The Live-Action Performances Bracket, Round 4

Now that we’ve determined an Elite Eight, the good news is that a) there’s just one matchup per day and b) this post won’t be nearly so long. So now we can get into the meat of the discussion for our surviving eight performances.

Let’s go.

(1) Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit vs. (3) Rick Moranis, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

On the whole, these are two brilliant actors going head to head. (That will the case for almost all of these matchups.) Rick Moranis’ legacy is arguably stronger because he scaled back from appearing in…well, basically any movie or TV show for decades. It’s easy to think fondly of an actor when they back away from the spotlight, because all you have are the memories of the work you always loved so much.

I say all of that to emphasize something I will clarify in the next section: while Rick Moranis is an excellent comic performer, I’m voting on just this one performance. And with that in mind, I am voting for Bob Hoskins. It’s not just that he’s playing so deftly opposite against characters that didn’t exist at a time when it simply wasn’t done often. (A couple of the other actors in this bracket did it before he did, to be fair.) It’s that Hoskins treats the role with the right level of emotion throughout. He takes the work seriously while still being funny when he needs to be funny, grouchy when he needs to be grouchy, and despondent when he needs to be.

Hoskins all the way.

(1) Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins vs. (3) Angela Lansbury, Bedknobs and Broomsticks

So, it has been noted to me that I may seem to be a little inconsistent with my whole “Just vote on this specific performance” thing, in particular when referring to the actresses in this battle. They are, of course, both international treasures and I’ll not hear a single word against either Julie Andrews or Angela Lansbury. They can do no wrong. I used this argument in previous rounds, too, but here’s an interesting wrinkle I think is worth considering this time around. Julie Andrews, for one, is an international treasure. And she achieved that status arguably thanks to this film. (Yes, it was also because of The Sound of Music the following year. But being Mary Poppins first sure does help.)

Angela Lansbury arguably achieved international-treasure status over a much longer period of time, and not because of just one role. (She was already a brilliant stage and screen performer before she became the delightful sleuth/author Jessica Fletcher, though for my fellow Millennials, that role helped.) Both actresses do very good work in their respective performances, too. They both performed songs written by the Sherman brothers. They both acted opposite David Tomlinson. But it’s the songs are, unfortunately, what the vote comes down to for me. It’s not Angela Lansbury’s fault that the songs in Bedknobs and Broomsticks aren’t as good as those in Mary Poppins, and the 1971 film doesn’t rely quite as heavily on those songs.

But Mary Poppins the film works almost entirely because the songs — and if you have forgotten over time, there’s a ton of songs in that movie — work so well. And why do they work so well? It’s Julie Andrews. That’s my vote. I love Angela Lansbury. I do. But I vote with Mary.

(1) Amy Adams, Enchanted vs. (2) Michael Caine, The Muppet Christmas Carol

So, I am here to argue the following: Michael Caine is delivering an incredible performance full of dark emotion and depth as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is one reason why said film is a fairly weak Muppet movie. (I need to write about this in a different context, because I am sure many of you disagree. Short version: a Muppet movie where the most memorable part is a human is not a very good Muppet movie.)

Anyway. Caine is excellent as Scrooge. He treated the role properly, even as he acted against felt creations. The songs in Muppet Christmas Carol aren’t great, but guess what? Neither are the songs in Enchanted. (One of the songs, “How Do You Know”, is great. And “Happy Working Song” is a fun parody of the classic princess trope of being at one with nature.)

All this said, I’m voting for Amy Adams. All the Oscar nominations she’s racked up, and she shoulda won for this film. It’s the same kind of world-defining role that Andrews had as Mary Poppins, that Johnny Depp had as Captain Jack Sparrow, and so on. I vote for Adams.

(4) Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins vs. (2) Tim Curry, Muppet Treasure Island

We’ve gotten a lot further along in this bracket before my Final Four picks go away. Or, to be more accurate, my Final Four is…well, still accounted for in the Elite Eight. That was going to be the case as I was monitoring the final matchups of the Sweet Sixteen, because neither Johnny Depp nor Dick Van Dyke make it to my Final Four. (But I am more than a little glad that Van Dyke pulled off a mild upset yesterday.)

Yes, I am voting for Tim Curry here. His take on Long John Silver is a ten-course meal of a performance, full of outsized energy and flamboyance that matches the Muppets without ever dominating them. Van Dyke is very good as Bert, too, but this time around, I’m sticking with the actual Englishman.

I vote for Curry.