Why More A-List Stars Are Doing Animated Films

I remember a time when voice acting was done by people you never heard of. Someone who had a unique and funny voice that would translate well to an animated film. Now, there's rarely an animated movie that doesn't have at least one big name attached to it, and more often than not, it has an entire ensemble cast of A-listers. You would probably be hard-pressed to find an animated film that doesn't have a big name in the cast.

Why did animated films evolve this way? How did a voice acting emerge as something big stars take time out to do?

Somewhere along the way, movie studios realized that they could capitalize on animated films in a big way if they started hiring movie stars to do character voices. Animated films always have big draws because of young audiences and their parents. By putting Robert De Niro or Angelina Jolie in a film, they ensure that older crowds are interested, too. Often when your favorite actor does a movie, you check it out because you like them.

In addition, voice acting poses great benefits to actors. One big factor in the trend is that a lot of A-list actors are middle-aged and having children. Most of the time, their children can't see the movies they've been in because of mature content or violence. So a lot of actors do these films for the benefit of their children. Now you can easily make an animated character look like the actor that voices it and it's probably very fulfilling to do work your child can enjoy.

Aside from that big draw, voice acting is easy. It usually doesn't require very much time and it's something an actor can do in between other movies or if they don't want to spend a lot of time away from home. Compared to serious roles or roles that require drastic physical changes like weight gains or muscle building, voice acting is easy and fun. You can even go in pajamas and you wouldn't know the difference. Most of the work of an animated film falls on the designers, not the actors. For them, it's an easy paycheck.

And audiences love it too. It's fun to watch a serious A-list actor do something silly. That's why people love bloopers. And that's why we love to see great actors lend their voices to quirky animated characters. It's an evolution that benefits everyone.