Why Doesn't Captain Hook Have A Real Head?

[delray]

Hello, All!
I've always been bothered by the inconsistent way that Disney assigns either plastic heads or human heads to the characters that roam the World. Of course here I'm only talking about the human characters that appears in Disney Cartoons and not the ainimals. For instance, Captain Hook, Mr Smee, the Queen of Hearts, Jafar, Hades, and King Triton-all plastic heads. Malificent, Snow White and the Evil Queen, Cruella, and every other princess-real heads. Wendy, Peter Pan, and Alice-real heads. Recent additions, Kim Possible and Ron Stopable-real heads. Mr. Incredible and Plastic Girl-fake heads. No consistentcy! Why can some talk and some can't I want an answer and I want it now! And by the way how many years has Captain Hook been in grade. Isn't it about time he was promoted to Admiral Hook! How about that!
Anyone else upset about this! Let's here from you!

Regards,
Delray
"Will you stop this foolishness! Which foolishness would you like to see?"

[IMFearless]

If I was to place a guess, it has to do with how difficult it is to pull off "teh look". Of the ones you've suggested for real heads (I believe the term "face character" refers to one of the two, but I forget which), most of them would be VERY difficult to find someone who looks close enough (besides the fact that Hades is BLUE). Also consider difficulty of finding wigs/face facial hair: IIRC, the only character without a mask who has facial hair is Jack Sparrow - and he's live action in the first place.
I would suggest you look for pictures from the Broadway Beauty and the Beast performance - most notably the Beast. His costume was quite elaborate, but it gives an idea of what some of the mask characters could look otherwise.
And, I just now Googled the KP characters, I had no idea that they now appear in the parks. I have to say, I'm actually pretty impressed - I would have thought that to be VERY difficult to pull off.
And, because it's suddenly on my mind - I remember, I think it was 2004, the Halloween party, being in line for Stitch's Great Escape and noticing that some Kingdom Hearts characters were inside the old Timekeeper queue. Does anyone have pictures of them? I would assume it would have been Sora, Donald, and Goofy (the latter two in their game costumes); did Sora have a mask?

[boilerbabe]

delray, your post made me chuckle! I never really gave it much thought, but I see what you're saying! I would think that Capt. Hook would be an easy face character?! The last time we were in WDW, we saw him hanging out around Pirates, I wondered why he can't talk, but others can?!?! He kinda scared me with that hook of his! He's very tall too. Good question! Maybe someone that was a former cast member can answer that?!

[ckc0915]

didnt work in entertainment, but i am a seasonal CM now,
i think Hook would be quite tough to pull off, unless there are a bunch of 6'3" skinny guys with long faces, huge chins and a big nose and a constant 5 o clock shadow(i think a makeup shadow would look really tacky up close). look at the hook from dream along with mickey. he is half mask and half face(prosthetic chin and nose), and he looks ok from below the stage, but when i saw him up close in the tunnel between shows, he looked really bad. i think the mask is the best way to go. but who knows with all the technology out there maybe one day everyopne will be able to talk into a voice changer thing and all characters will talk. i think that would be really cool! (oh wait that would cost alot of money, nevermind)

[Future Guy]

For starters, who has a chin that enormous? It seems to me like Disney uses "human" faces for characters who were drawn with realistic proportions, and plastic heads for the more cartoony ones.

[MetalRage]

For starters, who has a chin that enormous? It seems to me like Disney uses "human" faces for characters who were drawn with realistic proportions, and plastic heads for the more cartoony ones.

i was gonna say the same thing. also like some others said, i think you also need to pull it off to use your own head.

[spodie]

Ah, pondering the intellectual questions of Disney...

[packwingfn]

I just don't how someone would pull off Captain Hook as a face character especially with the whole hook as one of his hands. I just don't think it would look real. I think I like him better as he is now. I've been to Universal a few times and I've seen a lot more face characters but their have been some real bad ones which kinda ruin the fun out of meeting the character. I rather meet a plastic head who looks pretty close compared to some sketchy face character who creeps me out.

[DisBeamer]

Huh. I never thought about it before, but there do seem to be more female face characters than male ones. At least ones I can think of off the top of my head. Kinda odd. Maybe it's because the female characters tend to be younger (or at least have younger appearances) and the males tend to be a bit older... and the CM population just doesn't support a lot of kind-of-older actors?

And, I just now Googled the KP characters, I had no idea that they now appear in the parks. I have to say, I'm actually pretty impressed - I would have thought that to be VERY difficult to pull off.

I saw Ron and Kim in Dec 2007 at MGM. They looked pretty good from a distance but up close Kim looked kinda ... well, 40. It didn't work that well for that particular CM, anyway. >_>

And, because it's suddenly on my mind - I remember, I think it was 2004, the Halloween party, being in line for Stitch's Great Escape and noticing that some Kingdom Hearts characters were inside the old Timekeeper queue. Does anyone have pictures of them? I would assume it would have been Sora, Donald, and Goofy (the latter two in their game costumes); did Sora have a mask?

Seriously?? I would love to see pictures of that! Anyone?

[elizabethswann]

I'm with IMFearless on that. I think they want to keep the faces the way they had them in the films. It'd be hard for anyone to pull off the Captain Hook look without the facial structure. It's the same with Mr. Smee too. He doesn't have a real head because they want to keep the visual the same from the movie. Most of the villains that aren't able to be pulled off without a plastic head are the ones that have them. I still think it's amazing either way though.

[packwingfn]

Yeah most of the princesses are face characters in Disney now that I think of it.

[agingerbugg]

I believe it is for the same reasons as everyone has said previously. The face characters are always live action characters or normal-looking animated characters; the ones with masks are animated characters with exaggerated features. In order for the character to be believably recognizable, they need a mask or a ton of makeup. It is just more cost efficient to throw a fake head on someone then to have them sit in a makeup chair for six hours before making an appearance.

[Future Guy]

Then there are characters like Jafar. If he wasn't wearing a plastic head, then he'd just be an evil-looking guy in a turban, and that's not really a stereotype you want to perpetuate.

[sherabby]

Why do they make the heads so big though? The incredibles come to mind. They were sooo big that they don't look real to little kids. Even Woody has a large head and is very tall.

[Esmeralda]

I think I get all the characters except for the Incredibles. They all seemed to have pretty normal faces to me (somewhat like the princesses) and the plastic heads are a bit strange looking for them.