The Live-Action Performances Bracket, Round 5

So, we’ve come down to this. Your Final Four of the Disney live-action performance bracket. Just two more matchups left before we get to the Top Two, and before I reveal my picks here, I’ll mention one thing up top: this Final Four is my Final Four. I’m pleased to see these four actors as the last quartet, even though I’ll allow that I’m slightly surprised they all made it this far.

Now, let me tell you who I’ll be backing.

(1) Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit vs. (1) Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins

So, while these actors are my Final Four, I have every expectation that my personal Top Two will not be the actual Top Two. In fact, if I had to guess, neither of the performers I’m in favor of are going to make it. I hope I’m wrong! I do!

But, for example, I will be very shocked if Julie Andrews doesn’t make it all the way to the Top Two. That, of course, does mean that I am voting for Bob Hoskins, and let me explain why. Hoskins and Andrews are legendary performers, and Andrews deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar as the practically perfect nanny. She gets a heap of incredible songs to knock out of the park. She’s funny and strange and mercurial, delightful and standoffish all at once.

Here’s the thing, though. When I say I’m voting on a performance, I’m doing just that. Julie Andrews had to act opposite animated characters for a sequence. Bob Hoskins had to do it for an entire film. It’s easy to take for granted now what he did because most actors in big-budget blockbusters act against greenscreen characters or bluescreen or whatever. But Bob Hoskins was a trailblazer. The work he did in Roger Rabbit is peerless and massively influential. And, please note, in the middle of all that, he’s still got to play a redemption arc, which he does masterfully.

I love both of these actors. I enjoy both of these films (I have issues with the overall story in Poppins). But I’m voting for Bob.

(1) Amy Adams, Enchanted vs. (2) Tim Curry, Muppet Treasure Island

If the Top Two ends up being Julie Andrews vs. Amy Adams, it won’t disappoint me. Like I said, these actors are my Final Four. So I’m not too bent out of shape by what I presume to be an inevitable loss by Tim Curry, even though I’m sticking with him. Amy Adams is unquestionably excellent in Enchanted, but so too is Curry. He’s already a plenty flamboyant performer, and he leaned into that with his performance as Long John Silver.

I’m on record as being a very big fan of this 1996 film, and Curry is a large part of the reason why. He’s having so much fun, but also playing the darker emotional layers correctly. In all honesty, this one’s a little closer for me — I hesitate just a bit when thinking who I would vote for. But I’m with Curry.