MovieChat Forums > Rick and Morty (2013) Discussion > The new voices are bad

The new voices are bad

posted 3 months ago by greenvelvet (167)
2 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a Justin defender (and 100% support firing him), but I hate that no one is willing to admit how skilled and irreplaceable of a voice actor he was, just because he's now persona non grata.

The new Rick voice is especially bad and sounds so flat and brain dead to the point that I find I'm excluding those episodes from rewatches. Justin's version could be could be rough or soft with a wide emotional range, making the character audibly feel real and not cartoony. Perhaps the only similar voice acting that elevated the character to such an extent is Christian Bale in Howl's Moving Castle. Justin also used stuttering, burping, and other sounds in novel ways.

Even the closest impersonator, Sean Kelly (who was praised by Justin himself) can't quite capture the full complexity of either Rick or Morty. And the anime Japanese/English voices are miles away in all aspects.

I also find it hard to believe that Justin had zero creative input in later seasons. Even if we wasn't in the writers' room, it's not difficult to imagine that he improvised jokes or line delivery while recording. The ending to the two crows episode (“shows on your shoes”) is 100% improvised Justin style but passed the time when he supposedly stopped contributing to writing.

[–] 123Guy (7310) 3 months ago

While I agree a little, I also felt it was worth it to grow to get used to it for the stories - which were decent IMHO.

It took me some time, but I'm okay with the voices now, for the characters sake. I think they got a little better at it after a few episodes.

[–] greenvelvet (167) a month ago

Season 8 first look - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwPvpC6lTto

I haven't watched R&M in a while and actually wasn't sure if this wasn't an old Roiland recording at first. Someone in the comments pointed out the raspy-ness is missing and then it became obvious it was Cardoni as Rick. It's still a huge improvement and a lot more watchable.

There's still something about the sentence endings that Cardoni isn't getting quite right, maybe using a rising tone when it should be falling. Makes Rick sound more energetic than suits the character. He's also missing the playfulness of Roiland, who could be quite creative and improve-like in line delivery, using shouting, whispering, stuttering, etc, though Cardoni did manage the burping this time.

Considering this was only a rough draft and the lines will probably be re-recorded, I'm feeling much more optimistic about the next season.

Bleden's Morty is still too squeaky, even worse than last season, but that's not a make or break for me.