The Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances Bracket -- Round Four, Day Three

YOU! ARE! A! TOY!

Can you believe that we’re halfway to the Sweet Sixteen of the Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances bracket? I, for one, am taking this information in calm stride, much as both Tom Hanks and Sheriff Woody are in the above picture. (I wish there were more easy-to-find photos like this of such poses when Hanks starred in the earlier Toy Story films. Alas.)

Anyway, just two more days of a quartet of matchups, before we scale down to two matchups a day. You ready to go? Let’s start the vote!

(1) Tom Hanks, Toy Story vs. (9) Phil Harris, The Jungle Book: A tough-ish matchup, but only so tough. I will vote for Tom Hanks (though I note that if Phil Harris pulls off an upset, I won’t be too heartbroken) because I maintain that his performance as Sheriff Woody in the first Toy Story is one of his five best overall pieces of work, and certainly a comic high point of his career. Great work from both, but I go with Mr. Hanks here.

How about you?

(13) Samuel E. Wright, The Little Mermaid vs. (5) Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther: Two very good performances, but for at least one more round, I will vote for Chadwick Boseman. (This may or may not be a hint about whether or not I would vote for him against either of the voice actors in the above matchup.) I love “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl”, but Boseman’s charisma as King T’Challa was unforgettable and, as evinced by the sequel, impossible to replicate.

(2) John Goodman, Monsters, Inc. vs. (7) Bruce Willis, The Sixth Sense: Two very different paternal-ish performances, but even though the photo above this section implies one way, I’m voting for John Goodman. I think here of the desperation and rage and energy in the word “No” when Sulley is exiled to the Himalayas and realizes the door frame that came with him and Mike Wazowski has no entry or exit. It’s almost loud enough that it sounds like Goodman blew out the audio equipment in the recording studio. His power there is undeniable. I vote for Sulley.

(3) Jeremy Irons, The Lion King vs. (11) Angela Lansbury, Beauty and the Beast: For this matchup, I have two fun facts for you. Fun Fact 1: Jeremy Irons only recorded part of the vocals for Scar’s big song, “Be Prepared”, because he was apparently under the weather and unable to complete the song. (Jim Cummings, who you may know as the current voice of Winnie the Pooh, can be heard singing as Irons-as-Scar in the final verse and chorus.) Fun Fact 2: Angela Lansbury took a long cross-country flight before landing, heading into the recording booth, and doing a first cold take of “Beauty and the Beast”, and that is the take they used in the film.

Vote for Angela Lansbury.