The Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances Bracket -- Round Two, Day Eight
You know the fun thing about living near where the Super Bowl is taking place this year? …No, really, is there something fun about it? I’m trying to avoid the west side of Phoenix like the plague this weekend, so in the meantime, let’s dive right into a new set of performance-based matchups.
Onward!
(3) Joan Cusack, Toy Story 2 vs. (35) John Cusack, High Fidelity: Two Cusacks enter the thunderdome, but only one can leave. And if it’s up to me, the surviving Cusack isn’t in the photo above this paragraph. Yes, I would vote for Joan Cusack, for her highly charged and emotional voice performance as Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in the second Toy Story, and honestly, if you know the movie, you know “highly charged” is a good descriptor for her work. John Cusack is very good in High Fidelity doing the kind of thing that…I dunno, I guess I expect from him. I don’t quite expect from Joan Cusack what she did as Jessie. So she gets my vote.
How about you?
(14) Russell Crowe, The Insider vs. (46) Ming-Na Wen, Mulan: I fear that not enough of you have seen The Insider, which is very close to being the best film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1999. (I can see an argument to be made for The Sixth Sense.) Russell Crowe is just one of many immensely talented actors working their asses off in this Michael Mann drama, and as much as I know people like Mulan, I would vote for Crowe in this one. It’s your call, though, so vote.
(6) James Earl Jones, The Lion King vs. (27) Charles Durning, The Muppet Movie: I like both of these performances a lot, but I will go with the person I presume is winning this matchup. That, of course, would be James Earl Jones. (See, the photos I use to break things up aren’t always hints!) Jones is only using his voice, and Durning is suitably oily and gross, but even among Muppet-movie villains, he’s far from the best. Jones for me. How about you?
(11) Christopher Lloyd, Who Framed Roger Rabbit vs. (22) Betty Lou Gerson, 101 Dalmatians: Two great villainous performances, but only one can win. I don’t know if you’ll all surprise me — it’s happened already in this round, because I really did not think James Woods would make it to the third round — but I would vote for Christopher Lloyd. Betty Lou Gerson does a lot with just her voice in establishing Cruella De Vil as a villainess earning her full name, but Lloyd is as unnerving when he’s buttoned-up as when he reveals that he’s a Toon. A hard choice, but I go with Lloyd.
As I wrote in my Slant piece on Toy Story 1 and 2, I find Jessie obnoxious (and that weepy ass "playing over an infomercial at 3am" song Randy Newman wrote for her just makes me even more misanthropic). Still, I think Joan has a harder role to play than John. But, I can't stand her character and I ain't voting for her. This is my first abstain since the polls moved here! As for James Earl Jones, "you must take your place in the Circle of Life" is a line of his I say all the time. So he got my voite, as did creepy Judge Doom.
I kinda don’t love Toy Story 2 (I feel like it falls apart a bit in the third act), and voting against John Cusack in his best role feels absolutely criminal, but man, Joan Cusack really is that good as Jessie. She’s heartbreaking.