[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #25, Ursula (Pat Carroll) in The Little Mermaid]
P.S. In my humble opinion, Pat Carroll gives the all time best vocal performance in an animated film.
further reading
"She's Gotta Have It" -Disney's Coming of Age
The Black Anemone - Ursula's last known film role
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19 comments:
Nope. It wasn't even the best in the film, though it's still a great one. (That would be Samuel Wright as Sebastian.)
Best of all time...I hate to say DeGeneres in Finding Nemo, it's such a cliche choice, but...
That is so gay of you! Just because she's like the biggest cartoon diva in history (well, we have Jessica Rabbit, but Ursula is Ursula). I have to disagree too...
Andrew -- i'd have DeGeneres's Dory in the top tier for sure.
Dude -- gay schmay. I stand by it. Though Jessica Rabbit is a good choice. Hail Kathleen Turner.
Nathaniel, today is Nicole Kidman's birthday!!
I came to say the same thing, Anon! Today is Nicole's birthday!!
Happy B-Day Nicole Kidman.
As for Jessica Rabbit...I considered her. I'm straight, and while she's a little scary looking...
How funny that you posted this on the same day I mentioned The Little Mermaid on InContention.
Anyway, I'm totally with you on this one -- Ursula rocked my 6-year-old world. I saved up and bought the soundtrack (on cassette, how quaint) just for Poor Unfortunate Souls, and played it endlessly. Everyone in my family still knows every word.
Guy, that is probably the coolest thing I've learnt about you. But really, it's not just the singing. she knew how to rock the stage.. I mean.. underwater cave.
I have to admit that even though I really like the movie, it's one of these cases where the villain is almost the only great thing in it. I said almost :p
Also, I remember when I was a kid, I had made a list of my "most beautiful women" and I think Jessica Rabbit was at the top (she's was certainly in there) and Pfeiffer as Catwoman was in, too. (I'm not very sure but she had to! I was even (or thought I was) in love with a girl when I was 4 because her last name was Kyla. You know, Selina Kyle.)
So, I totally came here to see if there was a Nicole Kidman post yet (because I just know it's coming), and I get the pleasure of seeing a post about The Little Mermaid, which I happened to have watched last night and still remains one of my favorite movies ever. I've always said that if there was an Oscar for voice work in a film, Pat Carroll would definitely be a contender for Ursula.
@Guy- I had the soundtrack on cassette too!
Nomination for another great moment in scene bitchery - Kate Beckinsale in "Last Days of Disco". So many to choose from, but my personal favorite line has to be "Anything I did that was wrong, I apologize for. But anything I did that was not wrong, I don't apologize for."
The best? Jeremy Irons, The Lion King.
The best is Robin Williams in Aladdin. We were all just blown away in the theater at the time. He hasn't aged as well maybe... Ursula is awesome though and brought something Disney'd been careful to avoid, the sexually experienced ex-Broadway diva, holding court in her apartment before terrified yet delighted guests for tea, salon-style.
Ariel is great because when she first says the word, "Why, Eric!" to the statue, I always jump and get a lysergic shiver up my spine, plus she's one of the first girl characters to actually start breathing heavy when she's aroused. You know the animators are top flight when they make sure they're characters are actually breathing.
Read your Personal Canon on The Little Mermaid and thought it was a fantastic analysis of the film.
Anyway, personal favorite voice acting is probably... any of the performances in Beauty and the Beast, even though Pat Carroll is brilliant as Ursula.
I also read the "Personal Canon" piece and I was so pleased to see that you singled out the one moment in the film that has stuck with me the most through all these years of loving it. You called it an "acting" moment and your description of it and why it's so moving is dead on! You took the words right out of my mouth, the entire piece is a great read.
she was the best thing about this movie!
My favorite quip: "You've got your looks, your pretty face! And don't underestimate the importance of BAWDY LANGUAGE -- HA!"
Surely by now we should have gotten 1 Oscar nomination, undivided, for voice only and mo-cap work: (Voice choices: Degeneres, Finding Nemo, Patton Oswalt, Ratatouille, Julie Kavner, The Simpsons Movie, among others. Mo-Cap: Andy Serkis, King Kong or LOTR, Steve Buscemi, Monster House.) Just to get these groundbreakers out of the way, y'know?
Volvagia -- if animation continues to dominate the film landscape for another decade i imagine they'll eventually add a "voice or special effects enhanced" oscar acting category at some point. ;)
They will, but that's similar to what happened with Animated Feature, more an excuse to bolster their films grosses then anything else and to avoid the possibility of an "Animated Feature" as being Top 5 worthy (WALL-E, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, anyone?)
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