Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
Children's Shows
-
Stream It Or Skip It: 'Star Trek: Prodigy' Season 2 On Netflix, Where The Ragtag Group Of Teen Starfleet Trainees Join Janeway On A Dangerous Mission
-
Stream It Or Skip It: 'WondLa' On Apple TV+, About A Teen Who Explores A Version Of Earth She Never Expected To See
-
Won't You Be My Neighbor? Pluto TV Launches 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' As Their Newest 24/7 Channel
-
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jim Henson: Idea Man’ on Disney+, Ron Howard's Insightful Profile of a Showbiz Genius
Fellow parents, let’s be honest with ourselves: Sometimes we sit with our kids and watch the cartoons that are mesmerizing them. Maybe it’s because you’re tired from helping your toddler build towers and make Play-doh spaghetti and just need a break, or you want to make sure the show’s content is appropriate. Or maybe — just maybe — you like cartoons. I probably sit and watch for all three reasons.
But while I’m watching, my adult brain is interpreting things way differently than my 3-year-old daughter is. For instance, when I recognize a celebrity voice on a kids show, I can’t think of anything else until the show’s over. These are usually voice overs where said celebrity doesn’t even try to disguise his or her voice and it basically sounds like the actor’s voice coming out of a llama or horse or CGI-rendered butler. Hearing it makes my mind wander to iconic roles or just the fact that Disney (it’s usually Disney) must have paid them a boatload of money — or had compromising photos — to get them to get into the recording booth.
Which ones are the most distracting, though? Some celebs do a good job at disappearing into their character but others… they’re just amazingly annoying distractions.
By the way, I give this list with two caveats: 1) I’m talking about TV series only — movie studios cram so many celeb voices into their animated films it’s hard to keep up, and 2) None of this matters to the kids. As far as my daughter is concerned, if she sees Jennifer Garner talk, she’ll just think it’s the voice of Mama Llama. Which brings me to the first item on the list…
Jennifer Garner In 'Llama Llama'
When I read that Jennifer Garner was going to lend her voice to the Netflix adaptation of Anna Dewdney’s ridiculously popular Llama Llama book series, I didn’t think much of it. But when I started playing the episodes for my daughter, all I could think of was that a) Garner has a surprisingly distinctive voice, b) the last Capital One ad I saw with her in it, and c) when ABC is going to finally cave and make a reboot of Alias. I bet Jen can still kick ass, two decades and a marriage to Ben Affleck later…
Jenny Slate In 'Muppet Babies'
I didn’t quite place the voice of Miss Nanny on Disney Junior’s new reboot of Muppet Babies, but I knew it sounded familiar. Then I looked it up on IMDb, and now I can’t get Jenny Slate’s nasally Valley Girl voice out of my mind. Slate’s career hasn’t exactly been full of family-friendly fare. And I wonder what my daughter will think when she comes across this video of Slate inadvertently dropping an f-bomb during her brief stint on SNL:
Eric Stonestreet In 'Sofia The First'
While Wayne Brady seems to disappear well into the role of Sofia’s singing bunny Clover on the Disney hit Sofia The First, Stonestreet, who plays Sofia’s loyal flying horse Minimus, just sounds like Eric Stonestreet. Minimus is supposed to be a stable horse who everyone underestimates, and he does great things simply because Sofia helps him believe in himself. Yet when I hear Minimus talk, I think they’re going to cut away and we’ll see Minimus in a striped shirt with the cuffs turned up, talking to the camera about his husband Mitchell’s foibles… or worse, dressed as the creepy clown Fizbo.
(Speaking of which, Stonestreet’s Modern Family co-star Ariel Winter plays Sofia, and even though I know that fact — and I have seen her Instagram feed — she does a nice job of becoming the villager-turned-princess.)
Martin Short In 'The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That'
You all realize that Martin Short is basically doing Ed Grimley when he plays The Cat In The Hat, right? I mean, it’s pretty damn obvious, and it makes me wonder why those kids would listen to Ed Grimley when Ed Grimley is probably less emotionally mature than those kids are.
Loretta Devine In 'Doc McStuffins'
I know Nurse Hallie, Doc McStuffins’ right-hand hippo on the long-running Disney hit, is a beloved character. And I also know that Hattie isn’t the only voice who is known for other things — Stuffy is played by Robbie Rist of “Oliver from The Brady Bunch” fame, and Lambie is played by Lara Jill Miller from Gimmie A Break. But when I hear Devine’s voice talking about “the big book of boo-boos” or saying one of Hallie’s homespun expressions, I just envision Miss Hendircks in Boston Public, and realize that Hallie never told Doc about the time she met R.E.M. at a dive bar:
