Uncomfortably hot animated characters

This week marks the release of Ice Age: The Meltdown. I was a big fan of 2002 original, because it had everything I like in a big-screen cartoon, like spirited celebrity voice-overs, fun and frantic animation, weep-inducing plot points (Babies separated from their daddies! Grieving woolly mammoths!)

It also featured the voice of Denis Leary as Diego, a human-eating and shady saber-toothed tiger, who winds up not only being sympathetic but . . . and I'm loathe to say this . . . sounding kinda cute with all of his conflicted emotions, newfound deep feelings of community and dangerous something-something. I like that in a dude, and apparently, it works for cartoon tigers, too.

Walt Disney (enlarge photo) Larry Roberts provided the voice for Tramp the 1973 Walt Disney movie 'Lady and the Tramp.'

Here are five more animated characters whose voices make them adorable.

1. Dimitri (voice of John Cusack), Anastasia (1997): Perhaps Russian schemer Dimitri, trying to pass an orphan off as the presumed-dead Romanov heir, is hot because of his floppy hair, or because he sounds a lot like Mr. Cusack, my favorite human actor. Then again, maybe it's because at least in the beginning, he's sort of a punk. And I'm a punk magnet.

2. Tramp (voice of Larry Roberts), Lady and The Tramp (1955): Oh, he was a valiant doggie. A little rough around the edges, and with that unfortunate, self-fulfilling-bad-prophecy of a name. But still a cutie.

3. Tarzan (voice of Tony Goldwyn), Tarzan (1999): A vine-swinging himbo with the deep, stirring intonation of a Shakespearean actor.

4. Beast (voice of Robby Benson), Beauty and The Beast (1991): Mr. Ice Castles gives the big hairy lug such soul that when the Beast turns into an attractive human, it's sort of a disappointment.

5. Robin Hood (voice of Brian Bedford), Robin Hood (1973): British bad boys with hearts of gold are usually hot. And apparently, that spreads to cartoon foxes.