Ok, interest in the movie has peaked further.
First of all, this has Seth Rogen, who everyone loves. Rose Byrne voicing Leatherhead. Four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who totally kick ass. And you got no Michael Bay.
Seth Rogan doesn’t really have the range for voice over work at least not recently, donkey Kong and now bebop have just been his regular voice without even any editing after the fact.
He’s a good actor, I just don’t think I’m convinced he’s a good choice actor yet. Maybe he just needs more time, Cena wasn’t great in that animated surfing movie, but from what I’ve seen he’s a pretty good Rocksteady.
He’s what the industry calls a stunt casting, which refers to the tonal archetype your character has behind them. Stunt casting doesn’t have to be bad or done poorly, and there are many beloved actors who would fit into the role. For example, the character of J. Jonah Jameson led to J.K. Simmons being stunt cast for a general in Justice League Unlimited, which effectively launched his voice acting career. He was then stunt cast again for The Legend of Korra as they wanted specifically his voice but he’d also shown how diverse a range he was able to deliver with Cave Johnson in Portal 2 and some featured animated movies.
Comparatively, Seth Rogan has literally said in interviews regarding the Super Mario Movie that he doesn’t ever plan to do anything but voice act as himself because he doesn’t need to. Which IMO is a bit of a disservice to the work that voice actors put in. The same show J.K. Simmons stars in Invincible with Seth Rogan, Allen the Alien’s character has no effort put into his lines, they’re all just him exploding basic sentences. It’s disappointing considering how much I used to like him, but between the association with Franco and his Gwenyth Paltrow product line for stoners (mostly just expensive junk) has really soured me on him. Then I read his interviews and his implications about voice acting put me off him now, he’s an enjoyable comedian but there’s not much more to it than that for him.
Regarding Cena - if you haven’t I highly recommend checking out James Gunn’s Suicide Squad and the following Peacemaker. That sold me on Cena’s ability, it just has to be the right roles and direction.
