Try And Match 100% Of These Actors To Their Animated Characters!
- by Arun Pundir
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Once upon a time, there were actors and voice actors. The actors acted and showed their faces but the voice actors only lent their voices to animated characters, even if they were nad drawn minus any computers. Then it all went topsy-turvy since the actors too began to lend their voices to computer animated characters - and most of the voice actors' careers went kaput.
Not a happy ending by any standard but most if not all movie and TV actors have done a voiceover or two in their career - and the more famous these are, the bigger their character's importance. Sometimes these much awarded and applauded actors and actresses get smaller characters to play. But even these "sidekick" roles hold their own and are often the most memorable of all. So we're not going to go the usual "name the central character" way.
There are so many animated movies that it's impossible to list out all the wonderful work that these actors have done and how natural have they sounded minus any specialized training. These actors and actresses must have had a blast playing stupendous characters children would forever look at with hero-worship in their eyes. So go through the quiz below, and figure out the names of the actors and the character they so successfully played... Marvel at the similarities, and the differences!
What role did Sigourney Weaver play in Wall-E?
The movie Wall-E shows Earth abandoned and overflowing with trash. Wall-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class - meaning his duty is to clean Earth by compacting trash. He is solar-powered and all alone on earth, accompanied by nothing more than a cockroach. All other life, even the other robots on Earth are long gone. The humans left a long time ago and live on a huge city-like ship run by the ship's computer. Which role would Sigourney Weaver have fitted perfectly in this movie?
Which role does Gerard Butler play in How To Train Your Dragon?
The time of Vikings and supposedly dragons that attack them and steal their food - the perfect setting for an adventure movie. Here, the ultimate aim of every young warrior is to train how to kill dragons, except for Hiccup who cannot do so when the time comes. Instead, he ends up befriending a dragon - the terrifying Night Fury and earns the ire of the whole village - including the chief, and his father, Stoic and the weapon's master, Gobber. Which did Gerard Butler play?
Which character did Tim Allen play in the Toy Story franchise?
The toys are alive. Yep, that's the premise of this beautiful movie franchise with all of three movies. The toys come alive when no humans are around and the storyline is basically about them learning to accept new toys, go with change and finally come of age to say goodbye. With perfect coming timing, Tim Allen manages to perfectly fit into a role that seems to have been written for him, keeping his baritone of a voice in mind. Know it?
Match Kate Winslet's animation character to the movie...
So Roddy and the character played by Kate Winslet are, wait for it, two mice. Roddy has been a pet all his life but was flushed down the toilet and reaches the sewers where a lot of the mice population stays in an underground city. Replete with little boats and sausage stands. And mice traffic cops. A floundering Roddy is trying to get back home while a villainous toad wants to flood the city and kill all the mice. Winslet sounds as winsome as she did in the Titanic.
Mel Gibson played a rooster to Julie Sawalha's Ginger in this movie.
Considering Mel Gibson plays a rooster here, the movie has to be about chickens. In this animation hit, the chickens on a farm are trying to escape their tyrannical keepers with Ginger rallying the troops. Gibson plays a rooster Rocky, who accidentally "flies" in while escaping from the circus. Ginger urges him to teach all the chickens to fly and since Rocky is looking for a place to hide - he agrees and tricks them. Later, the whole jingbang flies off - in a chicken-made airplane!
Which character does Hugh Laurie play in the flick Monsters Vs. Aliens?
The movie pans to showing a girl, Susan on her wedding day. She's out on the garden when something falls on her - so turns out that some sort of alien goo and she absorbs it, turning into a giant. The "monsters and alien" secret service jumps into action and takes her to a secret, secure location where there are more like her - including a blob-like thing, the missing link, and a cockroach-like creature. Together, they turn into heroes when they save the day.
Which character does Bruce Willis play in the 2006 movie Over The Hedge?
The animation movie Over The Hedge is about animals who were hibernating. While they were sleeping, the humans built a whole new township in their forest and built a huge hedge smack dab in the middle of where they lived. The animals are an odd group: a turtle, a skunk, a porcupine family, a squirrel, a possum father-and-daughter - and a bear who's after the raccoon. The movie is ultimately how the animals wage a war against the humans and win!
Mandy Moore played a modern-day Rapunzel in which Disney princess flick?
So Rapunzel and her hair - it's like a never-ending story and probably the place where all chick-flicks started. Everyone knows the story except in Disney's take, there's no prince climbing a tower - it's a thief. But its Disney and even thieves have good hearts. In this version, Rapunzel's hair isn't just abnormally long, it's also magic - able to heal and revive anything from the wrinkles to a cut. Later, this power gets transferred to her tears, meaning she really has to cry over spilled milk now.
Zach Braff plays a role in an animation franchise. Which one?
So in the animation movie, we see Zach Braff in or rather hear his voice in, he plays a mad scientist kind of character. He has been ridiculed since school for being a geek and is not liked by his townsfolk because his experiments always end up causing damage and destruction. Till he finally makes something everyone appreciates, till that also goes horribly wrong. So he sets about trying to make it right, with his supportive father, girlfriend and some villains along the way.
Name the animation movie in which Emily Blunt plays a lovelorn PYT.
There's something about star-crossed lovers that always ends up making movies do well. This animation flick was no different. Based on a classic, it showed two young lovers trying to hold it together amidst warring families. The battle gets grim in between, but hey - this is an animation flick. How serious can things get here, right? Especially when you have a frog-like thing as your best friend. Hint: it's not an actual frog, and the lovers are not actual "people".
Paul Newman played a role in Cars, who was he?
It may be an animation movie, but the way Disney turned it - it was almost psychedelic. There were tractors instead of cows, and little fly-cars to show bluebottles. Then there was Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, the no-headlight racecar who gets stuck in a godforsaken town and end up having to build a road he smashed in panic. He befriends so many along the way: Sally, Mater, Luigi, Flo, Ramone, Doc, Sarge, and Sheriff. Finally, he's more interested in winning hearts, than a race.
Jimmy Kimmel played which character in The Boss Baby?
Yes, this movie is basically about babies and how they are made. Not in the true sense of the word though, thankfully. This one is more about how children think babies are made - the whole baby factory and other imaginative lies parents tell little kids to hide the truth. The movie is fun, and also revolves around the bonding that happens between an older kid and his just-born sibling - something all parents struggle with till the kids grow up and the parents turn referees.
Before Vin Diesel was Xander Cage, he was in this animation movie...
This movie is about a robot who is also an alien - and perhaps sparked off the Transformers craze. He gets entangled in a huge transformer and loses his memory a little, and is then befriended by a boy who sets about teaching him the ways of the world. There's a villainous government official who wants to destroy the robot and even sets of a nuclear device to do so. the robot steps up and chooses to fly off with the bomb, wanting to be Superman.
Which color was Christina Ricci in the movie The Hero Of Color City?
The Hero of Color City is a sweet movie meant for little kids, to teach them how to overcome their fears. It starts with a little boy drawing with his colors and when he falls asleep, the colors go back into the box and magically enter a portal - that leads them to their home, Color City. Unknown to them, an uncolored drawing follows, wanting to get some color. They mistake the drawing to be a monster who then blocks the Color Falls - so the colors must bravely go and combat this problem.
Which animated dog is Bryan Cranston in the Isle of Dogs?
We all have seen and known of Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad. Having him play a shaggy dog somehow fits perfectly. The story of the movie Isle of Dogs is set in Japan where the dogs all speak English, but Japanese, speak Japanese. The human protagonist of the story is Atari Kobayashi - a boy who sets off rescuing his pet dog who has been banished to a trash-filled island along with all the other dogs of the city Megasaki. In the end, like all animation movies, good prevails over evil.
In what movie did Matt Damon and Brad Pitt play besties Will and Bill?
The movie we are talking about here is about penguins and could be called a franchise, except that only two of these were made. The main characters were voiced by talents like Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Elijah Mumble, Brittany Murphy and Robin Williams. Matt Damon and Brad Pitt were not major characters of the movie and had little screen time, but their parallel story did win accolades and plenty of laughs. Not many know of their rather small roles in this hit animation movie.
In which animation movie does George Clooney play husband to Meryl Streep?
As much as we like watching him in movies, it's this animated role of his that really highlights his equally beautiful voice. He plays a much-married character in the movie - with a beautiful wife and a son. They live in a wonderful house but soon he falls back into his old illegal ways - which causes his family and friends to get into trouble. The creators behind this movie are the same who made the Isle of Dogs - and there is the same trademark wit in this one too.
Matthew McConaughey played which animation character in the movie Sing?
The movie is basically all about singing. A theatre owner wants to revive his old crumbling theatre and decides to have a singing contest - the talent that shows up and is finally chosen are at crossroads in their lives as well. Everyone is trying to their best until the theatre ends up crumbling down. As is with all animation movies, spirits are revived and all is well that ends well. Plus there are some awesome songs sung by the talent to enjoy.
Ginnifer Goodwin lends her voice to which character in the movie Zootopia?
Zootopia is not just a movie about animals - it's about animals in an anthropomorphic setting without humans in sight. Here, predators no longer predate and have become "civilized" so to speak. That said, it is still the predators who are in power with most of the herbivores given tiny, menial job because they are not thought able to hold positions of power. And tiny herbivores don't stand a chance till predators start to go missing, and it is up to the heroine to save the day.
Name Robert De Niro's character in the movie Shark Tale.
Shark Tale isn't all about sharks actually, but it is about fish in the sea. Oscar is a blue cleaner wrasse with Angie the angelfish as his best friend. When a shark named Frankie attacks Oscar, he tries to escape and Frankie ends up dead because an anchor falls on him. Oscar exploits this fame and becomes known as the Sharkslayer, which angers Frankie's father Don Lino. Don Lino also has a vegetarian son Lenny that he is ashamed off, but everybody goes off happy in the end.
Which character does Antonio Banderas play in Shrek?
Antonio Banderas plays the swashbuckling hero to the hilt in the Mask of Zorro. His character in Shrek, as well as the independent movie, later is almost as swashbuckling in the animation world as well. Suffice to say, he does justice to his role - for that deep but exotic voice of his suited the character and its antics immensely. While Shrek was indeed a huge money-making franchise starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy - the independent movie did okay only.
Name Benedict Cumberbatch's wolfish character in Penguins of Madagascar.
The Penguins of Madagascar are a silly lot indeed - and their antics added to the charm of all three movies before they got their very own blockbuster. Private, Rico, Skipper, and Kowalski - the awesome foursome has made many kids and adults laugh. The movie also featured an octa-legged villain, Dave the octopus - played by John Malkovich. Dave wants to kidnap all penguins and turn them into hideous creatures so that no one in the world finds them cute anymore - and the penguins need to stop it!
Which movie did John Cena play an animated character in?
The movie and the character both share the same name - and are basically central to the storyline. An orphaned animal finds its way into the loving arms of a girl and her father and lives with them till finally, he gets too big t stay in the house. Weaved into the story is a cruel sport that this particular animal does not want to be part of but is being forced to do, ever since he's been separated from his owners.
Which role did Steve Martin pla in Home?
Home was an adorable flick - probably the kinder version of Martian attack because the Boovs did not really attack. They just sort of took over and transported the humans into the Australian wilderness. and they declared toilet seats, umbrellas and bicycles to be completely useless. Plus they ate junked metal and plastic so they could probably lend a hand in cleaning up the Earth, right? Along with Rihanna's singing talent, there was the mother as well, played by JLo.
John Travolta played this animated dog in a movie with the same name.
While Travolta started out playing the good guy who tended to get Saturday Night Fever every now and then - he later took to playing bad guys too. But few know that he played an animated pooch in a movie as well, and did a pretty convincing job too - especially when paired up with a cat, played by Susie Essman, and a guinea pig as well. His believes that he is a super dog because all his life, he's been shooting for a TV series!