Originally Posted By mawnck This was back on November 2nd, but I was too wrapped up in life to notice. These are the SUBMITTED movies. The Academy still has to determine if they're REALLY animated features as defined in the rules, and all of them have to run for a week in an LA County theater (several haven't). Once they're all declared eligible, either 3 or 5 movies will be nominated. The number is based on the number eligible. Looks like we can safely predict it will be 5 this year. Here are your contestants: ----------------- “Adventures in Zambezia” “Brave” “Delhi Safari” “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” “Frankenweenie” “From Up on Poppy Hill” “Hey Krishna” “Hotel Transylvania” “Ice Age Continental Drift” “A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman” “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” “The Mystical Laws” “The Painting” “ParaNorman” “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” “The Rabbi’s Cat” “Rise of the Guardians” “Secret of the Wings” “Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas” “Wreck-It Ralph” “Zarafa“ ----------------- Just FYI, "The Secret World of Arrietty" was ineligible due to its 2010 Japanese release date. And "The Secret of the Wings" IS eligible because it ran for a week at the El Capitan before the DVD release. And my jaw is on the floor to see "The Mystical Laws" on there. That's one from the Japanese "Happy Science" religious cult. They've made several Anime movies, and they are all completely bat-guano bonkers (and usually unintentionally hilarious). Haven't seen this one, but I'm sure going to try. This will be the first year in a while that I don't attempt to catch them all (too wrapped up in life, as previously indicated), but I can report that "Delhi Safari" is terrible.
Originally Posted By mawnck I never like to make predictions when I haven't seen all the movies, but "Wreck-It Ralph" is my favorite this year. I would expect "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" to be under serious consideration as well, but nobody saw it so it probably doesn't have a chance of winning.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I would expect "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" to be under serious consideration as well, but nobody saw it so it probably doesn't have a chance of winning.<< I just couldn't get into it, my kids loved it, I was bored.
Originally Posted By tonyanton It would be nice to see a Walt Disney Animation Studios film finally win, as opposed to Pixar.
Originally Posted By basil fan I hope Ralph gets it. I thought it was great. Disney Villains www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/villain.html
Originally Posted By mawnck Well, for ONCE they've stuck one in Norwalk instead of friggin' West Hills. I can get to Norwalk without blowing a huge chunk of my day. So I'll be seeing "Hey Krishna" tomorrow. WOO-HOO! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bAG2KpFvFc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...G2KpFvFc</a> Oh come on ... Admit it ... Yes it looks awful, but you SO want to see this.
Originally Posted By mawnck Well, due to a serendipitous schedule, I was able to catch THREE of the features this weekend, so the Mawnckscars may still happen after all ... IF I can make it to the four G-Kids movies, because I expect they're the most likely to be worthy of a nomination. I can report that "Adventures in Zambezia", "Hey Krishna", and "A Liar's Autobiography" are NOT worthy of a nomination. "Zambezia" (a South African production with an all-star American cast) ain't half bad, but it's not a contender. <a href="http://www.zambeziamovie.com/pages/trailer.html" target="_blank">http://www.zambeziamovie.com/p...ler.html</a> "Hey Krishna" is a very long Hindu Sunday School movie. It's intermittently interesting, and not bad for what it is, but mostly it's not worth seeing unless you're in Hindu Sunday School. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bAG2KpFvFc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...G2KpFvFc</a> And "A Liar's Autobiography" is, in a word, terrible. STUNNINGLY bad. With a few isolated exceptions, it's unfunny, uninteresting, pointless, ugly, and tells you very little about its alleged subject. It was an interesting idea that didn't survive its execution. Hands-down favorite for disappointment of the year. (The trailer is WAY better than the movie, and a bit NSFW, especially if you look closely.) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbW842eMNtI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...842eMNtI</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Hands-down favorite for disappointment of the year. (The trailer is WAY better than the movie...<< Wow, even the trailer makes it look pretty bad. I can't imagine what you had to sit through. I like that they try to make the 14 animation studios one of the selling points, but it really just looks like none of them were big enough to make the movie on their own (and the budget wasn't big enough to get a single decent-sized studio), so they decided to just split it up, and have each studio use their own unique style, regardless of the overall film. It just looks like a mess (and not terribly funny either)
Originally Posted By mawnck Three of the four G-Kids movies are playing next weekend, all in the same theater in North Hollywood. This is suddenly looking very promising. One movie marathon coming right up! The big burning question is ... did "The Mystical Laws" run in October, when I wasn't paying any attention? And (dun dun dunnnn!!) where the heck is G-Kids running "The Rabbi's Cat"?
Originally Posted By Bellella I'm hoping for "Wreck-It Ralph". Or maybe "The Lorax." The animation was nothing special, but it carries an important message.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>The animation was nothing special, but it carries an important message.<< I rue the day that they start giving out Oscars for messages, rather than good films. "Delhi Safari" has exactly the same message. And it's awful. (This is not to dis The Lorax, though, which I thought was a pretty good movie.)
Originally Posted By mawnck >>The big burning question is ... did "The Mystical Laws" run in October, when I wasn't paying any attention? << And the big burning answer ... "Yep." So it looks like I'm going to be missing at least one. I can't find it (ahem) online either.
Originally Posted By schnebs Okay, I have to ask: How does the Academy determine if a film is "really an animated feature"? I mean, do they sit around with stopwatches and decide if it's too long or too short? Do they disqualify a film it's CGI and it looks too realistic? Someone enlighten me here, please.
Originally Posted By mawnck The official rules are here: <a href="http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.oscars.org/awards/a...dex.html</a> To summarize, an animated feature: - Is longer than 40 minutes - Has animation on-screen for more than 75% of its running time (yes, they do use a stopwatch, and they have disqualified movies for this) - Has "a significant number" of the major characters being animated (this may have kept Ted out, since "one" may not be considered significant enough, title character though he may be) - Ran theatrically in LA County for at least one week, before being released in any other format including internets (which is why Arjun the Warrior Prince isn't on the list this year - it was available for streaming on Netflix before its qualifier run at the El Capitan) - Has to use other animation techniques besides only motion capture Obviously there are a lot of other rules concerning display formats, release dates, submission to the Academy, and so forth, but those are the main highlights. There has been much speculation about whether Avatar would've qualified if submitted, but the sad fact is that most producers who make movies like that don't want them to be considered "animated". <a href="http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/james-cameron-its-not-animation-because-i-say-so-19845.html" target="_blank">http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ide...845.html</a> We have a bit of a mystery a-brewing, as there is what sure looks like a qualifier run for Back to the Sea starting today in Santa Monica - but it's not on The List. I'm planning to skip it unless I wake up on Sunday just DYING to drive 75 minutes to see a cheaply animated movie that's gotten atrocious reviews. (Don't laugh - it could happen.)
Originally Posted By mawnck THE MAWNCKSCARS ARE BACK ON! Was informed last night by someone who dang well oughta know that I have not missed "The Rabbi's Cat", which means that there's nothing stopping me from seeing all the reasonable Oscar contenders. (Only "The Mystical Laws" has gotten away, and all reports are that it's not worth enduring even if you LIKE bad movies made by crazy Asian cults.) By the way, one of the movies I saw yesterday was BETTER THAN "WRECK-IT RALPH", and is currently the front-runner for the coveted Mawnckscar for Best Animated Feature. It's one of these three: <a href="http://www.gkids.tv/zarafa/" target="_blank">http://www.gkids.tv/zarafa/</a> <a href="http://www.gkids.tv/thepainting/" target="_blank">http://www.gkids.tv/thepainting/</a> <a href="http://www.gkids.tv/poppyhill/" target="_blank">http://www.gkids.tv/poppyhill/</a>
Originally Posted By skinnerbox OK, mawnck... I've got a technical question for you. Would Life of Pi qualify for animated feature? Isn't the vast overwhelming majority of this film green screened?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Would Life of Pi qualify for animated feature?<< No, because "a significant number of the major characters must be animated" (from the rules link in post 15). Even if some of the footage of the animals is CGI, it's doubtful that all or even most of it is. Also, green screened virtual sets are not considered animation, because they are not "performances ... created using a frame-by-frame technique". And aside from the technical stuff, there is no way in hell that the producers would submit that movie in this category. 20th Century Fox's marketing department would skin them alive. (For the record, I think the Academy got fooled a couple years ago by the "Cats and Dogs" sequel. They ruled it eligible, but I think they counted a lot of puppet, animatronic, and real-live-animal footage as animation in that one.)
