We finally have our first look at Chris Pratt’s take on the infamous orange cat. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:After his turn as Mario - 16ꦗ8澳洲幸运5开奖网:which by all acc♑ounts wasn’t that bad - the actor is stepping into the paws of Jim Davis’ iconic character for the upcoming animated film. Judging from the debut , Pratt is dishing out his own voice more than anything. It’s Mario without the Brooklyn accent, Emmet without the boundless enthusiasm. Pratt’s Garfield loves lasagna and hates all things ღMonday, and his p꧃erformance in the trailer does a good enough job of getting that across.
It isn’t perfect, with audiences already complaining that Pratt is pretty much doing his own voice and not much else, rarely leaning into the stronger parts of his range when bringing the character to life. It’s also underwhelming when you compare his Garfield to past iterations of the lovable icon. Lorenzo Music is e꧒asily the most revered, having voiced the character in his myriad TV specials and the Garfield & Friends show. This is the version of the cat most of us will know - grumpy, lazy, pessimistic, and delightfully mischievous. He will throw O🐓die in front of a moving car if it means getting a few more hours of sleep. Pratt loves to eat food and is a lazy bugger to boot, but the peripheral edginess is nowhere to be seen.
Garfield has starred in a grand total of 11 video games throughout the cou൩rsജe of his existence, not including cameos or collections. The lazy cat gets around.
Voice acting is a craft in and of itself, and is about stepping into the mind and emotions of a character instead of merely reading lines in a convincing way. You need to understand why your character is behaving in such a way, and where every single piece of dialogue comes from. Sadly, when it comes to the majority of blockbuster films, star power will always speak louder than talent. Not to say Pratt isn’t talented, he has proven himself as a great vocal performer in The Lego Movie and countless other roles, but when Garfꦚield is little more than his own voice hammed up to the extreme, it’s hard not to feel short-changed. I’m sure all my fellow Garfield stans will agree.
Obviously, your emotional investment in a character depends on the project and the audience, but the best voice actors will be able to approach things in a nuanced manner that grounds all of their work on the right level. We’ve seen Pratt d𝔉o this before, so we know he’s definitely not beyond pushing himself, and Garfield would have been the ideal character to do that. But we instead🌼 have a predictable take on the character that feels more Pratt than Garfield, and no amount of lasagna can change that. It could have been much more.
Nowhere has this potential been better showcased than in from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki. For decades, the studio’s films have made use of extensive voice casts consisting of A-list Hollywood talent. Outside 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Makoto Shinkai or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mamoru Hosoda’s work, they are the most renowned anime films on the international stage, commanding respect and prestige because they’re incredible works of art. The vocal performances reflect that, with names like Christian Bale, Mark Hamill, Hailee Steinfeld, Tom Holland, Olivia Colman, and so many more wanting to work with the studio not because of a lovely paycheque, but the privilege of being in a Ghibli film. Ever since the release of 𓂃Spirited Away, which picked up the Academy Award for Best Anima🌠ted Feature, Ghibli began working with Disney to produce its dubs because it’d been proven that films like this could resonate with international audiences.
The Boy and The Heron takes this to the next level, with Florence Pugh, Karen Fukuhara, Willem Dafoe, and Dave Bautista all lending their voices to main characters. The biggest selling point, however, is Robert Pattinson, who plays the role of the titular heron. You can’t tell it’s him from the trailer, with his deep, almost demonic voice like coalstones dragged across a roaring fire. Pattinson is going to town in this role, and has obviously seen it as an opportunity to try something new and push himself, something I wish every big name actor who landed a project like this was willing to do. His performance is utterly unhinged and emotionally turbulent,♓ matching not only the personality of the character, but also the visuals the actors were likely given to work with. It reminds me of that , so he throws on a disguise before venturing outside in what feels like some sort of Twilight-infused fever dream. Pattinson pushes himself in everything he does.
It’s no surprise that Pratt is being compared to Pattinson, because there is so much more to be done in the realm of voice acting whether you are voicing a mascot like Garfield or a Studio Ghibli epic. Both can shine if you approach them with the right attitude, and while Pratt’s take on the orange cat isn’t bad, when you notice similar offerings in the 𓃲realm of animation it’s hard not to feel disappointed.