Vocal Dissonance in live-action movies.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- This was done to comedic effect in the opening cartoon short: Baby Herman sounds like a real baby, but when the cartoon ends and the movie cuts to the "real" world, we find out that Herman's real voice is rough and gravelly.
- Also Played for Drama in the climax when Judge Doom, who's spent the movie talking with Christopher Lloyd's normal voice, is revealed to be the toon responsible for murdering Eddie Valiant's brother and partner and Eddie recognizes his nightmarish high-pitched voiceJudge Doom: Remember me, Eddie?! When I killed your brother... I talked JUST! LIKE! THIIIIISSSSSS!!!
- Marilyn Monroe didn't invent the gimmick of The Vamp having a childish voice, but she certainly popularized it. Six decades later, the stock character of the blonde with a "breathy little-girl voice" has actually become a bit of a cliché.
- Singin' in the Rain uses this as a main plot point, since none of the audience expects the beautiful silent film actress Lina Lamont to have such a "razorblades on piano wire" voice. This becomes a problem when Hollywood makes the transition from silent films to talkies, since Lina's voice clashes so much with her image.
- Suburban Commando has two badass bounty hunters from space (one of whom is played by Mark Calaway) who never talk. During their fight with Shep, it's revealed that this is because they sound like they're on helium. The Italian dub of that movie goes for a different gag and has the bounty hunters' voices sound goofy and screechy like those of men trying to speak like women.Shep: "No wonder you guys never talk!"
- Pee-wee's Big Adventure:
- Pee-wee asks directions from some actors wandering around a movie backlot. The stormtrooper guy has a high-pitched and squeaky voice, while the showgirl has a deep, masculine voice.
- Pee-wee's familiar high-pitched voice has been dubbed with an incredibly deep voice in the film within a film.
- King Ralph has Princess Anne of Finland, who is played by Joely Richardson, but voiced by a man, much to the irritation of King Ralph.
- Sri Sumbaji, the Indian Pirate Lord in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is silent for most of the discussion, with his aides speaking on his behalf. This becomes apparent when he finally talks: he has a high-pitched, squeaky voice.
- In a Deleted Scene from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Arnold Schwarzenegger, playing an army sergeant voiced by Samuel L. Jackson doing a thick Southern accent, narrates a promotional video for SkyNet's new line of battle robots. One of the execs says he doesn't like the voice, so another exec, played by Jack Noseworthy with Arnold's voice, says, "We can fix it."
- Godzilla. Yeah, a Kaiju big enough to tear down all of Japan has a cry like an air raid siren on helium...
- Wayne's World 2: Wayne and Garth enjoy listening to a radio show hosted by the suave Handsome Dan, who they imagine as a cool babe-magnet of a man. When they get to the studio, they assume that the handsome Ted McGinley
is Handsome Dan, but he's actually just "Mr. Scream," who does nothing but scream on the show. The real Handsome Dan is played by Harry Shearer. - American Graffiti: Everyone believes that real-life DJ Wolfman Jack to be a risqué black man, but he turns out to be an unassuming white guy named Robert Smith.
- The Man with Two Brains sees Dr. Hfuhruhurr seek an ideal host body, only for his preferred initial candidate to be a physically attractive prostitute with a New York nasal whine..What is it? My voice? Did I blow the deal? I knew I shouldn't talk until I make the deal. I know my voice is terrible.
- A Mighty Wind: Harry Shearer's character plays the bass (both the bass fiddle and the vocal bass) in The Folksmen. However, in the end, he decides he'd be happier as a woman, and they're shown doing their signature song "Old Joe's Place" with him in a dress. When it comes time for his solo, he goes ahead and does it in his signature bass style, then does a girlish laugh and flirtatious hand wave gesture.
- In Muppet Treasure Island captain Smollett does a roll call of his new crew, ending with a pirate "Big Fat Ugly Bug-Faced Baby-Eating O'Brien". What he gets is a beautiful corset-clad lady who croaks a deep, manly "Aye". Cue Beat with Jaw Drop from the cast.
- In the Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups, his character's wife and the wives of his friends start flirting with a tall handsome muscular man, only when he starts talking to them he speaks in a high squeaky voice.
- A running gag in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother has what sounds like a woman knocking on the door to Sigerson's office and calling him, and when he tells "her" to come in, it turns out to be his manservant Hunkston.
- Froggie in The Little Rascals shorts is a kid with a deep voice (thus the nickname).
- In the 1967 Doctor Dolittle movie, the heroes arrive on Sea-Star Island and are greeted by the stereotypical grass-skirt-wearing, bone-through-the-nose style "natives" ... who speak in perfect BBC English accents.
- In the obscure 1987 comedy-adventure Jane and the Lost City (based on the notorious Jane comic strip of the World War II era), the main characters are in Africa and encounter the queen of a jungle tribe who at first doesn't say anything. When she does start speaking, she turns out to have an "educated" British accent.
- The 1933 political thriller Gabriel Over the White House has as one of its minor villains a gangster named Nick Diamond, who fancies himself an Al Capone-style "tough guy." So it's pretty surprising when we hear him speak and learn that he still has some unidentifiable Southern/Eastern European accent from his native country. Another character subtly lampshades this, noting how far Diamond has traveled from his roots. (Truth in Television, as quite a few Prohibition-era gangsters were European-born.)
- Played with in Police Academy, when the timid, tiny-voiced female police recruit lets loose with an uncharacteristic bellow of "Don't move, dirtbag!" when she actually makes an arrest.
- Austin Powers:
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me has Mini Me sporting a bass singing voice.
- Subverted in Austin Powers in Goldmember, when a man (none other than Nathan Lane) at Studio 69 appears to address Austin in a sexy black woman's voice. Then it's revealed that an actual sexy female African-American spy is sitting directly behind the man, using him like a ventriloquist's dummy to deflect attention from their conversation.
- Spaceballs:
- When Lone Star and Barf are looking for Vespa; they hear a very deep voice singing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"... and it's coming from her. "Whaddya know — she's a bass."
- When Dark Helmet has his faceplate down, he has a deep, booming voice. When it's up, he looks and sounds like Rick Moranis.
- Cats & Dogs has The Russian, a little Russian Blue kitten that spends the first few minutes being absolutely adorable. Then the owner walks away and it begins to speak with a thick Russian accent. The next few minutes play like a James Bond movie.
- Bernard, the bull, from Where the Wild Things Are, is one of the largest, most intimidating, and by far the most reserved Wild Thing on the island, to the point of never speaking at all. Everyone else avoids interacting with him as much as possible. When he finally talks (and speaks the only two lines he has in the whole movie), he sounds like a timid, soft-spoken young boy.
- The movie Pitch Perfect actually uses this as a plot point. After Chloe has her vocal nodules removed, she can no longer sing above a G sharp, which drastically limits her solos as a soprano. However, after Aubry and Becca make amends, and all the girls go in for their hands-in battle cry, they discover that with her "messed up vocal cords", Chloe is capable of singing bass. This revelation, in conjunction with Becca's coordination of the group, earns them the championship win. Bear in mind, this is Brittany Snow that the jarringly deep, masculine singing voice is supposed to be coming out of. This is also a Brick Joke in hindsight because, at the beginning of the movie, the male commentator for the competition makes the misogynistic comment that because all-girl a capella groups don't have bass singers, they can't reasonably compete with all-boy or mixed-gender groups because their harmony will never be well-rounded enough without a bass.
- The main character in Cannibal is The Bear. The few times he speaks, it's with an oddly girly voice.
- In Stir Crazy the intimidating mountain of a prisoner everyone craps their pants at the mere sight of turns out to be a singer with a silky smooth tenor voice. This was Truth in Television, as the actor, Erland Van Lidth De Jeude, was a heavyweight Olympic wrestler and opera singer.
- A brief gag in Spy Hard has a security guard played by Verne Troyer and voiced by Brad Garrett. (His voice and shadow are depicted before we see him in the flesh.)
- In HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami, Bolo (a.k.a. Little Voice) is a giant of a man with a ridiculously high-pitched voice. He's played by The Great Khali if you wonder. When the protagonist first hears it, he thinks it's coming from a nearby dwarf, which he insults... and then Bolo emerges from the shadow, ticked off.
- Korg in Thor: Ragnarok is a huge being made of rocks. He has a deep gruff gravely voice, right? Nope! He has a high-pitched and soft voice with a very unassuming Kiwi accent. This was inspired by Taika Waititi's experience with hulking but soft-voiced Maori bar bouncers in New Zealand.
- In Avengers: Endgame Bruce Banner and the Hulk have undergone a Split-Personality Merge and the resultant persona, Professor Hulk, retains Banner's gentle voice, which contrasts greatly with the Hulk's massive frame.
- In the Guardians of the Galaxy movies Rocket, a small, cute raccoon, has a fairly deep voice, which really stands out whenever he's speaking more slowly as, whenever he's yelling or speaking fast, his voice tends to get a bit higher pitched.
- In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, War Pig is a massive, cybernetically-enhanced pig who speaks with a teenage girl's voice.
- In the choir rehearsal scene in The Blue Lamp, a tall, fat, balding copper turns out to have a (very pleasant-sounding) high-pitched counter-tenor voice.
- The eponymous character in Pokémon Detective Pikachu, like in the game it's an adaptation of, has an adult male voice courtesy of Ryan Reynolds, although his Pokémon Speak is provided by Ikue Otani as always. This is a result of Mewtwo merging Harry Goodman's soul into his partner Pikachu's body to save his life after a car crash.
- Stardust: Lamia creates an inn as an elaborate trap for Yvaine. This involves turning her goat into her "husband", and Bernard into a woman. The transformations of both aren't perfect: Billy continues to act like a goat, leaping over furniture rather than taking a longer route around it and eats inedible materials. While Bernard turns out to have a very deep masculine voice, as is revealed when "she" tries to serve Tristan poisoned wine.
- Hercules Returns is an Australian Gag Dub of an Italian Sword and Sandal movie, so we have a beautiful Greek princess with a grating Ocker accent and Camp Gay muscleman Machismo. When McBain is fighting with Kent, the voice of Hercules is dubbed over his own, and Kent tells him off for trying to talk like a mythical hero.
- I Am Mother. The eponymous Mother is a mechanical robot with the voice of Rose Byrne. Given that its role is to raise children, a more gentle, empathic voice would be needed. This becomes a brief plot point when the Woman who enters the bunker fails to realise the "mother" she overhears Daughter talking to is the same as the Killer Robots who have been hunting her for years.
- Axe Murdering with Hackley: The sole female killer at RKS speaks with a deep, man-ish voice.
- The Princess Bride: "The Impressive Clergyman" is seen in full garb for nearly half a minute to organ music, at which point he speaks and it is revealed that he has a speech impediment that makes him sound like a dopey Elmer Fudd.
