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

Well, folks, it’s time to get ready for a new round of the Ultimate Walt Disney Company Performances bracket. Today marks the end of the current round, which means that the matchups are, frankly, only going to get harder. Good thing I don’t have to vote!

You, however, do. Legally. If you’re reading these words, you must vote. Now. Do it!

(1) Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit vs. (9) Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins: Perhaps it’s fitting that we have here a British actor doing an American accent against an American actor doing an English accent, and that each actor throws his body into his respective role, and that each actor had to interact with animated characters in said role. It’s a tough battle for me to decide upon, which is why I am very glad I do not have to decide upon this battle. (I’d vote for Hoskins, but just barely.)

Time for you to make that decision.

(4) Amy Poehler, Inside Out vs. (37) Paul Winchell, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Yeah, I’m giving this to Amy Poehler. I think Tigger is great, but these are two very exuberant performances. Only one of them gets to run the range of emotions, and that’s where Poehler takes the cake. I wonder how many of you may vote in favor of Winchell, though, if only to support an earlier generation of voice performances.

(2) Robin Williams, Aladdin vs. (7) Jerry Orbach, Beauty and the Beast: I am sad to bid adieu to Jerry Orbach, but I imagine that’s exactly what will happen here. I’m certainly voting for Robin Williams instead of Orbach, because the Genie is such a mammoth force of nature (and both actors get to knock out of the park an Ashman/Menken song) that I cannot say no to him.

Who gets your vote?

(3) Jodi Benson, The Little Mermaid vs. (6) Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense: A couple folks pointed out in the last round that Jodi Benson’s only heard for so much of The Little Mermaid, because of the nature of Ariel and her arc. (When you think about it, she’s only in about half of the film, at least in terms of spoken dialogue.) Now, while it’s a great performance, it’s limited by design.

Consider that my way of explaining why I will be voting for Haley Joel Osment here, in a very tricky role to pull off that he did with almost disturbing ease. (It’s not even Osment’s best performance — that would be his stellar lead role in Steven Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence.) Ariel’s great in many ways, but Osment’s Oscar-worthy performance (he really shoulda won) is enough to propel him forward, in my book.

How about you?