Dan Castellaneta makes Homer Simpson sound delighted to have thought of something, however foolish it is. We value the tenderness beneath the certainty, though the writing sometimes asks him to be little more than loud.
Fi1m perspective
Homer sounds pleased with himself before he has given anyone else a reason to be. In The Simpsons (1989), Dan Castellaneta lets us hear the pleasure Homer takes in his own reasoning. Each foolish idea seems to give him fresh satisfaction. He gives disappointment weight, too, allowing Homer to feel hurt without suddenly making him wiser. That is why we can care about him after we have finished laughing.
The voice took time to settle. In The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), Castellaneta and Julie Kavner voiced Homer and Marge in Matt Groening's animated shorts. Homer began as a loose Walter Matthau impression, then developed into a dropped-jaw voice better suited to sustained emotion and long recording sessions. It was a practical adjustment that let Castellaneta do more with Homer's feelings without losing the character. He carried Homer and several other voices into the 2007 feature film, though the series remains the work we recommend most warmly.
His other characters in the series include Abe Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie and Mayor Quimby. They remain distinct, but the size of the cast he supplies is less interesting than what happens between Homer and Marge. We were moved by Marge's weariness, because Kavner makes her affection sound like a choice she has to keep making. Her patience gives us some measure of what it costs to live with Homer's certainty. Alf Clausen's music helps by treating small troubles with an absurd degree of seriousness, matching Castellaneta's ability to make Homer's disappointment matter without requiring us to think him sensible.
The limit is the writing, particularly when a larger incident is offered in place of a better joke. When Homer stops behaving like anyone we might recognise, Castellaneta's capacity for noise starts to exhaust us. The tenderness cannot survive every demand for more foolishness, however skilfully voiced. We recommend the sharper stretches of The Simpsons, where the jokes are merciless but the people still matter. There is no need to turn affection for this performance into a duty to watch every episode.
Biography
Dan Castellaneta is an American actor, comedian and voice artist. He is best known for providing the voices of Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Barney Gumble and other characters on the animated series The Simpsons (1989–present), on which he is also credited as a writer and consulting producer.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Castellaneta studied at Northern Illinois University and began his career performing with The Second City in Chicago. He has appeared in films including The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and Super 8 (2011), and in television series such as Friends (1994) and How I Met Your Mother (2005). He has received several Primetime Emmy Awards for his voice work on The Simpsons.
