The last few years have seen the Academy Awards only honor three nominees in the Best Animated Feature category, due to a minimal group of volunteers and worthy winners, but it’s also kept stuff like “Waltz With Bashir” from the master list. This year looks different, with the Academy releasing a list of twenty eligible films. If sixteen are submitted, which seems likely, the pool could increase to a five-nominee category, four of which will enjoy watching Pixar win again.
But is the Academy also trying to let more nominees in, not unlike the now-bloated Best Picture category? You can find a list of the twenty films here, but we’ve isolated a few notables…
-“Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.” This is actually a live-action film, right? Well, check the Academy guidelines. A movie only needs to be 75% animated in order to qualify for the category. This should eventually open the door for the eventual CGI-laden blockbuster done entirely on green screen, though we doubt the big studios have the guts to admit something like “Transformers 2” owes itself to a few particularly misanthropic computer technicians.
-“The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer.” Yeah, what the hell is this? We looked up the trailer on You Tube, and it looked like some really poorly animated straight-to-DVD stuff. We would think an American theatrical release would be a necessity to secure a nomination, but we guess not. IMDb lists a release date of 2010 in both theaters and DVD, casting this film’s eligibility into question.
-“The Missing Lynx: Paws On The Run.” This is a Spanish production that had one week long qualifying run in Los Angeles. Apparently the pedigree is there, the movie won the Spanish Goya Award for Best Animated Feature earlier this year. Another interesting wrinkle to the Animated Feature race we gleaned from Gold Derby— Oscar audiences need to rate the animated films a minimum 7.5 in order for it to be eligible for a nomination. The question is, did any of them go to see this?
-“The Secret Of Kells.” This is an Irish-Belgian-French production that’s gained a lot of support internationally but has yet to receive a release in America. We’re guessing a film festival slot is awaiting, since Buena Vista distributed overseas. Unlike the previous two, this looks and sounds like an intriguing fairy tale and early word has been strong.
-“Tinkerbell And The Lost Treasure.” Okay, hold the fucking phone here. This is a straight-to-DVD film, and unless there was some super-secret theater run granted for this film, a sequel to another direct-to-disc effort, we doubt it would ever be eligible. How/why would Disney waste the resources to push this film in the category in any way? The aisles at video stores are littered with tons and tons of no-name animated fare, why should this rise above the other offal?
For the record, we have our money on “Up,” “Coraline,” “Ponyo,” “The Princess And The Frog” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” gaining nominations with “Up” obviously winning, let’s face it. We’re not going to be conspiracy theorists about this whole thing, but some of the Disney brass are probably feeling overshadowed by Pixar’s dominance in this category, with four wins against two losses, to “Shrek” and “Spirited Away.” There’s a lot riding on the studio’s big return to traditional animation with “The Princess and the Frog,” so we’d think that heads would roll if the film couldn’t break into the nomination circle (which would be a lot more difficult with only three nominees). In Hollywood money talks, none louder than Disney’s…
