The Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances Bracket -- Round Three, Day Two
Kuzco's poison...
One thing I didn’t talk about yesterday in unveiling the third-round bracket is that I was pleasantly surprised at how many voice performances had survived to the round of 64. (Almost 40 of the performances are voice roles of some kind.)
Now, of course, the question is how many of those are going to see the light of day in the following round. Some challenges await you today in the realm of voice vs. live-action performances, so start voting!
(2) Amy Adams, Enchanted vs. (15) Patrick Warburton, The Emperor’s New Groove: This is a challenging vote for me. I do not particularly adore the films in which these performances appear, and yet I would happily acknowledge that these are two excellent and deliriously funny performances that boost the films in question. I’m going to go with Adams, because Enchanted as a whole depends on her performance to work even in the slightest. If Warburton wasn’t as funny as he is, I don’t think The Emperor’s New Groove would suffer quite as much.
But as always, I now hand the decision to you. So vote!
(7) Robert Downey, Jr., Iron Man vs. (23) Jack Black, High Fidelity: Before they were co-stars in Tropic Thunder, these guys each had breakout roles of a sort in two very different films. (I realize it’s weird to say that Robert Downey, Jr. had a breakout role roughly 20 years after he’d started acting regularly, and I am fully aware that he had many great performance in those two decades! But…I mean, there is before and after Tony Stark, you know?) I’m going to give this one, by a hair, to Black. Part of it is that I think RDJ’s performance as Tony Stark, as good as it is, ends up being somewhat distilled considering how many more times we’ve seen him play the same beats in other MCU movies.
But I would not be surprised if he takes this one. So what do you say?
(35) Sterling Holloway, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh vs. (14) Tony Jay, The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Yeah, I have to give this to Sterling Holloway. Tony Jay is excellent as Judge Frollo, and I will admit that this is partly me saying that Sterling Holloway’s prolific voice work as a whole deserves to move on (and not just his role as Winnie the Pooh), but…I give it to Holloway. You?
(6) Tim Allen, Toy Story vs. (11) Peter O’Toole, Ratatouille: Another tough one. Limiting myself just to the first Toy Story makes this more challenging, and I am tempted to give the vote to Allen since his performance as Buzz in the first film is very good and more substantive than that of Anton Ego. But…man, that Ego monologue is a hell of a thing. A toughie! Good thing I don’t vote.
But you do. So vote!
I voted for RDJ here, but I’ll take a moment to shout out the true hero of the MCU- casting director Sarah Halley Finn.
If the Marvel Cinematic Universe has managed one thing consistently right all along, it’s casting its constellation of heroes and villains, and she has been the casting director since the very start. She pushed for Downey Jr as Tony Stark, and his performance set the template and tone for the Marvel behemoth going forward.
Yes, individual directors, producers, agents and Kevin Feige have all been involved as well, but let’s give this lady her due. She’s been the ace up their sleeve since day one.
That Buzz vs. Anton Ego vote is gonna be close. I voted for Anton. And since I think Adams deserved the Oscar for ENCHANTED, I voted for her. And OH BOTHER, I voted for Rock and Roll Hoochie Pooh.