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Courtesy of Dreamworks Animation
Voice-acting is a veritable gold mine for those lucky enough to break into it. From what I've heard, based on semi-reliable sources, voice actors are generally well-paid, and best of all, only a handful are used in any local media market. Just listen to any Atlanta-based radio station for an hour or two and you'll see what I mean -- many of the voices are supplied from the same select collection of performers.
Nowadays, it can be big money lending your vocal talents to a well-known animation program, be it television or feature films or what have you. In fact, having at least one celebrity voice-actor can be a godsend for an animated feature, a near-guarantee of a hit if the project is at least marginally entertaining and well-crafted.
Let's take for example the soon-coming animated feature film Monsters vs. Aliens (opening this Friday, March 27). This movie, which by all counts looks and sounds amazing, features the vocal talents of Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Colbert, Kiefer Sutherland, and Renee Zellweger, to name a few. As such, this can only truly contribute greatly to a formula of success, since these actors are renowned, not only for their visual and physical performances, but for their distinct voices (or their ability to produce such distinct voices).
Remembering back to Shrek, one of the first animated films of recent memory that managed to not only engage the kiddies in the audience, but their adult guardians as well. In this excellent movie, the title character, Shrek, was voiced by none other than Mike Myers, of Saturday Night Live and Wayne's World fame (or, er, infamy). And though the animation was brilliant and the story nearly so, it was Mike Myer's vocal performance, for me, that turned a good piece of entertainment into an awesome one. And who can forget Eddie Murphy's "Donkey", for that matter, or Cameron Diaz's lovingly green ogre-princess? Ah, or John Lithgow's height-challenged sovereign of the land?
Toy Story is also a great example, with the mega-talent (and recognizable voice) of Tom Hanks on board, teamed with the likes of John Ratzenberger and Tim Allen (as Buzz Lightyear). And, again, awesome animation here too, couple with another most excellent screenplay.
Having said this, not all animated features, or there near-brothers such as video games, are a guaranteed success with the presumed Midas touch of a celebrity vocal endorsement. A script has to be well-written and, hopefully, reasonably witty, in order to truly succeed. Oh, and superb visual effects are a definite plus too, so that when crafted into one whole, the entire piece works on several levels, not the least is providing quality entertainment to its viewers, just like any Hollywood (or Hollywood-esque) live-action film.
So when you head out this weekend to see Monsters vs. Aliens, despite the gloomy state of our national economy, keep somewhere in the back of your mind that you're seeing a wonderful piece of entertainment art, whose success wouldn't be possible (at least on so large a scale) without the skilled verbosities of some of the big names in the entertainment business.
In the meantime, I myself will keep looking for that big break into voice-acting, and having done a couple of guest radio spots, know that much fun and mayhem (and cha-ching!) can be had at the occasional expense of the FCC.
After all, it's better to voice a big, green, belching ogre than to have to dress up as one on stage.
For more info: http://www.monstersvsaliens.com/
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