The Voice-Over Bracket, Round 2 -- Day 3

Halfway through deciding the Sweet Sixteen of the Disney/Pixar voice performance bracket, but we have four more matchups today to talk about.

That means four more votes for me, too. (Not real votes, just me talking about them on Substack, I promise.) Let’s go.

(1) Sterling Holloway, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh vs. (8) Bruno Campos, The Princess and the Frog

Here’s today’s first — and hopefully only, but we’ll see — situation where I’m pretty confident that I’ll be voting for the eventual loser. On one hand, Sterling Holloway is playing one of the most memorable and instantly symbolic characters of Disney history. I have loved the Winnie the Pooh stories from Disney since I was old enough to watch them (so, y’know, as a very little boy who wanted to be a big boy). And while Jim Cummings has done an excellent job in his place, Holloway’s performance is peerless.

And yet, as you can tell from the photo here, I’m voting for Bruno Campos. I warned you during the first round that I truly adore The Princess and the Frog. And it’s not just the songs or the animation or the lead character. I think that Naveen, both as written and as performed, is an excellent male lead who’s maybe one of the two or three great male protagonists in Disney animation. (I love Disney animation, but the male characters are not always the strongest.) Anyway, nothing against Sterling Holloway. He’s probably winning! But I vote for Campos.

(12) John C. Reilly, Wreck-It Ralph vs. (4) Anika Noni Rose, The Princess and the Frog

I mean, listen, if I was going to vote for Bruno Campos, you know I’m voting for Anika Noni Rose too. John C. Reilly is very good as the title character in Wreck-It Ralph — he really is! But Anika Noni Rose is god-level good as Tiana. The character is one of the most carefully written in Disney history — a woman who doesn’t much have time for fairy tales because the real world is far too harsh for her to slip into a dream world. The way in which Rose sells the way Tiana misses the point of “Dig A Little Deeper” — not to notice Naveen in front of her but to work even harder to get a restaurant by impressing white realtors — is testament to her talent as much as any of the songs are.

I vote for Ms. Rose. Sorry, John.

(11) Amy Poehler, Inside Out vs. (3) Betty Lou Gerson, 101 Dalmatians

Pixar needs to give its casting directors — or whoever it is who decides who plays which characters — a big raise. Almost every film they’ve made has boasted remarkable casting choices, figuring out exactly the right actor for the right character to the point where they might be able to entirely avoid any lazy exposition. Inside Out is a peak example of this, since the lead characters are all distilled down to literally one character trait. And in the wake of Parks and Recreation, there’s no one better at sounding joyous — for good or ill — than Amy Poehler.

Now, Betty Lou Gerson is doing a fabulous job as one of the most terrifying characters in Disney history. She sounds just as unhinged as the character looks. But she has a one-note villain — an excellent villain, but one-note all the same.

I vote for Poehler.

(7) Auli’i Cravalho, Moana vs. (2) Eleanor Audley, Sleeping Beauty

So, I’m voting for the one-note villain. Yes, I realize what you’re thinking — “Josh, you just said you weren’t voting for a villain performance because it’s one note!” And that’s true. I guess, then, the argument I make here is that Eleanor Audley is doing a lot more with her one note than Betty Lou Gerson did. Maybe it helps that Audley gets to be more than just wild and extreme from her first appearance. But Maleficent remains, in my opinion, the scariest villain in Disney history because she’s clearly smarter than everyone else in the room, sly, clever, nasty, and just damn freaky.

Moana is a great character and a great film. Auli’i Cravalho is immensely talented. But she’s just not up to the task of taking on Maleficent.

I vote for Eleanor Audley.