Maybe someday Warburton will be SpongeBob-worthy
Patrick Warburton had no problem accessing his inner canine in order to play the big, but not-so-bad, wolf in the new animated film “Hoodwinked.”
“I watch a lot of nature shows,” he says. “Wolves are fascinating. They’re actually not that large of an animal. They’re smaller than a coyote … like a schnauzer, but people are intimidated by them.”
In this updated Red Riding Hood tale, the police must determine once and for all just what happened that fateful day when a young girl, her granny, a wolf and a woodsman met in a cabin in the woods.
When questioned, the Wolf (Warburton) reveals that he’s really an investigative reporter who was masquerading as Granny while tracking down the Goody Bandit.
“He’s not that dark of a wolf,” Warburton says. “He’s just an inquisitive wolf.”
Before joining the animated fold, Warburton appeared in various films but is best known as Elaine Benes’ high-fiving, man-fur-wearing boyfriend David Puddy on “Seinfeld.”
After the sitcom ended, he found the world of voice work waiting for him.
Because he’s worked on so many children’s cartoons – including “Buzz Lightyear,” “Kim Possible,” “Teacher’s Pet,” “The X’s,” “Home on the Range” and “Chicken Little” – even his youngest child is beginning to recognize Daddy’s voice on screen.
There’s one animated show, however, that only his oldest son is allowed to watch, and only after receiving a stern, paternal warning: On Fox’s irreverent comedy “Family Guy,” Warburton plays Joe Swanson, the wheelchair-bound pal of Peter Griffin.
“As a parent, I’m very conflicted,” Warburton says. “I have four kids, and so now, my oldest, Talon, can watch it. …
“Kids shouldn’t be watching it. When we all turned 13, would I have been allowed to watch that show? Not in a million … years.
“But times have changed. We can’t shelter them, so we just stepped up much better communication with our kids these days,” he continues.
“You know, there’s a pedophile on the show. I told my son, ‘Well, you know what? Maybe it’s good you saw that. They are out there. Your grandpas are good men. They’re not like this old freak.’ The old pedophile dude really creeps him out.”
In the meantime, Warburton is padding his resume with many more kid-friendly roles. In fact, his “Emperor’s New Groove” character recently found his way to a feature-length DVD, “Kronk’s New Groove,” as well as a new Disney Channel cartoon, “The Emperor’s New School.”
Although Warburton plays no favorites among his many characters, he thinks that Kronk could teach his “Hoodwinked” character a few lessons in intimidation.
“In a steel cage deathmatch (between Kronk and the Wolf), I’d have to say that Kronk would probably get scratched and scarred up a bit, but he would ultimately end up beating the Wolf because the Wolf is a bit wiry and sinewy,” he muses.
“If you look at Kronk, he’s got to be benching 900 pounds. His arms are like this big; I think he’d probably just choke the Wolf right out.”
The birthday bunch
Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 63. Country singer Jim Stafford is 62. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 59. Movie director John Carpenter is 58. Actress-dancer Debbie Allen is 56. Singer Sade is 47. Model Kate Moss is 32.