My Favorite Twelve Supporting Kids Cartoon Characters

Salutations,

So I have a half dozen or so 'best of' lists that are half finished and I'm going to be proactive and finish them. The first and easiest because its the closest to being done is my supporting cartoon characters list. I have the distinction of being able to watch six hours of cartoons (anything PG rated or less) at work every day so I've been looking at a LOT of kids movies (because Disney sequels > Olson Twins movies) lately and that's where I came up with this particular group. To preface this, its kids characters only, so no Brian from Family Guy or Ralph Wiggum from the Simpsons. Also, its supporting characters, so no primary heroes (mostly boring) or villains (saving for another list) are going to appear here. So without further ado...

12. The Aracuan Bird (Disney, no credited voice actor that I can find)
Well, I know this particular character probably isn't on anyone's list, but let me explain a bit. Most old time cartoon shorts had a hero and villain and thus almost none of them technically worked for this list (I didn't want to use super obvious characters like Goofy or Daffy). The Aracuan Bird appeared in three Donald Duck cartoons: a segment of the movie The Three Caballeros(1945), the short The Clown of the Jungle (1947) and a segment of the movie Melody Time called Blame it on the Samba (1948) (you can look up some if not all three on YouTube). The bird melds the more plot driven, safer Disney cartoons with the kinetic energy of the Warner Brothers. Given the generic, fairly tame adversaries that Donald Duck normally dealt with (ants, a dopey bee, Pluto, etc.), this combination of Woody Woodpecker and the Looney Tunes Dodo hopped up on RedBull really made an impression on me as a kid, despite his sparse appearances. So representing the bright nonsense of classic cartoon, the Aracuan Bird makes the list.

Fun Fact - there is an actual Araucuan bird (note the slightly different spelling) native to South
America.

11. The Huntsman (Freakazoid, voiced by Jeff Bennett)
Okay, this is the last really obscure character, I promise. If you weren't aware, I really love Freakazoid!... If you don't know what it is at all, it followed Animaniacs and spoofed superheroes the way Animaniacs spoofs classic Warner/Disney cartoons. Like Animaniacs, the show had multiple segments and shorts without a real main plot line. One of the supporting characters, The Huntsman, is a combination of Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas, and Robin Hood. He's strong, magical, tough, and has an amazing theme song that to this day I still can recite pretty well. Unfortunately, he doesn't usually have much to do... watch this (its only about 3 minutes) to get a good idea of why he's hilariously awesome... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPbIiLrNGZo

Fun Fact - Jeff Bennett also voiced Dexter's Dad on Dexter's Laboratory...

10. Hammy (Over the Hedge, Steve Carrell)
Over the Hedge isn't even one of my 20 favorite animated movies, but the surprisingly manic vocal performance by the normally even mannered Steve Carrell combined with a really fluid animation puts him on my list. I suprised myself with just how fun and crazy this character is when I watched the movie again. I thought long and hard about including Chip or Dale or both, but in the end they weren't as interesting. I went with what would happen if Chip or Dale freebased some cocaine... you'd get Hammy. If you haven't seen Over the Hedge, its a fun throwback type of movie and Hammy's role in the very end of the climax is what put got him in the list.

Fun Fact - Hammy suggests calling the titular hedge "Steve" saying that "Steve is a nice name"

9. Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe, no credited voice actor)
This one was tricky for me... I wanted a character from the 80s action cartoons I watched a lot in my very young years. Optimus Prime seemed like a main character and the best part of He-Man and Thundercats were the villains. That left G.I. Joe and by far my favorite Joe was the silent ninja Snake Eyes. If I remember right (and its been probably 15 years since I've seen any of the G.I. Joe episodes) Snake Eyes was severely burned and suffered damaged vocal cords in a helicopter explosion. Although you'd think a guy armed with only a sword and a few grenades would be at a disadvantage in a firefight, you would underestimate the poor aim of the Cobra troops. Quiet, badass, action star with nary a line, Snake Eyes deserves his spot on this list

Fun Fact - Not a fact at all, but I was always really cheesed that besides hardly being in it, Snake Eyes got his butt whooped twice in the G.I. Joe movie... I know they were pushing the newer characters to sell more toys, but don't make the cool old characters look like total wimps. At least he had a better fate than most of the original Transformers in their 80s movie....

8. Gurgi (The Black Cauldron ,John Byner)
I really love Lloyd Alexander's series of Prydain novels quite a bit. For those who are unaware, its a series of five books, the second of which is the Black Cauldron, which are based on Welsh mythology. The rights to the series are owned by Disney, who only produced the 1985 classic, the Black Cauldron, which at the time was the only Disney animated feature to receive a PG rating... Gurgi is to the Prydain books as Sam is to Lord of the Rings, only if Sam was a mix between a dog and a monkey. Gurgi is full of mischief, but is arguably the most heroic character in the movie. His two traits are his use of rhyming couplets (the most famous was "crunchings and munchings") and his odd voice, spoken all in the 3rd person, provided by impressionist John Byner (who's most famous for the ant and aardvark characters from the Pink Panther cartoon). To try and describe the voice... think maybe a more intelligible Donald Duck who's a heavy smoker. To sum it up, in terms of balancing loyalty, humor, and an unforgettable voice, Gurgi gets the spot at #8.

Fun Fact - Gurgi is the only character from Black Cauldron to have his own attraction at a Disney theme park, Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies at Magic Kingdom DisneyWorld. It was open from 1986-1993 and then changed into Lumiere's Kitchen (it's currently called the Village Fry Shoppe).

7. Puss in Boots (Shrek 2, Antonio Banderas)
I don't enjoy the Shrek character or franchise that much but somehow someway this little guy makes it on the list. He's why I own Shrek 2 and not the original... The movie character combines the fairytale with Antonio Banderas playing Zorro with a lot of 'cat' still intact. The cute cat faces, the constant distractions, the funny payoff of the "Cops" sequence... Exactly what a supporting character should do. The character is popular enough that Dreamworks has a spinoff in production based more on the actual fairytale. I'm looking forward to that a lot more than the actual fourth Shrek movie that's coming out this year.




Fun Fact - Antonio Banderas also does the voice in the Spanish language version of the movie.

6. Tiger (An American Tail, Dom DeLuise)
First off, R.I.P. Dom DeLuise who died earlier this year. I think the movie buff would remember DeLuise as Burt Reynolds' co star in both Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit as well as his small parts in Mel Brooks films. I personally became aware of DeLuise through a variety of animated characters, primarily in Don Bluth films. An American Tail is the first movie I can remember seeing in theaters when I was 4 years old, so chalk up personal bias as to why Tiger is so high on this list. I was discussing Tiger with a friend at work who dismissed the character as being a knockoff of the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz. I disagree and I think that the combination of panic, embarassment, agitation, and warmth DeLuise brought to the role gave it a more depth than the Lion (I think the physical comparison is more apt). Even though An American Tail will always be remembered for the song Somewhere Out There, I think Tiger's musical number "A Duo" deserves a mention (as well as the trippy visuals).

Fun Fact - Dom DeLuise voiced the character of Tiger seventeen times, in both theatrical movies, both straight to DVD sequels, and in all 13 awful episodes of Fievel's American Tails. The only character he voiced more was Itchy, the Daschund from All Dogs Go To Heaven (21 times).

5. Kronk (Emperor's New Groove, Patrick Warburton)
Maybe a surprise being this high, but I think Emperor's New Groove is the best post Lion King Disney movie. The film had a troubled history, losing an Owen Wilson voiced slacker type (good thing) and a soundtrack full of Sting songs (bad thing) for Kronk (great thing) and a Tom Jones song (pretty cool thing). It's always tough for G rated animated movies to reach both the kids without boring/excluding the adults. Most of the time, the more adult humor is pop culture/movie references. This movie has a fair share of those, but most of the humor is from the ever deadpan Patrick Warburton as Kronk, the dim witted yet well meaning henchman. Warburton tends to play two sorts of characters - tough (Joe from Family Guy or the Hoodwinked Wolf) or dumb (The live action Tick or Puddy from Seinfeld). He's been typecast for sure, but he plays the monotonous dimwit so gleefully well that he completely steals the movie despite being a villain's sidekick. Special props go to the use of the "angel and demon on the shoulders" gag that Disney brought back from their old Pluto cartoons.

Fun Fact - Showing that Disney realized he was the best part of the first movie, the character of Kronk starred in the straight to DVD sequel, Kronk's New Groove.

4. Genie (Aladdin, Robin Williams)
Robin Williams' comic stylings have led to a fairly hit or miss film career. To me, his two greatest comedic performances are in Good Morning Vietnam and Aladdin, where his manic improvs make sense in the context of the story. Everyone has their favorite, but out of all the modern Disney film sidekicks, the Genie combines personality with humor and visual flair while still being crucial to the plot (which is why he's here and some of his contemporaries aren't on this list).
Unlike most animated movies, Williams improved almost all of his dialogue. He had the script outline with suggested topics and came up with the various transformations (an estimated 52 character changes). Visually, the animators were inspired the stylings of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld to make the genie much more 'cartoony' than most of the human cast. The fluid animation combined with Williams' improvs that don't detract from the story are what put the Genie on the list. Plus, he has 2 songs, one of was Oscar nomiated (Friend Like Me) and might be my favorite Disney song. Finally, the Genie inspired the coolest level of the Sega Genesis Aladdin game (the 2nd best Disney video game after the NES Ducktales).

Fun Fact - After a contract dispute, Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson), took over for Robin Williams for Return of Jafar and the Aladdin animated series.

3. The Brain (Animaniacs, Maurice LaMarche)
Now this may seem like a cheat, but I'm using the Brain's appearances from Animaniacs as opposed to his own show. I make this distinction because I think Pinky and the Brain work best as shorts and not as well as full half hour cartoons. The Brain's personality seems to be part Napolean Bonparte and part Vincent Price, and the voice is based on Orson Welles. His appearance is actually based on Tom Minton, a producer and writer of Animaniacs. I find the Pinky and the Brain cartoons a good balance of classic Warners slapstick with a lot of really clever pop culture references (I especially love Brainy the Poo and Bubba Bo Bob Brain). Finally, the Brain started the great catch phrase "Are you pondering what I'm pondering..."

Fun Fact - Maurice LaMarche also imitated Orson Welles in Ed Wood, dubbing over Vince D'Onofrio's cameo.

2. Launchpad McQuack (Terry McGovern, Ducktales)
The best of the best as far as supporting characters go, Launchpad was far and away the greatest original character in Ducktales and then joined Darkwing Duck after Ducktales was cancelled. He served as the bodyguard and pilot for Scrooge and was the focus of several early episodes. His cleft beak/chin, the aviator goggles and bomber jacket gave him a distinctive visual look, being one of the largest characters in Ducktales. I also have to mention his ability to crash any sort of transportation with little to no injury to Launchpad or his passengers. Launchpad had a lot of courage and integrity and beyond his pilot skills, served as the voice of reason and honesty compared to the more obssessive Scrooge. My favorite Launchpad episode has to be Double o Duck in which he becomes James Bondish spy (an episode that has little to do with Scrooge or the nephews at all). As the series of Ducktales went on, Launchpad was used less and was replaced by both Bubba Duck and Gizmoduck, he also did not play a big role in the Ducktales movie. In Darkwing Duck, Launchpad was the pilot and sidekick to Drake Mallard and was the only character besides Gizmoduck to appear in both series. His personality changed a bit as he became dumber, more passive, and less a man of action (probably to contrast more with Darkwing himself). Anyhow, after watching the Ducktales episodes as an adult, I really think Launchpad is the best TV kids supporting character.

Fun Fact - Launchpad was considered for a starring role in his own show, a show that eventually became TaleSpin.

1. Baloo the Bear (Phil Harris, Jungle Book)
When I thought this list up, this was my easy top choice... as a supporting character, you can't beat Baloo. He advances the story of Jungle Book, representing the easy going jungle life that Mowgli has to give up to become a man. He also provides comic relief without being irritating or distracting and has a character arc of his own. By the end of the story, the lazy 'jungle bum' battles Shere Khan to help out his friend. Baloo also has one of the greatest songs in the Disney catalogue, "The Bare Necessities," as well as contributing to "I Wanna Be Like You." His brash, laid back and boisterous voice provided by radio personality Phil Harris complemented his large size and hipster attitude. I also personally respect that the Disney animators used the sloth bear as a model for Baloo's diet and physical features. He eats fruits, plants, and insects and his large claws and stocky body also resemble the sloth bear. Baloo was so popular that Phil Harris reprised the character (I realize the look of both characters is different, but in voice and personality... it's Baloo) in 2 different movies; Little John in Robin Hood and Thomas O'Malley in the Aristocats. Furthermore, Baloo became the star of TaleSpin, voiced mostly by Ed Gilbert (Harris' voice had aged too much although he did record some dialogue). After Harris passed on in 1995, Baloo was voiced by John Goodman in the Jungle Book 2 (a rare Disney sequel that wasn't completely awful).

Fun Fact - Phil Harris' last animated role was that of Patou in Rock a Doodle in 1991. Harris was 86 years old when he recorded the dialogue.

So there's my countdown... It took some time to put together... Hopefully it wasn't too boring or tedious to read through... And its all opinion (its called "My favorite" for a reason) and completely subjective. More lists and such to come...

That's all I have to say about that.