Originally Posted By mawnck 19 movies have been submitted. I count 11 as having already had their qualifying run. Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" opens Friday (LA and NYC only, I'm afraid). Conspicuous (and upsetting) in its absence - "Wolf Children", which should be eligible, and I thought would have had a serious shot at a nomination. The first Smurfs movie was submitted in 2011 but declared ineligible for unspecified reasons. Not sure why they think the second one is going to get through, but maybe they know something I don't. Also, whatever happened to Escape From Planet Earth? Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 The Croods Despicable Me 2 Epic Ernest and Celestine The Fake Free Birds Frozen Khumba The Legend of Sarila A Letter to Momo Monsters University O Apostolo Planes Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie – Rebellion Rio: 2096 A Story of Love and Fury The Smurfs 2 Turbo The Wind Rises <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/19-animated-features-submitted-for-2013-oscar-race">http://blogs.indiewire.com/ani...car-race</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Looks like there will be enough films to justify the larger number of nominations, right? And what's your feeling so far as to a winner, or realistic possibilities? It seems like Despicable Me 2 had the best reviews of the wide-released films, though what I know of it hardly seems like Oscar bait. I suspect it and Monsters University will both be nominated, but it really doesn't seem like there's a big frontrunner this year. Maybe The Croods???
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Looks like there will be enough films to justify the larger number of nominations, right?<< Yep. Even if Smurfs 2 doesn't get through, we're still well past the minimum for 5 nominees. >>And what's your feeling so far as to a winner, or realistic possibilities?<< Monsters University. Unfortunately. There's not a big frontrunner this year because all the major releases have been focus-grouped-to-death corporate panderfests, about as creative as a stinkin' Katy Perry record. As of now, I'm rooting for "Ernest and Celestine" (which is a thousand times better than MU), but not with any serious thought that it has a chance. I haven't seen most of the indies/foreign films yet.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Which five do you think will be picked, mawnck? I'm going with these: MU Croods DM2 Cloudy2 Turbo With MU for the win, mostly because Pixar is out of the running next year.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead "MU Croods DM2 Cloudy2 Turbo" That does seem like a likely list, but hoo boy is that an ugly list of creatively bankrupt crap. Croods is the only thing approaching original there, but that's like being named the best looking person in Denny's. I've been thinking this since forever, but the category casts a cruel and unfair spotlight on animated films. More often than not it does animation no favors whatsoever.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<I've been thinking this since forever, but the category casts a cruel and unfair spotlight on animated films. More often than not it does animation no favors whatsoever.>> +1
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Which five do you think will be picked, mawnck?<< I haven't seen five yet that deserve to be picked. I think Ernest and Celestine is probably in - there's lots of Secret-of-Kells-ish buzz for that one, and I can confirm that it's really good. I would expect Frozen and/or The Wind Rises (neither of which I've seen) to get in ahead of Cloudy 2. No way in Hades they're nominating Turbo. >>the category casts a cruel and unfair spotlight on animated films<< This is an exceptionally lousy year, no doubt about it. But just a reminder … The category was a direct response to the unbelievable backlash when the Academy "wasted" one of the coveted Best Picture slots on that damn CARTOON "Beauty and the Beast" when it should have gone to a REAL movie. The fix was in. No animated feature was ever going to get another major nomination, for fear of setting off an internal boycott. (I'm not exaggerating in the slightest here.) So the animation folks lobbied to get their own category. Of course that all changed when Best Picture was expanded to 10 movies. Once they did that, "wasting" a slot wasn't as big a deal, and they did it with impunity, even though it made the Best Animated Feature category superfluous (the Best Picture nom having already settled that question). This submitted/eligible/nominated stuff in this category is stupid, no doubt about it, with hopeless crap like Planes and Smurfs 2 getting submitted for totally political reasons. Don't hate the players. But the weird rules were part of the price that had to be paid to convince TPTB that Best Animated Feature was a workable category. The real "favor" this category does is bringing attention to fantastic smaller movies like "The Secret of Kells", "The Pirates: Band of Misfits", and "Ernest and Celestine". ;-)
Originally Posted By TheRedhead "Of course that all changed when Best Picture was expanded to 10 movies." And they fixed that rule (they now don't HAVE to have 10 movies) because they realized that filling out the 10 slots meant that movies that didn't deserve to be anywhere near a nomination could find it's way in. When The Blind Side gets nominated, suddenly people start getting nervous about what a Best Picture nomination really means. I would be sort of OK limiting the number to three animated movies. It gives it a bit more prestige, and while the great gems might not make it in (they might not anyway), you'd keep the crap at bay. Mostly. It's the same problem I have with the Tonys. Five nominees works when you have a multitude of choices. When you're choosing from a dozen, five looks dumb. But I get that producers and animators would want to keep five because it increases their chances. It just makes the genre look unimpressive. And Hollywood should not blame B&B for getting a nod. It should blame itself for putting out so few good movies in '91. Hollywood needs a spanking. A good, hard, oh never mind.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>When you're choosing from a dozen, five looks dumb.<< Well, according to the rule, if you're choosing from a dozen, they can only nominate three. 16 is the minimum eligible in order to get 5 nominees. But see, that's the thing. If you limit it to three, you lose most of the obscure ones - the ones that the category was created for. Most years we've had three nominees, there have been VERY deserving movies that didn't get a nom. And other than the first couple years, truly mediocre movies just don't get nominated. (I'll just pretend 2006 didn't happen.) The late Satoshi Kon was a genius Anime director that probably got screwed out of *two* nominations in 2003 (for "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Millennium Actress") because of the 3/5 rule. And 2010 only had three nominees (because "Yogi Bear" was declared ineligible at the last minute), which is why "Tangled" didn't get nominated. With the glut of animation these days, the 3/5 rule (which is now a 3/4/5 rule) is unlikely to be invoked. But as the majors slide into a rut, foreign films are taking up the slack. 2011 was a weak year, so both "A Cat in Paris" and "Chico and Rita" got nominated. (I didn't love "A Cat in Paris", but was glad to see it get some attention anyway.) I know I said I haven't seen 5 movies deserving of a nom yet this year, but I also haven't seen most of the foreign ones. So I'm still optimistic. The list of past nominees is here. So which ones do you figure didn't deserve it (other than 2006)? <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Animated_Feature">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..._Feature</a> Just for the record, it's theoretically possible that there could be fewer than the maximum nominees, but it's so politically and mathematically unlikely that you can just forget it. The official "special category rules" are here: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/rule07.html">http://www.oscars.org/awards/a...e07.html</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I can also confirm that Ernest and Celestine is that rarest of all things - a truly charming animated film, in the best way. Easily the best I've seen this year, though I'll willing to give those that haven't opened yet their due.
Originally Posted By mawnck For those bewildered at all the love this "Ernest and Celestine" movie is getting, have a look at the trailer: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ1rmOYLr2U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...rmOYLr2U</a>
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Love it. Love it! Love it!! Even this short little trailer is better than the entirety of MU. Please tell me, mawnck, that they've got a fighting chance at being nominated.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Please tell me, mawnck, that they've got a fighting chance at being nominated.<< Better than usual, actually. Just look at the competition! It's made by the same crazies that made "A Town Called Panic". Which I also highly recommend. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3uG8LLuVPQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...G8LLuVPQ</a>
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Here's a sneak peak of E&C courtesy of GKIDS: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Zve61sQZ8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ve61sQZ8</a> Definitely a must see film!
Originally Posted By LindsayC Thank you for posting that skinnerbox - that was a delight - as was the trailer. I think I will seek this one out along with The Wind Rises as the only animated films I will watch that are made this year. When I read a review of Frozen that called it the best animated musical since Beauty and the Beast I could barely believe that any of those words could be used in a single sentence.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>along with The Wind Rises<< Just FYI … "The Wind Rises" opens today. NY and LA only, one theater each. Everyone else in the US has to wait until next year.
Originally Posted By u k fan <<<When I read a review of Frozen that called it the best animated musical since Beauty and the Beast I could barely believe that any of those words could be used in a single sentence.>>> Lindsay, was that the DigitalSpy review? It was so gushing it read like the press release from Disney marketing!!!
Originally Posted By LindsayC No... it was this.. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thewrap.com/frozen-review-disneys-best-animated-musical-since-beauty-beast">http://www.thewrap.com/frozen-...ty-beast</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Well, it's got songs from Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, which speaks well. I didn't see Winnie the Pooh, but RL's scores for Avenue Q and Book of Mormon are terrific. Yeah, the look is awfully similar to Tangled, but you can say that about a lot of Disney movies from earlier eras. (And Tangled certainly had its own good points.) I'm willing to give this a go.
