The Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances Bracket -- Round One, Day Twelve
Watch out for that tree!
Welcome to another extended weekend, friends! (Though if you’re a parent like me, the extended weekend may have begun yesterday thanks to kids being off school. At least that’s how it is in Arizona.) We’ve got some stacked matchups today including a whole lot of Oscar nominees and winners, even if…their performances in these specific matchups were mostly not Oscar-worthy. (Not the case for one of the performers today, who received her first—and inexplicably, her only—Oscar nomination for the role in question.)
You ready to vote? Let’s go!
(5) Anika Noni Rose, The Princess and the Frog vs. (60) Charlize Theron, Mighty Joe Young: Remember the Disney remake of Mighty Joe Young? I…would be lying if I said I remembered it well. (For no good reason, I never covered that movie on the podcast I hosted on Disney movies, a show I co-hosted for nine years.) Could it be that I have included Charlize Theron here just because Charlize Theron is an immensely talented actress? …It is possible, yes. Because, listen, as much as I like her, I’m pulling hard for Anika Noni Rose throughout this bracket as a whole. The Princess and the Frog is an all-timer for me, as is her masterful voice work as Tiana. Easy vote for me. Sorry, Charlize.
(28) Tilda Swinton, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe vs. (37) Toni Collette, The Sixth Sense: Now, this one’s tough. I am not a huge fan of the Narnia film series, but I do think two of the strongest performances in the series are in the first film. (The other belongs to James McAvoy.) Tilda Swinton is suitably terrifying here as the White Witch. And the flip side is the very talented Toni Collette in the early days of her career (nearly 25 years since The Sixth Sense, you guys) as the loving and baffled mother of a little boy who sees dead people. Two great performances, and I won’t be sad if either one wins. I will lean here ever so slightly to Swinton, though. Too scary to ignore! What say you?
(12) Brendan Fraser, George of the Jungle vs. (53) Anthony Hopkins, Nixon: This is not tough. Brendan Fraser is delightful as George of the Jungle, period, full stop. Send him through.
(21) David Tomlinson, Mary Poppins vs. (44) Nicolas Cage, National Treasure: This is not going to be a tough matchup for me. David Tomlinson is the stealth secret weapon of Mary Poppins, serving as both a reasonable antagonist to his own children and an understandably frustrated middle-aged man grappling with his personal and professional path in life. There’s such a heavy weight in his tense walk from his home to his bank one fateful night, and so much more to praise than in Nicolas Cage’s riff on Indiana Jones. Tomlinson for me. What do you say?
Thomlinson’s delivery during his reprise of A Man Has Dreams is the secret highlight of a great film. So much sadness and regret packed into a short reprise.
It's hard to judge the performances instead of some of these truly abysmal films. Not a huge fan of any of these. Sixth Sense was, IMO, the best M. Night Shyamalan had to offer.