Animation Source Forums

I would have to say Kevin Bacon simply because it seems to me that Balto (in the first movie) had a lot more emotion and his voice was a lot better... Though his character as a whole begins to change in the other two movies, and the plot certainly doesn't make me like those two any better, I have to commend Maurice in doing his best to act out Balto's character, no matter how... changed it is. Still, nonetheless, I believe Kevin did a better job because of the emotion put into the voice and the enthusiam behind his words.

Well, you know I respect your opinion on things Moki...but I am befuddled how you can interpret much, if any, emotion out of anything Kevin Bacon had done in the Balto voice overs, let alone what he does generally.

La Marche's emotional range, in his portrayal of Balto, shows much more than anything Bacon did with the role.




TO EVERYONE:

I figured I might eventually have to do this. *SIGH* Here are some comparative examples between Bacon and La Marche, using some basic emotional situations (the scenes are noted; for La Marche, I have noted also whether the scene is in Balto 2: Wolf Quest or Balto 3: Wings of Change). If you really need to, you should run the scenes these lines come from and see for yourself how much La Marche's emotional range blows Bacon's out of the freaking WATER. DO it, gang. I am sure you won't take my word for it, so take the DVDs and run the scenes. It may take a little back and forth loading/unloading and scanning, but since I do not have the lines recorded (which would take even more time), I figure you each have the capacity of doing this for yourselves and seeing what ought to be pretty freaking obvious, and hopefully approach it with an open mind (as I did when I first watched these movies, and then thought things like this through).

I'm sorry but, after analyzing these key lines, in the scenes in question (and there are plenty of other examples one could draw), I see absolutely NO WAY anyone could say that Kevin Bacon was more emotive, in his portrayal of Balto, than Maurice La Marche was. Say whatever you may about either (or both) of the sequels. But from where I'm standing, Maurice La Marche did some pretty fine voice acting in both, and trumped anything Kevin Bacon did in the first movie. (I'm NOT saying Kevin Bacon isn't a good actor. I think he generally is. But he has the emotional acting range of a wet blanket).

To wit:


BACON ANGRY: "My name's Balto." (The scene in the alley with Boris, Steele, Nikki, Kaltag and Star, after Steele insults him)

LA MARCHE ANGRY: "No time to argue! I'm your father, you do what I say!" (Balto 2: Wolf Quest, when Balto and Aleu are confronting the spirit bear)



BACON SHOUTING: "Muk! Luk! Relax. Come on you're OK you're not drowning." (after the first appearance of Muk and Luk, when they become panicked after thinking they are drowning in deep water)

LA MARCHE SHOUTING: "Nobody quits on my team! Nobody!" (Balto 3: Wings of Change, when the team is returning from White Mountain during the race)



BACON HAPPY: "Come on, we don't want to miss the finish." (when Boris and Balto are running through Nome, trying to find a good spot to watch the finish of the dog sled race)

LA MARCHE HAPPY: "I know! Isn't it beautiful? Come on, Jenna!" (Balto 3: Wings of Change, on Anvil Mountain, after spotting the bush plane, Balto darts off after it, and encourages Jenna to follow)



BACON SHOCKED: "No, it can't be!" (when Balto realizes that Steele has put scratch markings on the trees to mislead he and the team from successfully returning to Nome)

LA MARCHE SHOCKED: "It's here! My God, it's here!" (Balto 3: Wings of Change, when Balto spots the bush plane parked in Nome near the church)



BACON FRUSTRATED: "Don't talk to me, Jenna. I might turn on you." (after the musher mistakenly presumes Balto is aggressive, when Steele steps on Balto's paw and forces him to cry out while the musher is reaching down to pet him)

LA MARCHE FRUSTRATED: "This is serious! Now look, that plane is out there somewhere. And we're the only ones who can help!" (Balto 3: Wings of Change, when Balto is trying to convince Kirby's team to go out with him in search of Duke and Boris)



BACON SAD/WORRIED: "Rosy..." (When he overhears Doc talking about how Steele's team is lost, and it's going to mean the loss of "the little ones", and the team)

LA MARCHE SAD/WORRIED: "Yes. I should've done it sooner. I know that now. She's so angry with me. She must've run away." (Balto 2: Wolf Quest, when Balto goes to explain to Jenna that Aleu has run off in anger)

This is what I mean by Balto is a boring character. Kevin Bacon was indeed bored with the role, he doesn't even admit playing the part. I can't really give him crap about it because... well, they gave Balto like 5 lines in the whole movie, and none of them were particularly poetic in terms of movie dialogue. With "cool new" inspiring phrases like: "What's the worst that could happen?" and "Yeah.... beautiful...." and "Since when do you need a pedigree to help someone?" I think the loudest thing Balto ever said was to Muk and Luk, which is a long, uninteresting scene that bored me as a child, and as an adult still only makes me wish Boris and Balto were an interesting enough pair to keep mildly entertaining interaction between each other. But I digress.

Balto's dialogue was incredibly poor, and that's why I would've liked him better as a mute character. Jenna would find more reason to find him creepy (because nothing he says to her really requires a timid reaction from her) Bacon could've moved onto other things, and I don't have to hear him say character names the majority of when he speaks. Seriously, Balto doesn't say anything more than a single word after "I don't want to fight". After that, here's the amazing lines Bacon has to stay to recite, and quite frankly, I feel kind of bad for him: "Mush!" "Steele." "Rosie..." "Jenna." "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Do you know how early in the movie that is to make a character not actually talk??? They should've made him friggen mute! THIS KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT!

So it's because of Bacon that it isn't in Balto's nature to raise his indoor voice when he's outside, so I guess that's why people don't particularly care for La Marche. But as to why people deny actors showing emotion to mildly fake emotion, eh.

Balto really wouldn't have much to say anyway, because besides Boris and Muk and Luk, he had nobody to talk to. Plus he might have been overwhelmed by the fact that Jenna loved him, let alone the fact that he got the serum in, and rendered speechless. It's happened to me.

I think there was plenty enough good scripting. The problem lay not there for the most part, but rather in the acting (or lack thereof).

I think it's okay if some people like Maurice LaMarche more. Like you said Jersey, there's a certain softness in his voice. But yeah the acting and drawling could have been waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy better!

Do you mean "drawing?" The animation has nothing to do with the voice acting.

Kevin Bacon. I don't know why the other dudes picked the other guy

@JerseyCaptain: Well, it's just my opinion. It seemed to me that Kevin Bacon displayed more... enthusiasm than the other actor who voiced Balto. Perhaps it's just cause I haven't watched the two sequels in the longest times, but. *shrug*

Well, I'm certainly not faulting you for that, Moki. I respect that you have your opinion. It's all good. I'm just saying I cannot possibly see how anyone could say Bacon showed any real and concrete emotion in that role at all...especially when compared against La Marche's portrayal.

I, for one, never really put the guy down. At least not to my knowledge but you're right, he does deserve good credit

As much as I enjoyed Kevin Bacon as the voice actor for Balto in the first film, i must admit that i enjoyed LaMarche's voice more because Bacon's just sounds a bit bland to me....I believe I'll vote for LaMarche because i think his voice works better.

Kevin Bacon by a LONG shot. I didn't really like La Marche for Balto

I personally like Maurice better, but that's just my opinion. Kevin was good too, though.