SPOTLIGHT ON...
SPOTLIGHT ON... features articles on different aspects of the making of "BONGEE BEAR AND THE KINGDOM OF RHYTHM". Highlighting the talented people and archival information, you will get a rare inside look, before the release of the film. This month we feature...THE TALENTED CAST.
Talented Cast Highlights Film
The animated film "Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm" features a cast of talented voices. Bongee Bear is voiced by the Emmy Award winning voiceover actor, Rob Paulsen, reknown for his work in "Pinky and the Brain," "Animaniacs," "An Extremely Goofy Movie," "The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea" and Carl on "Jimmy Newtron," just to name a few. His sidekick, the ostrich Myrin, is voiced by veteran performer Dom DeLuise. Dom's works include "An American Tail," "The Secret of NIHM," "Oliver and Company," "Blazing Saddles," "Smokey and the Bandit," "Spaceballs" and many more films.
The evil witch, Bandrilla, is wonderfully portrayed by another veteran comic performer and Golden Globe winner, Ruth Buzzi. Ruth's credits include the classic TV show "Laugh-In," "Sesame Street," " The Berenstain Bears," "That Girl" as well as "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland"and much more. Her bumbling henchmen (henchcrows) are voiced by the extremely comical Jess Harnell and Jeff Bennet. Together they add a hysterical note to the film as Barnabas and Ivan. Jess's talent has graced numerous projects including "Animaniacs," "Casper," "A Bug's Life," "Lilo and Stitch," "The Country Bears" and "Finding Nemo," while Jeff has enhanced " Johnny Bravo," "Aladdin," "Animaniacs" and the up-coming " Curious George."
The Royal Family in "Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm" is voiced by the talents of Julian Sands, Tatyana Yassukovich and Debi Derryberry. Julian plays King Jason and has appeared in such films as "Stephen King's Rose Red," "The Killing Field," "Boxing Helena" and "Leaving Las Vegas." Tatyana, whose works include "Chocolat," "Six Feet Under" and the TV series "Star Wars:Clone Wars," plays Queen Catherine. Princess Katrina is voiced by the talented Debi Derryberry, who is the voice of " Jimmy Newtron" and has credits which include, "Taz-Mania," "Babe," " Charlotte's Web II," "Toy Story" and "Brother Bear," just to name a few.
The part of the wise owl Mindy, is voiced by June Lockhart, who is well known as Ruth Martin on "Lassie," Maureen Robinson on "Lost In Space" and Dr. Janet Craig on " Petticoat Junction."
The superb cast also includes Daryl Sabara of "Spy Kids (1, 2 & 3)" and the " Polar Express," Danica McKellar of "The Wonder Years" & "The West Wing" who shows off her singing talent in the film, Richard Van Vleet of "All My Children," "Ben" and "The Guiding Light," Bill Farmer, who is the voice of Disney's " Goofy" and also lends his talents to a wide array of Disney movies, and Phil Proctor as the singing Gary the Baker, has voiced many projects for Disney as well as "The Rugrats," "Taz-Mania," "Dr. Doolittle" and "The Iron Giant."
Each performer added their own special humor and emotion to bring their character to life. Danica McKellar and Phil Proctor perform a lively duet to the song "I Love To Sing, I Love To Dance" as Brittany and Gary the Baker in the film. Ruth Buzzi belts out a tremendous performance singing the song "Tha Ballad of Bandrilla" in her voice of the evil Bandrilla. Jeff Bennet also gets into the crooning mode, singing "The Dastardly Dirty Duo" in his own hilarious way. Each song was written by writer/director Brian Zemrak who stated that each of the singing performers nailed the songs on the first take and did an amazing job.
"Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm" is scheduled for release in 2006. The exact date has not yet been confirmed.
Voice Recordings Completed
The voice recordings have been completed for the animated feature "Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm". The recordings took place at the Marc Graue Voice Over Recording Studios in Burbank, California.
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