It's the Shrek effect: big money goes to big stars to provide recognizable voices for animated characters When I was a kid, we never knew the names of the actors in animated films. Snow White was Snow White. Who cared who played her? Then, Jeffrey Katzenberg took over Disney's animation department, hired some recognizable voices for 1988's Oliver & Company – Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Cheech Marin – and pulled in $74-million (U.S.). In 1991's Beauty and the Beast , Broadway and TV veterans Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach and Robby Benson spoke and sang with real emotion, to the tune of $171-million (and some serious Oscar talk). But the trend really took off the next year with Aladdin . Robin Williams had the animators scrambling to bring his vocals to life, the film raked in $217-million, and ever since, the combination of... [read full story]
