I Know That Voice (2013)

I'm not making a plot paragraph this time since I don't think it would make sense to call it a plot. The basic story to this documentary is multiple voice actors/voice directors discussing the business of voice acting.

My film editing teacher recommended this movie for me to analyze for a possible semester-long editing project. I was more then willing to see it regardless because I like voice acting. There's so many characters to love that were created through this business and from so many voice actors that are rightfully praised for their work. Heck, I even made a top 10 favorite voice actors list back around the time I started moving all of my reviews from RottenTomatoes.com to this then-newly-made blog... in fact sometimes I feel I should make another list, since there's a whole bunch of actors that I didn't know back then and would like to acknowledge now.

The movie's main goal is to reach out to people how there is much more to voice acting than people think. The first two minutes set the style and mood as the editing is cutting from shot to shot, featuring different voice actors in each shot. It starts off with one voice actor reading this monologue to the camera before it cuts to another voice actor reading, and then it cuts to another and another until they finish the introduction with actors saying “I know that voice” in each shot, ultimately leading to the film cutting to all of the voice actors at once saying the title at the same time. The film from there is almost nothing but cutting to different voice actors discussing different subjects about the industry. Some of them get more attention then others such as Tom Kenny, Billy West, and John DiMaggio who is the narrator of the film. But by the end of it all, almost any voice actor that is worth knowing has had a moment to shine and discuss something about their careers. I say almost, because the one problem I have with this documentary is that out of all these voice acting giants, they completely left out Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. I think not interviewing Welker in particular was a missed oppertunity, seeing as he is one of the most creative people in voice acting out there and I think the audience could've learned a lot from him.

But even without Welker, the audience is still given a solid idea of how big the industry is and how these people have voice acted in so many different tv shows and movies. In fact since there are so many people that are interviewed, the text will reintroduce the voice actor/director nearly every time they appear on screen. On top of that, the text will also change on occasion with what work the actors have done . The film may cut to Tom Kenny at one point and the text will say that this is Tom Kenny who did Spongebob Squarepants, but a few minutes later it will cut back to him and it will say that he also did Adventure Time. 

I enjoyed the parts in the film where I really learned something that I never knew before about voice acting. For example, there is a scene that discusses how when voicing a character that someone has done before, the voice actor must figure out a way to create their own unique turn of the character’s voice rather than attempting to impersonate the original voice. Thus the film cuts back and forth, between Mark Hamill and Kevin Michael Richardson discussing how they have done their own takes on voicing The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman respectively. It was fascinating watching Richardson discuss how he had to make his voice for The Joker in The Batman despite the rather imitating legacy Hamill has made with his own Joker voice, while Hamill himself gave his thoughts about Richardson’s performance. I also liked some of the little bits of trivia that I have never learned about some of the voice actors until now like how Shockwave is one of Corey Burton's favorite characters to voice as.

And that's my review for I Know That Voice. If you like the industry of voice acting or don't know a lot about it, I strongly recommend this documentary. Apart from not having Frank Welker interviewed, it's a great way to listen to people from the industry talk about what they do.

Rating: 95%