Report: The Voice of Aslan is…

… Bryan Cox.

(At least, that’s what Ain’t It Cool News is reporting.)

I’m thrilled.

Cox has a big, booming, rough voice. He never wastes one line of dialogue. His voice has so much more character, personality, and complexity than the large-but-dull voices usually employed for characters of commanding authority.

I was afraid they’d go for a voice that would be instantly recognizable to the moviegoing public, but Cox is lesser-known than James Earl Jones (who’s already played a Lion King) and Sean Connery (who proved with Dragonheart that he should never voice a big animated character again (because, really, who wasn’t thinking about Sean Connery every time he spoke)?

I have little doubt that when Cox growls, we will feel that hot lion breath on our faces, and something in even the bravest soul will tremble.