Leo gets animated

It’s true, they all shall fall.

One by one, nearly every A-list actor has given in and voiced an animated character at one point in their careers. Sometimes, it has great results, like Tom Hanks voicing Woody or George Clooney as Mr. Fox, but it can go the other way as well. Just ask Will Smith and Angelina Jolie in SHARK TALE, a movie where celebrity voices weren’t enough so Dreamworks actually had to make the fish LOOK like them. Ugh.

Well, one of the only remaining holdouts has been Leonardo DiCaprio, until now. I’m ambivalent about this news as his role is in a Dreamworks (d’oh!) movie, THE GUARDIANS, rather than say, Pixar’s next endeavor. As “fun” as Dreamworks movies can be, I’m still skeptical of their quality whenever a new one is announced. But hey, at least this one doesn’t involve “animals doing things animals wouldn’t normally do.”

“When an evil spirit called Pitch becomes bent upon taking over the world by inspiring fear in the hearts of kids everywhere, a group of our greatest heroes — Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost — band together for the first time, determined to stand in Pitch’s way. More than a collection of storybook subjects, “The Guardians” are also a band of superheroes, who possess their own special powers. Now joined in opposition of a common foe, the Guardians heed the call and combine their powers to defeat Pitch and protect the world from his campaign of fear.”

Leo is playing Jack Frost, and the entire project is based off a book series by children’s author William Joyce. Other (rumored) cast members include Ian McShane as Pitch, Christopher Lee as Santa, Natalie Portman as the Tooth Fairy, Hugh Laurie as the Sandman and Dwayne Johnson as the Easter Bunny. Of course. But in that same rumor pile it says Hayden Christensen is supposed to play Frost, something that is now deemed false by this latest bit of official Leo news, so take those other casting choices with a grain of salt.