh this is one of those onion things.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
No, this is one of those drop it and leave
me alone things.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, why don't you want to talk about him?
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Why do you want to talk about it?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Why you answer the question with a question?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Why are you asking questions I don't want to answer?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Why are you I'm not blocking?
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Then?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Why do you have problems expressing your wonts?
Speaker 5 (24:58):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
I you just shut up, see no problem.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You're just displacing your anger.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Believe me, it's properly placed.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
You're really mad. Whoever did this to you? No one
did anything to me. Yes, yes, someone hurts you so bad.
Someone hurts you many years ago. Leave my parents out of.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
This right through.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And I would have paid to see that movie more
so than I would have paid to see Mike Myers version,
even though that is the version we know and love.
But he has like this weird iron accent that I
think is still an interesting choice on Shrek. So that's
why I didn't include Mike Myers on this list. I
included Eddie Murphy. But if you would have had the
version with Chris Farley and Eddie Murphy, I think Chris
(25:37):
Farley would be on this list just from that performance alone,
and again that is very raw, but you hear that
real acting ability in his voice and also him getting
angry there is like classic Chris Farley. I think that
would have been amazing. But on the list at number
three is Eddie Murphy as Donkey in Shrek. At number
two is one that also hits me in the gut
(25:59):
was another so death that was just oh my gosh
kind of rock me and also one that I just
go back and think about and gets sad because of
how great of an actor he was on screen, but
even a better actor in my opinion when it came
to his voice acting.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
At number two, I have Robin.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Williams voicing the Genie in Aladdin back in nineteen ninety two.
The best part about this performance is that the filmmakers
allowed him to improvise almost all of his performance.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
In those initial recordings.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
He had about fifty two different types of characters in
different ways that he portrayed the Genie, which he transforms
into different characters throughout the movie doing all these funny things.
The filmmakers had to go and just pick out which
were the funniest bits to use. That is the best
way to get an amazing performance from an actor who
(26:53):
has the comedic abilities like Robin Williams. Youah to just
let him run and do whatever they want, and that
is what you get from Robin Williams as the Genie,
who I would say is a masterclass on how to
do comedic work in voice acting. It has his signature wit,
that rapid fire delivery, talking a mile a minute, and
(27:14):
that endless range of voices and impressions that Robin Williams
was known for. Here is the scene where he was
first introduced in Aladdin.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
Ten thousand years will give you such a crick and then.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Net hang on a second?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Whoa, whoa?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Does it feel good to be out of there?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Tell you nice to be back, ladies and gentlemen, Hi,
where are you're from?
Speaker 4 (27:39):
What's your name?
Speaker 6 (27:41):
Aladdin?
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Laden?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Hello?
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Aladden?
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Nice to have you on the show. Can we call
you al or maybe just didn't? I'll have about a
lot of it sounds like, hey, boy, listen.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
To that chaotic nature of Robin Williams just being all
over the place. That is somebody who I see you
just having fun, really taking the role seriously, even though
it sounds like he's not.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It sounds like him being totally ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
But that is the true nature and the true legacy
that Robin Williams has left behind. Rip I have him
at number two as the genie in Aladdin before we
get to number one. I do have a lot of
honorable mentions because my list just ran longer and longer
as I was trying to pick apart all these best
performance in animation.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I also had Vin Diesel as the.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Iron Giant in The Iron Giant, which is an underrated
animated film. I thought Ben Diesel did a great job
in that and is also probably the reason he got
the voice Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I also have Mark Hamill as the Joker in Mask
of the Phantasm, which is the animated Batman movie from
the nineties. You always think about all of the live
(28:52):
action Jokers. I don't know why it sounded like I
was from New York there the live action Jokers, but
Mark animal has truly delivered some of the best performances
as the character in the animated world. You also have
Kristen Bell and Frozen ed Asner and up Phyllis Smith,
who I think does an amazing job and Inside Out Too,
(29:13):
which also has just a lot of great voice acting
in both parts one and parts two. I thought about
putting Pat and Oswald as rad Atuwey from two thousand
and seven. John Lucazamo as Sid in ice Age is
also great, and one that really surprised me was Will
Arnett voicing Batman in the Lego Batman movie. That one
(29:33):
almost made my list, but at number one. The entire
inspiration behind this episode is James Earl Jones as Mufasa.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
In The Lion King.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
He was cast as Mufasa because of his deep, powerful,
booming voice that was similar to that of a lion's roar.
James Earl Jones, much like Mufasa in this movie, really
commands your attention, making you feel every time Mufasa gave
advice to Simba. And as I was pulling some of
these examples for this episode, it kind of hit me
(30:09):
how Mufasa's death in that movie now kind of mirrors
some of how I feel about him passing in real life.
And I got a little emotional listening back to some
of these clips, like this one in the opening scene
of the movie.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Look simpler. Everything the light touches is our kingdom.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
A king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun.
One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time
here and will rise with you as the new king.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
What about that shadowy please.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
That's beyond all borders. You must never go there, Simba.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And I thought, a king can do whatever he wants.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
This more to being kingdom getting your way all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yes, more, I mean they're him talking about once his
time is done, or this scene wherever Simba got in
trouble and he had to give some advice to him.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Again, Simba, I'm very disappointed in you.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You could have been killed.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
You deliberately disobeyed me, and what's worse, you put Na
in danger.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I was just trying to be brave like you.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
I'm only brave when I have to be Simba, being
brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I didn't realize how many lessons this movie taught me
as a kid. Oh, it's hit me right now. And
then later after he passes away and he emerges in
the clouds to Simba giving him even more advice. I
didn't realize how much advice he gave to Simba.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Who you are. You are my son and the one
true key. Remember who you are.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
No, please don't leave father, don't leave me.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
I'm gonna hear that in my sleep tonight.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Remember who you are and that's why I have him
at number.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
One, my dad. Don't we eat the antelope?
Speaker 5 (32:16):
Yes, similar, But let me explain. When we die, our
bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass,
and so we are all connected in the great circle
of life.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Rip James Earl Jones. You are now the grass. Let's
get into it now. A spoiler free movie review.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Of Speak No Evil, not to be confused with See
No Evil. Hear No Evil one of my favorite eighties
movies with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Also not to
be confused with See No Evil from two thousand and six,
one of the first WWE movie starring Kin the Wrestler,
who was one of my favorite it's growing up. This
movie is completely different, although it is a remake of
(33:05):
a twenty twenty two Danish movie with the same name,
Speak No Evil. The movie stars James McAvoy, who I
believe and have been saying he is a very underappreciated
actor from director James Watkins. That also stars McKenzie Davis,
who I really enjoyed and happiest season and I feel
(33:26):
like she really fits into a suspense thriller movie like this.
Them two together was probably my favorite part of this
entire movie. But what the movie is about. You have
this family they get invited to spend a weekend now
in the countryside. They meet this couple on vacation having
fancy dinners staying at a fancy resort and they're going
(33:48):
through some things as a couple. They have an eleven
year old daughter who has this attachment to this stuffed animal.
They're trying to get her to grow up. So a
lot of family dynamics going on. Obviously, why they went
on vacation was trying to relax and get away from that.
And then they meet this couple. They hang out. You know,
(34:09):
sometimes you go on vacation, you have these vacation friends,
and this movie is kind of about letting all the
intrusives ons win. And even though you have everything in
your body telling you not to do something, you're shutting
that off and you're saying, why not, Let's do it.
Because they go on vacation, they have a good time.
(34:29):
And then this couple, James McAvoy and his partner, they
send him a postcard and say, hey, we were serious
about that. Come out to the countryside, come hang out
with us, disconnect from your life in the city. You'll
love it. And they decide, you know what, let's go.
There are a lot of moments in this movie.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Where they're just like, all right, let's go, let's do it.
Let's not think about it.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
It's one of those movies when you're watching it, you're like,
you idiot, don't do that. I think that's also what
added to some of the enjoyment in the theater while
watching this movie, because I don't necessarily believe it's a
movie you have to rush to the theater to watch, because.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
It's not really a horror movie.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Everything that happens in this movie could happen in real life,
and maybe sometimes that makes it scarier than a traditional
what you would think of as a horror movie, because
the only really scary force in this is James McAvoy's
character being maniacal, and that could really happen, probably happens
every day more than you think. There wasn't anything about
it that the big screen enhanced. The only thing that
(35:30):
made it a little bit more enjoyable was the fact
that it was, at least in my theater relatively full,
and I went to an early showing and there were
a lot of people in the audience reacting. And sometimes
I like that, sometimes I don't, but with a movie
like this to hear people talking and being like oh no, no, no,
don't do it, or laughing too, because I think if
this was a movie that I watched at home. There
(35:53):
are some dead pan comedy moments that kind of come
out of nowhere, very dry, not too intentional. But because
of the audience reaction, I found myself laughing and enjoying
certain parts of this movie that if I were watching
it at home, I might not have had that same reaction.
But I do believe if this was a movie I
watched at home on a Friday night with all the
(36:14):
lights off, nobody else home, it maybe would have been
a little bit scarier, just because I think, oh man, again,
everything in this movie could actually happen if you encounter
some people that are a little sketchy, a little weird.
That is exactly what James McAvoy and his partner are
in this movie. If you've ever hung out with people
that just take a joke a little bit too far
(36:37):
and just make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, where
if I were to play a joke on you, the
payoff would be in like five seconds.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
I'd make a joke and be like, I'm just kidding
real quick.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
In this case, in this movie, they just keep going
for like thirty a minute, two minutes too long, where
it feels so uncomfortable that you can't tell if they
are joking, you can't tell if they are actually being
just jerks, and it comes off as very unsettling, And
there are cringe worthy moments in this movie, just because
(37:09):
it really allows you to kind of stew in that
uneasiness of being in a situation where you don't really
feel comfortable with these people who are so dominant and
very opinionated and very in your face. They can't let
one thing go. They just keep pounding you and pounding
you and pounding you until you feel so uncomfortable that
(37:30):
you want to scream at them. I think I did
enjoy that aspect of the character development, of just seeing
the couple on one side, with Mackenzie Davis really being
the dominant force there. I thought she was so charming
and I really want to see her in more suspense
and horror movies.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
I think she's.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Probably make a great lead in a full on horror
slasher movie, because you had a really great presence to
her and her personality clashing against James McAvoy's personality was
just this very uny tention. And there are some things
that both of their characters do that you have to
be like, come on, why would you do that? But again,
in a movie like this, if a person said no
(38:08):
to things, you wouldn't have a movie. If they decided, nah,
let's not go hang out with them on the country side,
you wouldn't have a movie. So everything in your being
is good to think these people are dumb for allowing
certain things to happen, for saying yes to things. So
if you're somebody who watches horror movies or suspenseful movies
(38:29):
and think that is stupid, I hate them.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
I want to turn this off. This might not be
the movie for you.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
But if you like laughing at people's expense and think, oh,
I'm glad I'm not in that situation, I think this
is a pretty fun and decent watch, and I ended
up enjoying it a lot more than I was expecting to.
The real main reason I decided to go watch this
movie is because they've pounded that trailer in my head
every movie I've seen for the last at least two months,
(38:59):
I've seen this trailer, and I thought that I was
at a point where the trailers really don't affect me
a whole lot. I'm gonna go see what I want
to go see. I kind of know what's gonna be
good and what's gonna be bad, and very rarely does
a trailer sway me. But this movie had the perfect
trailer that really enticed you to want to see it,
(39:21):
very well produced, and just had that hmm, I'm curious
about that movie after watching the trailer. So it really
worked on me. And I'm somebody who goes to the
movie theater every single week, and I could imagine if
you went in the last two to three months and
saw this trailer, you would see it and think maybe
I have to come back for that one. So movie
(39:41):
trailers in their most traditional sense, I think work. I
think they spent all the money on promotion just making
sure that people saw this trailer, because it was beaten
to my brain that I was really just going to
see it because I was like, all right, I'll go
see it. Shut up, stop playing the trailer, and then
I was like, Okay, this is actually pretty good and enjoyable.
I do think there's a little bit of a threshold
(40:02):
for a movie like this, even if it did everything perfect,
I still don't think the formula of this movie and
it being something that I've kind of already seen before.
Also with it being a remake, in my head it
would peak at about a four. Overall, the story on
its own it's probably a three. I haven't seen the
(40:24):
original Danish film, but I can only imagine that it
was so much better than this one because this happens
a lot. A movie does well in another country and
instead of pushing that movie here, they're just like, let's
remake it and give it to an American audience.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
So I feel like that is probably the better movie here.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
So I'm definitely gonna check that out now that I've
been exposed to the story. But what really drives this
movie to another level and shows you how important it
is to cast the right actor is James McAvoy's performance.
He earns his paycheck every single movie that he is in,
and I think it was after watching Split, where he's
(41:02):
playing different characters with different personalities.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
That movie really solidified.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Him in my mind as Oh, he can really do
it all, and when he's on screen, it is just
so commanding, and he does the exact same thing in
this movie. Because this character is so dominant, is this
force to be reckoned with, And it would not have
been the same movie if it was not him in
that role. The entire cast just worked really well together
that took what could have been just otherwise kind of
(41:29):
a throwaway movie to put out in September and really
made it something noteworthy. So this movie really proved to
me that it does matter who you cast, even if
you have a great story already that has worked in
another country, unless you get that right cast for an
American audience, it's not going to work. Because it was
the performances that really drove this movie home. Because on
(41:51):
surface level, there's nothing too outlandish or too crazy or
anything that comes out of left field that really.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Captivates you as the viewer.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
But it's all the tension that James McAvoy's character in
particular really creates and really makes you want to see
this movie from beginning to end. The movie is right
under an hour and fifty minutes, which if they would
have cut it off a little bit and made it
a straight ninety minute movie, I think it would have
packed a little bit more of a punch. This movie
was made for a relatively low budget fifteen million dollars.
(42:22):
It opened to about eleven point five million dollars, so
I think it's going to make its money back in
its theatrical run, although again I still don't think it's
a movie you have to see in theaters. I still
think if you streamed it at home, turned off all
the lights, silence your cell phone, and completely allow yourself
to take in this movie and create that same vibe
(42:44):
at your house, I think the same kind of energy
will come across of you, probably feeling a little bit
more freaked out. The only thing you'd probably miss out
on is that audience commentary if you're into that, and
if you're not, then you're perfectly fine watching this movie
at home.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Or Speak No Evil a.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Very surprising score for me, a lot higher than I
thought I was going to give it.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
I give it three point five out of five.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Tesla's It's time to head down to movie Mike Traylor Paul.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I love it when people think outside the box. I
hate using the term thinking outside the box because you're
trying to describe something that is creative and that it's
one of the most cliche things you can say. But
this movie is thinking outside the box. I'm talking about
Pharrell's new documentary called Piece by Piece. He is telling
(43:36):
his story with lego pieces, and I just think that
it's such a fantastic idea from when I saw the trailer,
because oftentimes, when it comes to documentaries, I'll even put
biopics in this same category regarding musicians. It always has
the same format and it becomes very formulaic. That's why
(43:59):
I just lean towards not watching a whole lot of biopics.
But I think this is a truly novel idea because
something as simple as a documentary could be so self serving,
but Pharrell is flipping that around and making his story
a fun, family friendly movie. Because this movie is rated PG,
(44:20):
it's coming out on October first. Before I get into
more details about piece by piece, here's just a little
bit of the really fun, colorful trailer.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
Hey how you doing man? You know it'd be cool
is if we told my story with Lego pieces. Seriously, yes,
Lego just be open.
Speaker 8 (44:39):
When I was a kid, I knew I was different
and people would say, oh, that's an odd child, and
that crushed my spirit to all I cared about was
making my own music, but people just said no, I
wasn't ready.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
So this movie is going to be just that. His
story from childhood in Virginia to his success in the
music in fashion industry. It's going to feature interviews with
Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timberland, Bust the Rhymes, Jay Z,
and Snoop Dogg. The thing about all these interviews in here,
Normally in a traditional documentary, you know you're shooting, you're
(45:15):
filming them. They know exactly what it's going to be
used for. When it came to conducting all of these
interviews with all these great antidotes about working with Pharrell,
they didn't tell them that it was going to be
a Lego movie. And Farrell said they did this because
if they told them that, it would have an influence
on the stories they told, especially ones that maybe weren't
(45:36):
asked family friendly. They would think, oh, this is going
to be for kids. Instead, they did the interviews and
then afterwards told them about it. I love in the
trailer Snoop Dogg talking about working with Pharrell on Drop
It Like It's Hot, and I think that probably really
helped keep the authenticity and you can feel that in
the trailer. But then it looks completely different than anything
I've seen before because it.
Speaker 4 (45:57):
Very much resembles all the Lego movies that we know.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
In Love the Batman, Lego movie, the original Lego movie,
and now they even have a Lego line coming out
with Pharrell. It is a fantastic tie in. And I
wanted to share this on the trailer part because even
though it is a documentary, I don't normally talk about
documentaries a whole lot. I think this is the bridge
to another level, because if you can make a documentary
(46:23):
like this, why not make a full on feature film
in the style of Lego or even just animated. I
think that would really create, at least for me, more
curiosity to see more biopicks. We've had a couple of
biopicks come out recently that just tanked, and they were
iconic musicians, the Amy Winehouse movie, the Bob Marley movie.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
That we just get the same thing over and over.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
Again, and none of those trailers, none of the casting there,
really had people wanting to rush to the theaters to watch
that because you weren't creating a moment, you weren't creating
any kind of spectacle. For missing out on what made
these people great, the reason they are so significant in
music history, the reason that people were drawn to their music,
(47:08):
drawn to their style, drawn to everything about these artists
gets ripped away because you're making such a bland movie
that's just copy and paste. So I feel like with
Pharrell doing this, maybe it inspires other people to say,
we don't need to make a full on, normal Hollywood movie.
(47:29):
Let's look into different genres. Doesn't have to be a
lego animated movie, but any kind of animated movie I
think would be way more interesting, especially in the way
that he is making this movie PG therefore catering to
a younger audience. Kids who need inspirational figures in their
life can go and watch a movie like this, be
(47:51):
entertained by the animation, but also learn about somebody who
was different as a kid, somebody who may look like
and resemble them, come from a back like they did,
And they're getting exposed to Pharrell in a way that
otherwise maybe they wouldn't have because if it was just
a full log documentary, why would a kid want to
go see that? But you throw legos in there, and
(48:11):
suddenly it becomes interesting, It becomes a spectacle. It becomes
a reason for maybe a parent who's a fan of
Pharrell and maybe wants to share a love of his
music and his artistry with their kid.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
Oh my gosh, that's such a great idea.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
And then it goes back to what I was mentioning
earlier that they were releasing a Lego collaboration with Pharrell
to go along.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
With this movie. So it goes full circle there.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
But by the way, I never really got full into
Legos as a kid, which I guess in the nineties
and two thousands it didn't really get to that stage
they are in now where you go to the Lego
aisle at Target or go to the Lego store and
they are all these amazing sets you can buy. I
went into one recently, and the thing that blew my mind.
Speaker 7 (48:54):
Is they are so expensive. Even the smaller ones are
fifty sixty dollars. The coolest ones are easily one hundred dollars.
I saw this Avengers tower I wanted to make.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I think it was like two hundred, maybe even four hundred,
five hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (49:09):
Why are Legos so expensive?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Back in twenty fourteen, the Lego movie had a budget
of sixty million dollars, which is basically the cost of
one set of the Lego store.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
I guess that's why I never had him growing up.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
But this movie also reminds me of one of my
favorite documentary shows called Tales from the Tour Bus by
Mike Judge. He is the creator of King of the Hill.
He also did movies like Idiocracy and he would take
interviews from different people talking about artists. The first season
is entirely focused on a lot of outlaw country music artists.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Fantastic series, that is.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
What This Lego movie trailer for Pharrell reminded me of
the Johnny Paycheck episode and the Billy Joe Shaver episodes
are probably my favorite from season one. You can check
that out on the Roku channel. As you can tell,
I'm a huge fan of animation, so I'm definitely gonna
check out this movie when it comes out on October first.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Y was this week's edition of movie Line Tramer.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Bar and that is gonna do it for another episode
here of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
But before I go, I gotta.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Give my listeners shout out of the week. You can
get a listener shout out of the week by commenting
on my reels on Instagram, on.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
TikTok x Facebook.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
All the links to my socials are always in the
episode notes. This week. Going over to Instagram shouting out
Elliott King, who commented on My reel about Beetlejuice and
talking about last week's episode of eight eighties Movies. I
think need sequels, Elliott wrote, aren't they giving a sequel
to the Goonies? Boo my mind that I published that
(50:39):
episode last Monday at midnight, and later that morning, this
story dropped from the Sun saying that the original cast
of Goonies is coming back and returning for a sequel.
Speaker 4 (50:52):
It still hasn't.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Been fully confirmed at the time of recording this episode.
If it happens again, I'm gonna my mind. But again,
the Sun isn't that credible of a source. But I
think that came out because, like I did with last
week's episode, I focused on eighties movies because I thought
the timing was right. I think they did that exact
same thing putting out that story, and I won't fully
(51:15):
believe it until I either see the studio or actual
members of the cast posting about it. It's not real
in my mind until that happens. Very rarely does it
get announced from a source like the Sun, So unless
it's Deadline or the Hollywood Reporter, I'm not fully buying
that report yet.
Speaker 4 (51:33):
But again, at the.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Time of recording this, nothing like that has been fully
confirmed yet, but I appreciate that, Elliott, for you listening
to last week's episode and also checking me on that.
But it would be my look to do an entire
episode surrounding that and then the news drops on a Monday.
So thank you, Elliott, thank you right now for listening
wherever you are, and until next time, go out and
(51:54):
watch good movies and I will talk to you later
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I want to share
with you my top ten best voice acting in animated movies.
You saw the news last week that sadly James Earl
Jones passed away, a n iconic legendary actor with the
most powerful voice in Hollywood, a true legend. We're gonna
(00:21):
honor him, and we're gonna also talk about more actors
who have delivered just amazing performances in animated movies. Only
in the movie Review, we'll be talking about a new
horror movie starring James McAvoy called Speak No Evil, Full
On Go in Spooky Season as we head into October,
and in the Trailer Park, we'll kick it back to
animation and talk about Peace by Piece, which is the
(00:43):
lego adaptation of Pharrell. So thank you for being here,
thank you for being subscribed, Shout out to the Monday
Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners never
before in a movie podcast, a man with so much
movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses
from the Nashville podcast Networks.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
This is Movie Mike's Movie podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
James L.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Jones passed away last week. He was ninety three years old.
He was the voice in Mufasa Zimba's dad in The
Lion King in both animated movie from nineteen ninety four
and the live action remake.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
He was also the voice of Darth Vader.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
If he only did those two roles, he would be
a legend already. But he was also the dad in
Coming to America. He was Terence's man in Field of Dreams.
He had an amazing performance even though it was a
smaller role in the Sandlot, and that was one that
hit me in a different way as far as celebrity deaths.
I saw it posted and he just kind of punched
(01:50):
me in the gut. He was a pillar in the
movie industry. So I wanted to do this episode to
honor his legacy and talk about some other accomplishments in
animation when it comes to voice acting, which is still
mind blowing to me that there is no oscar for
voice acting, and a lot of people argue that if
(02:11):
they made one, it would lessen the impact of winning
an Oscar, because if you're winning an Oscar for voice acting,
therefore it takes away from Best Actor, Best Actress supporting.
I think that is ridiculous. I think so much work
goes into voicing animated movies that people don't realize. And
I think the reason it's lessened a little bit is
(02:33):
because sometimes actors will just take voice acting roles and
not really give a whole lot of dynamic range in
their voice. They're like, I'm a celebrity already, I'm gonna
do this because it's easy and I get paid. But
there are other instances where actors go above and be
on to at times alter their voice so they are
(02:56):
completely unrecognizable, which I guess sometimes movie exactly with not
like that because you're paying for the A list star,
we want it to sound like that person. But that
is the entire reason that voice acting exists. That is
why it is so significant. And there are other cases
where an actor just has a great voice on their
own and they don't really have to do a whole
(03:17):
lot to change it. But because they are such great actors,
they still put in the emphasis and the range of
emotion that they would if they were on screen and
just because they're in recording booth doesn't take away from
that same practice.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
So that is why I decided to.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Come to you with my top ten best voice acting
in animated movies only, so not looking at anything live action,
not even word. There's a character who's animated and there
are humans. This is pure animation. Although it will range
in different types of animated movies, We're only focusing on
animated movies for this list. Kicking it off with number ten,
(03:56):
I have Trey Parker's performance in Bigger, Longer and un Cut,
which is the South Park movie from nineteen ninety nine.
Trey Parker is just one of my favorite minds in
Hollywood in animation, and I think he goes unrecognized a
lot because a lot of people just associating with South
Park being an overly vulgar show. But if you look
(04:18):
at the significance of his impact in TV with South
Park alone, but also in movies, who has consistently been
pushing the barriers on what you can do in film
in a movie, and I think the biggest test to
that was in nineteen ninety nine with the South Park movie,
which at the time was just seen as the ultimate
(04:40):
thing that you could not watch as a kid because
how bad it was. And I love the story that
went into this movie that also mirrored a lot of parents'
worries about kids watching that TV show. Because what this
plot does in the movie is it follows the four
main kids who want to see this movie by Terrence
and Phila, who are these two animated characters who, just
(05:02):
like south.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Park, are very vulgar and over the top.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And then by them watching this movie, they are now
exposed to cursing, and they curse all the time. So
they go from being innocent kids to being these little
vocal terrors, and then of course it escalates from there.
But why I put Trey Parker on my list is
because he voices four of the main characters in south Park.
He does two of the main kids, Stan Marsh and
(05:27):
Eric Cartman. He also does Stand's dad Randy mister Garrison.
He also does in this movie Gregory Mulnead mister Mackie,
Philip from Terrence and Phillip and Moore, and doing that
many voices is just impressive in itself. Here's just a
little bit of his performance as Cartman in the south
Park movie.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Somebody Doesn't Dark.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
I can't say the KNA. What are you guys doing here?
Speaker 5 (05:51):
Dead?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, So what they do with their voice is they
do manipulate it a little bit because obviously they are
grown adults and in order to sound like kids, they pitch.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It up just a couple of octaves.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But for the most part, he can do that voice
on his own without any alterations, and it is fascinating
to watch. If you've never seen the documentary Six Days
to Air, which is all about their process on making
the TV show. A lot of behind the scenes of
them recording the voices because they would be working on
an episode in one week that had to come out
(06:26):
in six days, so you see how stressful it is
for them to have to write it, record it animated,
make a bunch of changes. And I think that is
the main reason that they do so many of the voices,
is because they just need.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
To be around all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So it's also astonishing to me that at the same
time that they were making this movie, they were also
working on the TV show. So it is a fascinating
process and that is why I put Trey Parker in
South Park, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut at number ten. At
number nine, I have Shamik Moore as my Miles Morales
(07:01):
in both of the End of the Spider Verse and
across the Spider Verse movies, and for the most part,
when we think about Spider Man and the best Spider
Man of all time, we always go to the live
action ones, even though there have been different iterations not
only in the movies but also in the TV shows.
But you probably think of Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and
(07:21):
Tom Holland before you think of Shamik Moore. And Shamik
Moore is somebody that I first discovered when I watched
a coming of age movie called Dope back in twenty fifteen,
which is a fantastic I would actually put it in
my top five coming of age movies of all time.
And it was because of that movie that a few
years later he got a call from some of the
(07:42):
people working on Spider Man into the Spider Verse, and
they got in touch with this team that they potentially
wanted him to be Miles Morales in this movie that
they were working on, and they had him send a
voice note and that ended up being his audition to
be Spider Man, and he became Miles Morales.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
After that I would have still loved to have.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Seen Donald Glover aka a childish Gambino to voice the character.
But you cannot deny how great of a performer that
Shamik Moore is, and he is somebody now that I'll
see him do interviews and I can only picture Miles
Morales as he is talking. Here's one of my favorite
deliveries of his as Miles Morales in across the Spider Verse.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
Everyone keeps telling me how mad story is supposed to go.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Nah, I'm gonna do my own game.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And I think that is a true example of voice
acting being taken up a level because you are not
just reading lines off of a page. I can feel
his performance in that moment, and that was such a
significant part of this movie that the emotion is not
lost because it is animated. In that moment right there
that I just played, I was completely unaware that I
(08:55):
was watching something animated, And in this case, I attributed
it to the amazing animation style that is just so
encompassing and really engulfs you in this world.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
But also it.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Has fantastic acting between Shamik Moore, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson,
Hayley Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry. This movie goes above and
beyond in its voice acting. But at number nine I
have Shamik Moore as Miles Morales in both of the
Spider Verse movies. At number eight, I'm going with George
(09:25):
Clooney as Mister Fox in Fantastic Mister Fox. This is
my favorite animated Wes Anderson movie. And this is one
of those examples of actors I was talking about earlier
who are just great actors and they're gonna put their
all into her performance, whether it be live action or animated.
And George Clooney I wouldn't watch in a movie, say
(09:47):
like The Oceans movies, or even him as Batman and think, ah,
he has a great, fantastic voice, but it is undeniable
that he is a great actor, one of the best
in our lifetime. But this movie really changed how I
saw him as an actor by completely rounding out all
his capabilities of not only being able to be a
(10:08):
great fantastic lead while on screen, but having that exact
same effect when you only hear his voice. And also
just to play such a unique stop motion Fox, you
had to have somebody like George Clooney and the rest
of this amazing cast to really pull it off. Here's
my favorite example of his performance as mister Fox in
Fantastic Mister Fox.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Honey, I'm seven, non Fox years old now.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
My father died at seven and a half. I don't
want to live in a hole anymore, and I'm gonna
do something about it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And not only do you have George Clooney in this
Wes Anderson movie, you also get the entire list of
reoccurring actors from Wes Anderson movies, with Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman,
Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, and it's so fun
to hear George Clooney behind them in this adaptation of
a role doll story. I also wanted to include this
(11:05):
movie on my list because I feel sometimes stop motion
doesn't get the credit it deserves in the world of
animation because it has such a unique style, and to
some people it's a little bit off putting because it
doesn't have that same flow. It's not as pretty as
all of the other styles of animation. But I've always
just been instantly drawn to it because of the handmade
(11:27):
quality that it has. It feels like something you can touch.
I love the fur on mister Fox that moves throughout,
and that is a really hard thing to do when
it comes to stop motion, because they have to move
all these little hairs and all these.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Little positions to get it just right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
But this movie feels alive in its animation, and it
has the voice acting at an entirely different level than
I would expect in anything animation. To have this elite
level of talent behind the mic Oscar nominated Oscar winning
talent all in ste this movie and only made for
a mere forty million dollars. That's why I included at
(12:05):
number eight George Clooney as mister Fox. At number seven,
I have Steve Carell as grew in the Despicable Me franchise.
And Steve Carell is somebody who I would say just
has a funny voice on his own. If you look
at clips of the office, he is very animated in
his delivery, even going back to forty year old Virgin.
(12:25):
He has this comedic range just in his voice that
he could easily just have went into the booth for
Despicable Me and just done his normal regular voice and
it would have worked. But would it have been as
memorable if he didn't completely change it and turning to Grow,
which has this very obscure super villain accident.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Would it have sparked an entire franchise if he didn't
give the performance that he did completely altering the voice
we know as Steve Carell. Here's just a little bit
of his voice, indespicable me Won.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
We are going to.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Steal ja this for a thing?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
He's fine it Wald, who give me whatever I want?
Other than that?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And I will be tried to sculling of all time.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's what I'm talking bout.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So it's this vaguely Eastern European accent, and at times
he talks a mile a minute. Perfectly fits the character
design of Grow, which I think that is the method
that a lot of actors do, is they get the
sketch of the character and think, what does this person
sound like? I know that sounds so basic, but that's
(13:51):
really what you have to do to give the performance
that matches the actual character, and not just oh I
have this voice that I normally do, maybe it'll work
here A number seven. I have Steve Carell as Grew
indespicable me one, two, three, and four at number six.
I have Jeremy Iron's voicing Scar in The Lion King
from nineteen ninety four. Scar was a villain that I
(14:15):
hated as a kid and also feared a little bit,
even though he was an animated character. But that was
largely due to Jeremy Iron's performance creating this menacing character
who had a really low tone, very menacing, very ominous,
and at times this level of rage that would just
shout out. And that is the same level of acting
(14:37):
that you would expect in a live action movie. Best scene,
hands down, when it comes to Scar in The Lion
King has to be the fight between him and Simba
at the very end of the movie. And this scene
by Jeremy Iron still gives me chills.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Now, this looks on me. Where have I seen this?
Beforn to me? Wo sight of him?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
This is just the way your father looked before he died.
Oh no, he has my little secret.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Guilt falser.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I mean that tone in his voice right there is
my little secret I can't like. Oh my gosh, that
still gives me choked. But Jeremy Irons took it a
step above in The Lion King. I have him at
number six. Ass Scar at number five, getting into the
top five. Now would it be a top five if
(15:41):
I didn't include one of my favorite animated movies of
all time, my hands down favorite Disney movie of all
time at number five. I have Chris Sanders ass Stitch
in Leelo and Stitch. So not only is he the
voice of Stitch in this movie, he is also the
creator of Li Lo and Stitch, which is getting a
(16:02):
live action movie next summer that I'm actually excited for.
I think the character design a Stitch actually translates pretty
well into live action, but I can't wait to see
the full trailer to that. But I didn't just include
it on my list because it is my favorite Disney movie.
I put it on here because you think about the
actual energy it takes to voice Stitch in this movie
(16:25):
and the toll that it actually took.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
On his voice.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Because the more you do the voice of Stitch, the
more it shreds your vocal cords. He has to go
into this weird, nasally mischievous voice that does a number
when you're just sitting in a vocal mood, take after
take trying to get it perfect. And if you think
about the times that Stitch speaks in this movie. It
is often a little burst of energy like.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
This one now much.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Fare and the one time that he really had to
dig in to his soul and actually have a little
bit of acting on his part, which you don't really
look at the character of Stitch and think, oh, he's
gonna have to give a really great performance. And that
is the hard thing about some animated characters that have
a very unique voice, but you think are you going
(17:18):
to be able to carry that throughout an entire film.
An example I think of this was during the Super
Mario Brothers movie, where everybody was outraged about Chris Pratt
voicing Mario. They wanted the original actor who did Mario
in the video games. But the problem with that is
in the video games you only hear Mario talking for
(17:39):
seconds at a time. He has some catchphrases here and there,
but is that going to carry out through an entire movie.
You're probably gonna get sick of it in ten, maybe
twenty minutes. So that is why they went with Chris Pratt,
and it actually worked pretty well in that movie. Leelo
and Stitch would have been along those same lines. I
(17:59):
don't thing you could have this same type of movie
if Stitch had to speak as much as Leelo, but
he speaks in these very quick bursts that when they happen,
they are so memorable and so great and so much
fun that it's almost like in monster movies, where you
don't see the monster a whole lot, but it adds
(18:21):
to his impact. So every time Stitch opens his mouth
is very significant. And then later in the film, the
scene where he gets captured and they're gonna take him back,
he actually has to act a little bit, and you
really get the range of Chris Sanders here having to
take this character that has just been in these little
fits and outbursts and really hone it in and give
(18:41):
up performance.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Here's that moment.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
This is my family. I found it all on my own.
That's little and broken but still good. Yeah, still Grudt.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Still gets me every single time. Just for that scene.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I've put Chris Sanders at number five as Stitch and
Lilo and Stitch, and I can't wait for his new movie,
The Wild Robot to come out later this month on
September twenty seventh. At number four, I have Tom Hanks
voicing Woody in the Toy Story franchise one two three,
and four and soon to be five, six, seven, eight, nine,
(19:23):
and ten. And Tom Hanks is one of those people who,
unlike George Clooney, I do watch him in movies and thinks, man,
he has just a great voice, because not only does
he have great facial expressions and mannerisms and just a
great presence on screen, he has a voice with.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
A lot of range.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Particularly when Tom Hanks gets excited is my favorite thing,
and not often do we get it. But when he
gets angry is also really great. But he usually doesn't
really play characters that get angry a whole lot. He
is primarily the good guy in movies. Whenever he as
a villain, it's like, oh weird Tom Hanks as a villain.
(20:03):
But I think this particular moment in Toy Story one
where he is fighting with buzz Lightyear and shows how
much control he has with his voice to really make
you feel that emotion. Here's the scene I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
What what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You are toy, You weren't the real buzz light You're
you're an accent fig yard.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
You are a child plaything.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Oh yeah, well, good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Ridden Sillney because you hear him getting mad, but it
also has a comedic tone to it.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I don't know what he gets really frustrated.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
That is just voice acting at its finest, and the
range he has with what you a loan to make
you laugh, to make you feel something there that maybe
has a little bit more of a tone of anger,
but then also to make you feel that sadness. The
ending of Toy Story three so long, partner, Ah, that
is so good. I can't believe that they almost made
(21:03):
Woody a ventriloquist doll in Toy Story. That was the
original design of the character. Then they thought, oh, this
looks a little bit too freaky, and they decided to
change Woody and make them a cowboy instead, because, Ah,
kids would probably be more inclined to want to play
with a cowboy than a creepy ventriloquist doll. I think
if we would have been the ventriloquist, it would have
(21:24):
reminded me of Slappy from Goosebumps, and I would have
been terrified. Every kid in the nineties would have been terrified,
and Toy Story probably would have tanked. So I'm glad
they switched Woody to be a cowboy.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
At number three.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I have Eddie Murphy voicing Donkey in the Shrek films,
which they are coming out with a new Shrek movie,
not for a couple of years. I think it's supposed
to come out July first, twenty twenty six. I kind
of forgot about Shrek four, one, two, and three.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Were so big.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Four it came a little bit later, so I feel
like my excitement was a little bit watered down to
the fact that Shrek four it exists. But even more
so than Mike Myers's performance as Shrek, I think the
true standout star is Eddie Murphy along the same lines
of Tom Hanks. Eddie also has such great control over
his voice. But the reason I rank him just a
(22:14):
little bit higher is because I think Eddie Murphy on
his own is just funnier. He has the stand up experience,
he has all the characters he played on SNL, and
I think he was born to do comedy and I
wouldn't have thought that his best work would come in
the world of animation. But he is just so dynamic
(22:34):
as Donkey. This is still hands down my favorite performance
of his out of any of the movies.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Night Only, Oh It's gonna be fun. We can see
m late swapping manless stars and in the morning, I'm
making waffles, we do a sleep outside.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Oh well, I guess that's cool.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
I mean I don't know you and you don't know me,
so I guess as sad as best you know.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeahcho, that clip right there encompasses everything, the comedy, the sadness,
the range of Adie Murphy. Steven Spielberg actually bought the
rights to the book that Shrek is based on. Even
though Shrek is just a big parody of all the
Disney fairy tales and that's kind of what these movies
served as in the two thousands, but he originally wanted
to make a little bit more of a traditional animated film,
(23:25):
and he wanted Bill Murray to be the voice of
Shrek and Steve Martin to be the voice of Donkey.
I think that would have been fine, but it would
have had a much different just overall feeling, and no
way that Steve Martin would have done as good a
job as Donkey. And the other casting change that they
had was Chris Farley was actually originally going to be Shrek,
(23:47):
and there's test footage with him. Even the character of
Shrek is modeled to look like Chris Farley. If you
look at them side by side, which the design did
change from the first iteration, it kind of resembles what
Chris Farley look like. And I think it was a
role that Chris Farley was really interested in doing because
he was seen for the majority of his career as
(24:10):
being the big dumb, fat guy. And as a former
big dumb, fat guy, I know what kind of an
impact that can have on you. Where you have been
celebrated for all the wacky things you do, falling down,
getting hurt, saying ridiculous things. Sometimes you just want somebody
to take you seriously. And I think Shrek was going
to be that for him. And if you listen to
(24:32):
this clip of him and Eddie Murphy doing some early
lines with some very rough animations, you can really hear
that in his voice.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Oh this is one of those onion things.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
No, this is one of those drop it and leave
me alone things.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Well, why don't you want to talk about him?
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Why do you want to talk about it?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Why you answer the question with a question?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Why are you asking questions I don't want to answer?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Why are you I'm not blocking?
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Then?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Why do you have problems expressing your wonts?
Speaker 5 (24:58):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
I you just shut up, see no problem.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You're just displacing your anger.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Believe me, it's properly placed.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
You're really mad. Whoever did this to you? No one
did anything to me. Yes, yes, someone hurts you so bad.
Someone hurts you many years ago. Leave my parents out of.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
This right through.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And I would have paid to see that movie more
so than I would have paid to see Mike Myers version,
even though that is the version we know and love.
But he has like this weird iron accent that I
think is still an interesting choice on Shrek. So that's
why I didn't include Mike Myers on this list. I
included Eddie Murphy. But if you would have had the
version with Chris Farley and Eddie Murphy, I think Chris
(25:37):
Farley would be on this list just from that performance alone,
and again that is very raw, but you hear that
real acting ability in his voice and also him getting
angry there is like classic Chris Farley. I think that
would have been amazing. But on the list at number
three is Eddie Murphy as Donkey in Shrek. At number
two is one that also hits me in the gut
(25:59):
was another so death that was just oh my gosh
kind of rock me and also one that I just
go back and think about and gets sad because of
how great of an actor he was on screen, but
even a better actor in my opinion when it came
to his voice acting.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
At number two, I have Robin.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Williams voicing the Genie in Aladdin back in nineteen ninety two.
The best part about this performance is that the filmmakers
allowed him to improvise almost all of his performance.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
In those initial recordings.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
He had about fifty two different types of characters in
different ways that he portrayed the Genie, which he transforms
into different characters throughout the movie doing all these funny things.
The filmmakers had to go and just pick out which
were the funniest bits to use. That is the best
way to get an amazing performance from an actor who
(26:53):
has the comedic abilities like Robin Williams. Youah to just
let him run and do whatever they want, and that
is what you get from Robin Williams as the Genie,
who I would say is a masterclass on how to
do comedic work in voice acting. It has his signature wit,
that rapid fire delivery, talking a mile a minute, and
(27:14):
that endless range of voices and impressions that Robin Williams
was known for. Here is the scene where he was
first introduced in Aladdin.
Speaker 7 (27:24):
Ten thousand years will give you such a crick and then.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Net hang on a second?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Whoa, whoa?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Does it feel good to be out of there?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Tell you nice to be back, ladies and gentlemen, Hi,
where are you're from?
Speaker 4 (27:39):
What's your name?
Speaker 6 (27:41):
Aladdin?
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Laden?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Hello?
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Aladden?
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Nice to have you on the show. Can we call
you al or maybe just didn't? I'll have about a
lot of it sounds like, hey, boy, listen.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
To that chaotic nature of Robin Williams just being all
over the place. That is somebody who I see you
just having fun, really taking the role seriously, even though
it sounds like he's not.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It sounds like him being totally ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
But that is the true nature and the true legacy
that Robin Williams has left behind. Rip I have him
at number two as the genie in Aladdin before we
get to number one. I do have a lot of
honorable mentions because my list just ran longer and longer
as I was trying to pick apart all these best
performance in animation.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
I also had Vin Diesel as the.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Iron Giant in The Iron Giant, which is an underrated
animated film. I thought Ben Diesel did a great job
in that and is also probably the reason he got
the voice Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I also have Mark Hamill as the Joker in Mask
of the Phantasm, which is the animated Batman movie from
the nineties. You always think about all of the live
(28:52):
action Jokers. I don't know why it sounded like I
was from New York there the live action Jokers, but
Mark animal has truly delivered some of the best performances
as the character in the animated world. You also have
Kristen Bell and Frozen ed Asner and up Phyllis Smith,
who I think does an amazing job and Inside Out Too,
(29:13):
which also has just a lot of great voice acting
in both parts one and parts two. I thought about
putting Pat and Oswald as rad Atuwey from two thousand
and seven. John Lucazamo as Sid in ice Age is
also great, and one that really surprised me was Will
Arnett voicing Batman in the Lego Batman movie. That one
(29:33):
almost made my list, but at number one. The entire
inspiration behind this episode is James Earl Jones as Mufasa.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
In The Lion King.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
He was cast as Mufasa because of his deep, powerful,
booming voice that was similar to that of a lion's roar.
James Earl Jones, much like Mufasa in this movie, really
commands your attention, making you feel every time Mufasa gave
advice to Simba. And as I was pulling some of
these examples for this episode, it kind of hit me
(30:09):
how Mufasa's death in that movie now kind of mirrors
some of how I feel about him passing in real life.
And I got a little emotional listening back to some
of these clips, like this one in the opening scene
of the movie.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Look simpler. Everything the light touches is our kingdom.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
A king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun.
One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time
here and will rise with you as the new king.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
What about that shadowy please.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
That's beyond all borders. You must never go there, Simba.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And I thought, a king can do whatever he wants.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
This more to being kingdom getting your way all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yes, more, I mean they're him talking about once his
time is done, or this scene wherever Simba got in
trouble and he had to give some advice to him.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Again, Simba, I'm very disappointed in you.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You could have been killed.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
You deliberately disobeyed me, and what's worse, you put Na
in danger.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I was just trying to be brave like you.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
I'm only brave when I have to be Simba, being
brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I didn't realize how many lessons this movie taught me
as a kid. Oh, it's hit me right now. And
then later after he passes away and he emerges in
the clouds to Simba giving him even more advice. I
didn't realize how much advice he gave to Simba.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Who you are. You are my son and the one
true key. Remember who you are.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
No, please don't leave father, don't leave me.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
I'm gonna hear that in my sleep tonight.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Remember who you are and that's why I have him
at number.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
One, my dad. Don't we eat the antelope?
Speaker 5 (32:16):
Yes, similar, But let me explain. When we die, our
bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass,
and so we are all connected in the great circle
of life.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Rip James Earl Jones. You are now the grass. Let's
get into it now. A spoiler free movie review.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Of Speak No Evil, not to be confused with See
No Evil. Hear No Evil one of my favorite eighties
movies with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Also not to
be confused with See No Evil from two thousand and six,
one of the first WWE movie starring Kin the Wrestler,
who was one of my favorite it's growing up. This
movie is completely different, although it is a remake of
(33:05):
a twenty twenty two Danish movie with the same name,
Speak No Evil. The movie stars James McAvoy, who I
believe and have been saying he is a very underappreciated
actor from director James Watkins. That also stars McKenzie Davis,
who I really enjoyed and happiest season and I feel
(33:26):
like she really fits into a suspense thriller movie like this.
Them two together was probably my favorite part of this
entire movie. But what the movie is about. You have
this family they get invited to spend a weekend now
in the countryside. They meet this couple on vacation having
fancy dinners staying at a fancy resort and they're going
(33:48):
through some things as a couple. They have an eleven
year old daughter who has this attachment to this stuffed animal.
They're trying to get her to grow up. So a
lot of family dynamics going on. Obviously, why they went
on vacation was trying to relax and get away from that.
And then they meet this couple. They hang out. You know,
(34:09):
sometimes you go on vacation, you have these vacation friends,
and this movie is kind of about letting all the
intrusives ons win. And even though you have everything in
your body telling you not to do something, you're shutting
that off and you're saying, why not, Let's do it.
Because they go on vacation, they have a good time.
(34:29):
And then this couple, James McAvoy and his partner, they
send him a postcard and say, hey, we were serious
about that. Come out to the countryside, come hang out
with us, disconnect from your life in the city. You'll
love it. And they decide, you know what, let's go.
There are a lot of moments in this movie.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Where they're just like, all right, let's go, let's do it.
Let's not think about it.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
It's one of those movies when you're watching it, you're like,
you idiot, don't do that. I think that's also what
added to some of the enjoyment in the theater while
watching this movie, because I don't necessarily believe it's a
movie you have to rush to the theater to watch, because.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
It's not really a horror movie.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Everything that happens in this movie could happen in real life,
and maybe sometimes that makes it scarier than a traditional
what you would think of as a horror movie, because
the only really scary force in this is James McAvoy's
character being maniacal, and that could really happen, probably happens
every day more than you think. There wasn't anything about
it that the big screen enhanced. The only thing that
(35:30):
made it a little bit more enjoyable was the fact
that it was, at least in my theater relatively full,
and I went to an early showing and there were
a lot of people in the audience reacting. And sometimes
I like that, sometimes I don't, but with a movie
like this to hear people talking and being like oh no, no, no,
don't do it, or laughing too, because I think if
this was a movie that I watched at home. There
(35:53):
are some dead pan comedy moments that kind of come
out of nowhere, very dry, not too intentional. But because
of the audience reaction, I found myself laughing and enjoying
certain parts of this movie that if I were watching
it at home, I might not have had that same reaction.
But I do believe if this was a movie I
watched at home on a Friday night with all the
(36:14):
lights off, nobody else home, it maybe would have been
a little bit scarier, just because I think, oh man, again,
everything in this movie could actually happen if you encounter
some people that are a little sketchy, a little weird.
That is exactly what James McAvoy and his partner are
in this movie. If you've ever hung out with people
that just take a joke a little bit too far
(36:37):
and just make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, where
if I were to play a joke on you, the
payoff would be in like five seconds.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
I'd make a joke and be like, I'm just kidding
real quick.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
In this case, in this movie, they just keep going
for like thirty a minute, two minutes too long, where
it feels so uncomfortable that you can't tell if they
are joking, you can't tell if they are actually being
just jerks, and it comes off as very unsettling, And
there are cringe worthy moments in this movie, just because
(37:09):
it really allows you to kind of stew in that
uneasiness of being in a situation where you don't really
feel comfortable with these people who are so dominant and
very opinionated and very in your face. They can't let
one thing go. They just keep pounding you and pounding
you and pounding you until you feel so uncomfortable that
(37:30):
you want to scream at them. I think I did
enjoy that aspect of the character development, of just seeing
the couple on one side, with Mackenzie Davis really being
the dominant force there. I thought she was so charming
and I really want to see her in more suspense
and horror movies.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
I think she's.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Probably make a great lead in a full on horror
slasher movie, because you had a really great presence to
her and her personality clashing against James McAvoy's personality was
just this very uny tention. And there are some things
that both of their characters do that you have to
be like, come on, why would you do that? But again,
in a movie like this, if a person said no
(38:08):
to things, you wouldn't have a movie. If they decided, nah,
let's not go hang out with them on the country side,
you wouldn't have a movie. So everything in your being
is good to think these people are dumb for allowing
certain things to happen, for saying yes to things. So
if you're somebody who watches horror movies or suspenseful movies
(38:29):
and think that is stupid, I hate them.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
I want to turn this off. This might not be
the movie for you.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
But if you like laughing at people's expense and think, oh,
I'm glad I'm not in that situation, I think this
is a pretty fun and decent watch, and I ended
up enjoying it a lot more than I was expecting to.
The real main reason I decided to go watch this
movie is because they've pounded that trailer in my head
every movie I've seen for the last at least two months,
(38:59):
I've seen this trailer, and I thought that I was
at a point where the trailers really don't affect me
a whole lot. I'm gonna go see what I want
to go see. I kind of know what's gonna be
good and what's gonna be bad, and very rarely does
a trailer sway me. But this movie had the perfect
trailer that really enticed you to want to see it,
(39:21):
very well produced, and just had that hmm, I'm curious
about that movie after watching the trailer. So it really
worked on me. And I'm somebody who goes to the
movie theater every single week, and I could imagine if
you went in the last two to three months and
saw this trailer, you would see it and think maybe
I have to come back for that one. So movie
(39:41):
trailers in their most traditional sense, I think work. I
think they spent all the money on promotion just making
sure that people saw this trailer, because it was beaten
to my brain that I was really just going to
see it because I was like, all right, I'll go
see it. Shut up, stop playing the trailer, and then
I was like, Okay, this is actually pretty good and enjoyable.
I do think there's a little bit of a threshold
(40:02):
for a movie like this, even if it did everything perfect,
I still don't think the formula of this movie and
it being something that I've kind of already seen before.
Also with it being a remake, in my head it
would peak at about a four. Overall, the story on
its own it's probably a three. I haven't seen the
(40:24):
original Danish film, but I can only imagine that it
was so much better than this one because this happens
a lot. A movie does well in another country and
instead of pushing that movie here, they're just like, let's
remake it and give it to an American audience.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
So I feel like that is probably the better movie here.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
So I'm definitely gonna check that out now that I've
been exposed to the story. But what really drives this
movie to another level and shows you how important it
is to cast the right actor is James McAvoy's performance.
He earns his paycheck every single movie that he is in,
and I think it was after watching Split, where he's
(41:02):
playing different characters with different personalities.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
That movie really solidified.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Him in my mind as Oh, he can really do
it all, and when he's on screen, it is just
so commanding, and he does the exact same thing in
this movie. Because this character is so dominant, is this
force to be reckoned with, And it would not have
been the same movie if it was not him in
that role. The entire cast just worked really well together
that took what could have been just otherwise kind of
(41:29):
a throwaway movie to put out in September and really
made it something noteworthy. So this movie really proved to
me that it does matter who you cast, even if
you have a great story already that has worked in
another country, unless you get that right cast for an
American audience, it's not going to work. Because it was
the performances that really drove this movie home. Because on
(41:51):
surface level, there's nothing too outlandish or too crazy or
anything that comes out of left field that really.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Captivates you as the viewer.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
But it's all the tension that James McAvoy's character in
particular really creates and really makes you want to see
this movie from beginning to end. The movie is right
under an hour and fifty minutes, which if they would
have cut it off a little bit and made it
a straight ninety minute movie, I think it would have
packed a little bit more of a punch. This movie
was made for a relatively low budget fifteen million dollars.
(42:22):
It opened to about eleven point five million dollars, so
I think it's going to make its money back in
its theatrical run, although again I still don't think it's
a movie you have to see in theaters. I still
think if you streamed it at home, turned off all
the lights, silence your cell phone, and completely allow yourself
to take in this movie and create that same vibe
(42:44):
at your house, I think the same kind of energy
will come across of you, probably feeling a little bit
more freaked out. The only thing you'd probably miss out
on is that audience commentary if you're into that, and
if you're not, then you're perfectly fine watching this movie
at home.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Or Speak No Evil a.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Very surprising score for me, a lot higher than I
thought I was going to give it.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
I give it three point five out of five.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Tesla's It's time to head down to movie Mike Traylor Paul.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I love it when people think outside the box. I
hate using the term thinking outside the box because you're
trying to describe something that is creative and that it's
one of the most cliche things you can say. But
this movie is thinking outside the box. I'm talking about
Pharrell's new documentary called Piece by Piece. He is telling
(43:36):
his story with lego pieces, and I just think that
it's such a fantastic idea from when I saw the trailer,
because oftentimes, when it comes to documentaries, I'll even put
biopics in this same category regarding musicians. It always has
the same format and it becomes very formulaic. That's why
(43:59):
I just lean towards not watching a whole lot of biopics.
But I think this is a truly novel idea because
something as simple as a documentary could be so self serving,
but Pharrell is flipping that around and making his story
a fun, family friendly movie. Because this movie is rated PG,
(44:20):
it's coming out on October first. Before I get into
more details about piece by piece, here's just a little
bit of the really fun, colorful trailer.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
Hey how you doing man? You know it'd be cool
is if we told my story with Lego pieces. Seriously, yes,
Lego just be open.
Speaker 8 (44:39):
When I was a kid, I knew I was different
and people would say, oh, that's an odd child, and
that crushed my spirit to all I cared about was
making my own music, but people just said no, I
wasn't ready.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
So this movie is going to be just that. His
story from childhood in Virginia to his success in the
music in fashion industry. It's going to feature interviews with
Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timberland, Bust the Rhymes, Jay Z,
and Snoop Dogg. The thing about all these interviews in here,
Normally in a traditional documentary, you know you're shooting, you're
(45:15):
filming them. They know exactly what it's going to be
used for. When it came to conducting all of these
interviews with all these great antidotes about working with Pharrell,
they didn't tell them that it was going to be
a Lego movie. And Farrell said they did this because
if they told them that, it would have an influence
on the stories they told, especially ones that maybe weren't
(45:36):
asked family friendly. They would think, oh, this is going
to be for kids. Instead, they did the interviews and
then afterwards told them about it. I love in the
trailer Snoop Dogg talking about working with Pharrell on Drop
It Like It's Hot, and I think that probably really
helped keep the authenticity and you can feel that in
the trailer. But then it looks completely different than anything
I've seen before because it.
Speaker 4 (45:57):
Very much resembles all the Lego movies that we know.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
In Love the Batman, Lego movie, the original Lego movie,
and now they even have a Lego line coming out
with Pharrell. It is a fantastic tie in. And I
wanted to share this on the trailer part because even
though it is a documentary, I don't normally talk about
documentaries a whole lot. I think this is the bridge
to another level, because if you can make a documentary
(46:23):
like this, why not make a full on feature film
in the style of Lego or even just animated. I
think that would really create, at least for me, more
curiosity to see more biopicks. We've had a couple of
biopicks come out recently that just tanked, and they were
iconic musicians, the Amy Winehouse movie, the Bob Marley movie.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
That we just get the same thing over and over.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
Again, and none of those trailers, none of the casting there,
really had people wanting to rush to the theaters to watch
that because you weren't creating a moment, you weren't creating
any kind of spectacle. For missing out on what made
these people great, the reason they are so significant in
music history, the reason that people were drawn to their music,
(47:08):
drawn to their style, drawn to everything about these artists
gets ripped away because you're making such a bland movie
that's just copy and paste. So I feel like with
Pharrell doing this, maybe it inspires other people to say,
we don't need to make a full on, normal Hollywood movie.
(47:29):
Let's look into different genres. Doesn't have to be a
lego animated movie, but any kind of animated movie I
think would be way more interesting, especially in the way
that he is making this movie PG therefore catering to
a younger audience. Kids who need inspirational figures in their
life can go and watch a movie like this, be
(47:51):
entertained by the animation, but also learn about somebody who
was different as a kid, somebody who may look like
and resemble them, come from a back like they did,
And they're getting exposed to Pharrell in a way that
otherwise maybe they wouldn't have because if it was just
a full log documentary, why would a kid want to
go see that? But you throw legos in there, and
(48:11):
suddenly it becomes interesting, It becomes a spectacle. It becomes
a reason for maybe a parent who's a fan of
Pharrell and maybe wants to share a love of his
music and his artistry with their kid.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
Oh my gosh, that's such a great idea.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
And then it goes back to what I was mentioning
earlier that they were releasing a Lego collaboration with Pharrell
to go along.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
With this movie. So it goes full circle there.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
But by the way, I never really got full into
Legos as a kid, which I guess in the nineties
and two thousands it didn't really get to that stage
they are in now where you go to the Lego
aisle at Target or go to the Lego store and
they are all these amazing sets you can buy. I
went into one recently, and the thing that blew my mind.
Speaker 7 (48:54):
Is they are so expensive. Even the smaller ones are
fifty sixty dollars. The coolest ones are easily one hundred dollars.
I saw this Avengers tower I wanted to make.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I think it was like two hundred, maybe even four hundred,
five hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (49:09):
Why are Legos so expensive?
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Back in twenty fourteen, the Lego movie had a budget
of sixty million dollars, which is basically the cost of
one set of the Lego store.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
I guess that's why I never had him growing up.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
But this movie also reminds me of one of my
favorite documentary shows called Tales from the Tour Bus by
Mike Judge. He is the creator of King of the Hill.
He also did movies like Idiocracy and he would take
interviews from different people talking about artists. The first season
is entirely focused on a lot of outlaw country music artists.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Fantastic series, that is.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
What This Lego movie trailer for Pharrell reminded me of
the Johnny Paycheck episode and the Billy Joe Shaver episodes
are probably my favorite from season one. You can check
that out on the Roku channel. As you can tell,
I'm a huge fan of animation, so I'm definitely gonna
check out this movie when it comes out on October first.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Y was this week's edition of movie Line Tramer.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Bar and that is gonna do it for another episode
here of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
But before I go, I gotta.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Give my listeners shout out of the week. You can
get a listener shout out of the week by commenting
on my reels on Instagram, on.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
TikTok x Facebook.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
All the links to my socials are always in the
episode notes. This week. Going over to Instagram shouting out
Elliott King, who commented on My reel about Beetlejuice and
talking about last week's episode of eight eighties Movies. I
think need sequels, Elliott wrote, aren't they giving a sequel
to the Goonies? Boo my mind that I published that
(50:39):
episode last Monday at midnight, and later that morning, this
story dropped from the Sun saying that the original cast
of Goonies is coming back and returning for a sequel.
Speaker 4 (50:52):
It still hasn't.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Been fully confirmed at the time of recording this episode.
If it happens again, I'm gonna my mind. But again,
the Sun isn't that credible of a source. But I
think that came out because, like I did with last
week's episode, I focused on eighties movies because I thought
the timing was right. I think they did that exact
same thing putting out that story, and I won't fully
(51:15):
believe it until I either see the studio or actual
members of the cast posting about it. It's not real
in my mind until that happens. Very rarely does it
get announced from a source like the Sun, So unless
it's Deadline or the Hollywood Reporter, I'm not fully buying
that report yet.
Speaker 4 (51:33):
But again, at the.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Time of recording this, nothing like that has been fully
confirmed yet, but I appreciate that, Elliott, for you listening
to last week's episode and also checking me on that.
But it would be my look to do an entire
episode surrounding that and then the news drops on a Monday.
So thank you, Elliott, thank you right now for listening
wherever you are, and until next time, go out and
(51:54):
watch good movies and I will talk to you later
Host
Mike D
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