It’s the holidays again, which means I’m not only handling holiday shopping with ArtInsights, but my film critic and journalist hat is on for much of the time! I’m not only the lead contributor to the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and write for the Motion Picture Association’s The Credits, I’m also part of 3 voting bodies, which include AWFJ and WAFCA, the Washington Area Film Critics Association. Like many of the critic circles, we have awards every year, so that means seeing EVERYTHING, and also sometimes I’m interviewing folks involved in these films. Since most of you are not only interested in buying art, but in the history, news, and just general information about all things animation, I wanted to write about the hopefuls in the Animated Feature category for the Academy Awards, and talk about animation Oscar history and hopefuls in the field coming up for the next Oscars!
First, let me tell you about the history of that category. There have certainly been animated features that have won or been nominated for awards over Oscar history. Three features won special awards, essentially for making huge strides in process or for technical achievement, including Snow White in 1938, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in 1989, and Toy Story in 1996.
Here is Walt Disney getting one BIG special Oscar, and seven LITTLE Oscars from Shirley Temple:
Of course you also might remember that Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture in 1991. While the movie didn’t win Best Picture, (that was the year The Silence of the Lambs won Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress. It didn’t have a chance), it did win Best Music for Alan Menken, and Best Song with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s song Beauty and the Beast. Howard Ashman had worked on the film while sick with AIDS, and Disney created a production unit near his home in Beacon, New York, so he could undergo treatment at Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers in New York City. His partner Bill Lauch accepted the Oscar for him at the awards ceremony. The telecast captures a moment in time when so many were experiencing loss in the film and stage communities, as exampled by this clip of Alan and Howard winning their category:
If you want to know more about Howard Ashman’s life, there’s a great documentary directed by Beauty and the Beast producer Don Hahn, which you can see on on Disney+ HERE.
The argument for not having a dedicated category at the Oscars for animated features was that there weren’t enough releases for it to make sense. By 2001, there was enough competition to Disney by way of DreamWorks and other studios to warrant a reexamination, and the first Oscar for the Best Animated Feature was given at the 74th Awards, in 2002. Shrek was the first winner, and that movie won against Monsters, Inc! (WHAT? As with many Oscar wins, that didn’t travel through time well) The Academy allowed the award in any year where there were 8 animated features released to theaters, but changed that rule in 2019. The other qualifiers include that the film be over 40 minutes in length, and have over 75% of the film be created in animation. In its short history, Pixar has had the most nominations, with 18 (and 11 wins). Studio Ghibli has been nominated 7 times, with Hayao Miyazaki garnering four for himself (with 2 wins).
So: what about this year, you ask?
Well, there are three major contenders at the moment, and the larger field of 5 nominees is up for argument.
Dreamworks sleeper hit The Wild Robot is currently favored to win. Directed by Chris Sanders, the movie is based on Peter Brown’s popular book series. It stars Lupita Nyong’o as service robot Roz, who, after finding herself on an abandoned island, has to learn to communicate and connect with the local animal population in order to survive. It also stars dude-of-the-decade Pedro Pascal as a wily fox Fink, and Catherine O’Hara as Pinktail, an overwhelmed possum mom. One of the major themes of the film is kindness as a survival skill, which is very much a message that resonates, given the current political climate in the US. For the MPA’s The Credits, I spoke to Head of Story Heidi Jo Gilbert about her work on the film. You can read that HERE. Here, though, if you haven’t seen the film, is a nice behind-the-scenes video:
There’s also a likelihood that the film’s composer, Kris Bowers, will get a nomination for the music score. I also spoke to him for The Credits, and you can read that interview HERE. You can also see him talk about his collaboration with percussion ensemble Sandbox in this video:
While I think The Wild Robot is likely to win the Oscar, another personal favorite is the Australian feature Memoir of a Snail. This movie is NOT a children’s feature. There are plenty of elements that you don’t want your 7 year old to pick up on, whether it’s the sad, violent foster-home storyline, the lead character Grace’s kleptomania, her brother’s pyromania, or mentions of sex and death. The movie is part of stop-motion animation auteur Adam Elliot’s trilogy of trilogies, or his “clayography”, as he calls it, and while it sounds dour, it’s actually funny, dark, and poignant. This is for lovers of Tim Burton at his darkest. Elliot has a congenital disorder that makes him shake, and he incorporates that into how he designs the various characters, making them quirky and a bit bizarre. I reviewed it for the AWFJ, and you can read my effusive review HERE. Here’s the trailer for it, so those who haven’t seen it get a sense of the movie, and a video of Adam Elliot himself taking us through the exhibit of props and production art used in the film:
Next is the movie many of my friends and clients really loved this year, an animated feature that broke way more box office records than, frankly, anyone was expecting. Unfortunately, there are some bad feelings surrounding the casting and release of this sequel. While Amy Poehler reprised her role in voicing Joy with a payday of 5 million, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, who lended their voices to Fear and Disgust were only offered 100k each, so they declined. The movie grossed over 1.7 billion worldwide, so they probably could have sprung for a bit more in the way of salaries for Hader and Kaling. Those kinds of behind the scenes issues play a big role in whether a movie gets nominated, and especially in whether they win. Here are the cast members doing their thing:
As to other potential Oscar hopefuls, there are three realistically in the running for inclusion as nominees.
First, there’s Flow, the Latvian entry into the animation category, and if more people (read: Academy members) would see it, it would certainly be nominated, and might even have a chance at winning the Oscar. At this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Flow was awarded the Jury Award, the Audience Award, and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution in the Feature Film category. It’s a beautiful feature, both visually and thematically, and the lead cat looks like my cat, T’Challa. Even the trailer makes you want to cry:
Netflix is releasing the latest Nick Park-directed Aardman Studios feature starring stop motion stars Wallace and Gromit, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and it looks like lots of fun. It won’t be reaching the streamer in the US until January of next year, but they’ll have to screen it for us critics so we can consider it in our awards options. The beloved voice of Wallace, Peter Sallis, died in 2017. This is the first time Ben Whitehead, the new voice of Wallace on the small screen and in commercials, will be lending his talents in a feature. So far, the film has gotten nothing but rave reviews, and stands at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The franchise is a known commodity, and as such is likely to get more votes than Flow, regardless of which is the better film.
Although The Hollywood Reporter has the Pharrell Williams biographical documentary as one of the top five films in the running for Oscar nominations, it hasn’t gotten the same level of enthusiasm by either the critics or audiences the other films have received. What it does have going for it is it’s directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville, it’s a Lego movie, and it features the voices of a host of famous musicians. That includes Williams himself, Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg.
You’ve got to admit it’s a pretty fearless way to tell a biographical tale!:
Here’s Pharrell talking about it at the Toronto International Film Festival:
There’s another behind the scenes issue that will impact which films wind up in this year’s Oscars. It’s the ongoing talks between the Animation Guild and the AMPTP. The folks in the guild argue (rightly) that animation professionals worked through the pandemic and animated features have largely outperformed every other genre in the past few years. They are looking for staffing protections and better rules around the use of AI. At the time of this writing, the Guild was focusing specifically on pressuring Dreamworks. As their talks are dragging on, they have handed a petition signed by over 58,000 working animation professionals and public supporters. You can read all about that, (and sign the petition) on the Animation Guild website HERE. All of that, depending on how it continues to play out, will likely have an impact on which films get votes. That’s politics, y’all!
You can watch an interview with 5 potential Oscar winners on the Variety website HERE. In the meantime, you can let me know what you’ve seen and what you hope will win this year’s race in the comments below!