The Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances Bracket -- Round Two, Day Sixteen

Just let it go.

Well, friends, we’ve arrived at the final day of the second round of the Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances bracket. We started this round with 128 seeds, and after today, we’ll have just 64 seeds to go. So today, you’ve got to remember that you’re bidding adieu to four performances — don’t forget to keep that in mind as you scroll down.

So let’s dive right in!

(3) Jodi Benson, The Little Mermaid vs. (35) Hugh Jackman, The Prestige: While I like The Prestige very much, and appreciate Hugh Jackman as a dramatic actor much more than for his action-oriented roles, it’s got to be Jodi Benson as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. A character defined so thoroughly by her voice, or her lack thereof, has to be matched with a performer whose voice stands the test of time, and Benson’s voice sure as hell does. She gets my vote easily.

(14) Idina Menzel, Frozen vs. (19) Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries: I am not a great fan of The Princess Diaries, as I believe I noted in the first round. But I am going to vote for Anne Hathaway here. Yes, Idina Menzel knocks “Let It Go” out of the park, but…man, I don’t know, I don’t feel like she’s got a whole lot to do outside of that specific song, an anthemic number that could’ve been a step or two removed from just being a big hit ballad from an album of Menzel’s herself. Hathaway can’t help the lazy arc of the material she has; her work turned her into a star, and deservedly so. She gets my vote here.

How about you?

(6) Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense vs. (27) Verna Felton, Alice in Wonderland: Haley Joel Osment should’ve won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1999. Yes, he was gifted with one of the all-time great lines of movie dialogue, but his whole performance radiates with keenly felt emotion. Verna Felton was a wonderful voice actress, but the child actor wins this one for me without a doubt.

(11) Edward Norton, 25th Hour vs. (43) Ben Stiller, The Royal Tenenbaums: Ah yes, the co-stars of Keeping the Faith face off! Remember Keeping the Faith? I bet you do. Anyway, while I think both Edward Norton and Ben Stiller are excellent in these two respective films (both very different from Keeping the Faith), I will give this one to Stiller, if only because of the way he delivers the line “I’ve had a rough year, Dad.” A knockout.