15 Animated Movies With Surprisingly Stacked Voice Casts
Animated films always feature plenty of talent in their production, a good portion of which comes from the unsung heroes of design and storyboarding or low-profile voice actors. However, sometimes animated films will throw a handful of A-list Hollywood stars into the voice cast, which may go unnoticed by viewers at first without seeing their faces. It is quite common to see Disney or Pixar productions bursting with stacked casts; nevertheless, there are other films that are equally impressive on the casting front.
From Titan A.E. to Space Chimps, there are a plethora of animated features that attracted the attention of Hollywood's biggest players who wanted an opportunity to voice the heroes and villains of these stories. So, let's take a look at some of the shockingly great casts from low-profile animated movies.
WIth Anthony Mackie voicing Ty, Martin Lawrence as JB, and Laurence Fishburne as The Collector, Sneaks offers a lot of variety when it comes to the shoe selection in the animated fomp. Additional voice work by Macy Gray, Swae Lee, Chloe Bailey, and Mustard make up a who's who of musical talent lending their sounds to Sneaks.
Produced by Fishburne and others, Sneaks was written and co-directed by Rob Edwards, the man behind the screenplays for Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Captain America: Brave New World.
Totally stacked cast?Imagine a world where everyone is a robot. That's the basic premise for 2005's Robots, which sees a young inventor Rodney Copperbottom head off to Robot City to meet his idol, Bigweld, at Bigweld Industries, and show off a new creation. When Rodney arrives, he finds Bigweld is nowhere to be found as the robo-suits have taken over.
Robots features an outstanding voice cast as Ewan McGregor voices Rodney, while he is supported by Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, and the indomitable James Earl Jones. Additional smaller roles are packed with even more names: Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Coolidge, Jay Leno, Paula Abdul, Al Roker, and Natasha Lyonne.
Totally stacked cast?Based on the classic Shakespearean story about forbidden love and warring families, 2011's Gnomeo & Juliet takes the concept a little further. In this instance, the romance takes place between two garden gnomes on opposite sides of the fence, with tenderness, humor, and a far happier ending than Shakespeare's version.
This adaptation sells the silly concept with an all-star cast in pivotal roles. James McAvoy plays Gnomeo, while Emily Blunt voices Juliet. In addition, they are supported by the likes of Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Ozzy Osbourne, Dolly Parton, Hulk Hogan, and Sir Patrick Stewart as the voice of a statue of Shakespeare.
Totally stacked cast?Osmosis Jones is a hybrid live-action/animated film, with its two stylistic halves directed by the Farrelly brothers and Piet Kroon and Tom Sito, respectively. The 2001 movie takes a look at what happens inside a human body, as a white blood cell named Osmosis “Ozzie” Jones joins forces with a cold pill named Special Agent Drixenol "Drix" Drixobenzometaphedramine to protect the human Frank from an evil virus that threatens his health.
While it's easy to recognize Bill Murray playing Frank in the live-action plot, the voices of the animated characters within his body are an impressive group, featuring Chris Rock as the title character and David Hyde Pierce as his buddy Drix. Laurence Fishburne, Brandy Norwood, Ron Howard, and William Shatner also lend their voices to various organisms and cells within Frank's body.
Totally stacked cast?Directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo is the heartwarming story of a washed ashore goldfish who is helped by a boy named Sōsuke. The two develop a friendship and Sōsuke names the goldfish Ponyo. Soon enough, Ponyo dreams of becoming a human girl and uses magic to make it happen.
The English voice cast for Ponyo features Noah Cyrus as the titular character, while Frankie Jonas plays Sōsuke. In addition, the cast also boasts A-list names such as Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Cloris Leachman, and Betty White.
Totally stacked cast?Based on the 2003 novel by Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux follows the brave mouse Despereaux who stands out from his fellow rodents for his big ears and his curiosity. Desperaux explores the huge castle where he lives and takes interest in helping out the human Princess Pea, showing more heart than anyone could imagine in that tiny, fluffy body.
Sigourney Weaver narrates the tale, while Matthew Broderick provides the voice for Despereaux. Emma Watson stars as Princess Pea, while Dustin Hoffman appears as Despereaux's rat pal Roscuro. Other cast members include Tracey Ullman, Robbie Coltrane, William H. Macy, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, Frances Conroy, and Christopher Lloyd.
Totally stacked cast?
