The Voices of Pixar

Bob Peterson, Up (2009)

Ed Asner is the voice-star of Pixar’s new charmer, and in the curt syllables of old Carl Fredericksen’s dialogue one can hear echoes of Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Mooreshow. (“You’ve got spunk. I hate spunk.”) And non-actor Jordan Nagai does fine as Carl’s young hanger-on Russell. But director Peter Docter stayed in-house for his big scene stealer. Peterson, the movie’s co-director and co-writer, voices two canines, both man-made, that Carl and Russell meet in faraway Paradise Falls. One is a grrrrrruff guard dog named Alpha; the other is Dug, an amiably addled pooch who’s programmed to speak a half-dozen languages, but who somehow has learned on his own that a boy’s friendship is more important than following his master’s voice. With Peterson, Bird, Burt and all the other vocal talent at the Pixar home office in Emeryville, Cal., who needs celebrities?

Next: Timothy Dalton, Toy Story 3 (2010)