Perhaps too much material for just a single film.
I Know That Voice is a documentary that just debuted on Netflix. While many of you may have little interest in documentaries, this one probably will interest you as it’s all about the faces behind those familiar voices in cartoons, TV voiceovers and videogames.
- I Know That Voice
- Directed by
Lawrence Shapiro - Cast
John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jim Cummings - Release Date
Out Now - Martin’s Grade: A-
So, unless you hate these sorts of things (and who does?!), you’ll likely be interested in meeting these people and seeing what they really look like. It’s interesting that rarely do any of them seem like their characters in the least. For example, many voices of male characters are voiced by women, and my favorite recent cartoon characters look amazingly unlike the people who provide their voices (especially the guys who provide the voices for Wacko from Animaniacs as well as Johnny Bravo). Additionally, these people have some wonderful behind-the-scenes stories, personal experiences and they discuss how they got into this craft–and all of it is very interesting. There are also some wonderful surprises (such as Tom Hanks’ lookalike brother who also occasionally provides the voice for “Woody” from the Toy Story franchise).
*****
Now, the film is not perfect. There is one huge problem and that is that the film tries to do way too much. Squeezing so many different voice actors into one picture is tough, as many of them only get to say a tiny bit, and many of these voice actor’s most famous characters aren’t even mentioned. I would have either preferred they interviewed less voice actors and gave them more time to talk, or, if possible, make a mini-series about them. I could easily see them make this much, much longer, and I would have really appreciated that. However, considering I thought it was too little, that is an indication that I really enjoyed what I saw.
by Martin Hafer
