Your 2014 animated Oscar contenders

Readers, an apology. Here I am, the Film Experience's resident animation expert, and I'm late with news twice over. First, on Tuesday, the Academy annouced the full list of 20 contenders for Best Animated Feature. Nathaniel prepared a post discussing this development, but wasn't able to publish it before traveling to California. Here are his thoughts on the subject:

As expected we will have a full five-wide Best Animated Feature category this year. It only takes 16 contenders to trigger that and we have 20. This branch is definitely not the most predictable when it comes to nominees -- or even, sometimes winners (remember how competitive the Brave year was?) --  often opting for a few little seen critical and foreign darlings. The internet seems to be rooting for The Lego Movie which is by a significant margin the most popular animated film of the year in the US. What's interesting is that it's uniquely American appeal means that internationally the numbers are much different and How To Train Your Dragon 2 is, globally, the biggest cartoon of the year. It's also probably the frontrunner for Gold but you never know. It's not as undeniable as Toy Story 3 (a universally acclaimed capper to a hugely beloved trilogy that wasn't able to be honored with the competitive Oscar until then since the category hadn't existed).

Disney's Big Hero 6, opening this week, I can't personally see winning the category but it's a likely nominee and, what's more, the short before it called Feast, which tells the tale of a human's love life through his hungry puppy, is a strong contender for the short film Oscar. It was love at first sight for me and I'm not even a dog person.

THE ELIGIBLE 20 (plus 10 eligible animated shorts after the jump)...

• Big Hero 6
• The Book of Life
• The Boxtrolls
• Cheatin'
• Giovanni's Island
• Henry & Me
• The Hero of Color City
• How To Train Your Dragon 2
• Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart
• The Lego Movie
• Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
• Miniscule - Valley of the Ants
• Mr Peabody & Sherman
• Penguins of Madagascar
• The Pirate Fairy
• Planes: Fire & Rescue
• Rio 2
• Rocks in My Pockets
• Song of the Sea
• The Tale of Princess Kaguya

That leaves two spots that I'd argue are totally in play. You can see the Oscar chart updates here. 

I hadn't heard of a few of the titles and of the surprise titles, I'm most eager to get acquainted with Cheatin' by the inimitable animation giant Bill Plympton and the Japanese feature Giovanni's Island which is a post war drama. Here's the Cheatin' trailer and you can see Giovanni's trailer at the official site

You really have to respect Japan (and, recently, France). Too few countries seem to understand consistently that animation is a medium rather than a genre. No matter how good English language animated films get, and some of them are very good indeed, they're still always adventure comedies aimed at the whole family. Even the ones that look different (like Laika or Aardman) are still children's adventure comedies. In English language cinema, animation is not a medium but a genre. 

What do you think the five nominees will be and which are you rooting for at this point?

And now, back to Tim. Yesterday, we also got the list of the ten films competing for five slots in the Best Animated Short Film category. Here are those titles:

• The Bigger Picture, Daisy Jacobs, director
• Coda, Alan Holly, director
• The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, directors
• Duet, Glen Keane, director
• Feast, Patrick Osborne, director, and Kristina Reed, producer
• Footprints, Bill Plympton, director
• Me and My Moulton, Torill Kove, director
• The Numberlys, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, directors
• A Single Life, Joris Oprins, director
• Symphony No. 42, Réka Bucsi, director

Some quick facts: Kove (The Danish Poet) and Joyce/Oldenburg (The Fabulous Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore) have previously won in this category. Feast, as Nathaniel noted, is playing in front of Disney's Big Hero 6 starting tomorrow.

the inimitable Bill Plympton

And Bill Plympton, with titles on both submission lists, is the first person who has ever been in the position to potentially win two competitive animation Oscars in one night* and you should absolutely not expect that to end up happening.

Thoughts?

*Funny Trivia Note: Walt Disney won nine animation Oscars in one night at Oscars for 1938 but only one was competitive: Ferdinand the Bull took Animated Short but he also received a special Honorary Oscar and 7 mini-statuettes for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Comments

[Joey]

I want The Boxtrolls to get some love so badly! It's underrated.

[Henry]

I expect Song of the Sea to take one of the spots (and Kaguya to take the other). Both have been in the conversation for some time, come from respected sources and are worthy. I could see Song taking the little gold man.

And you are right about the US seeing animation as a genre compared to the rest of the world. I think it comes from Sat am cartoons which was/is an American based thing so it is ingrained in us to see animation as a child only form even if that is not how it started in this country.

[Mike in Canada]

Joey: Me too! I haven't seen Lego or Dragon, so I can't compare them, but I loved Boxtrolls SO much, I really want it recognized.

[Evan]

For me, this is the year of amazing animation but lackluster stories. Kaguya, Boxtrolls, Book of Life, How to Train Your Dragon- I thought they all looked swell. But their stories were pretty snoozy if you ask me. The Lego Movie is the only one that I'd give above a B-.

I'm hoping Big Hero 6 or Song of the Sea can change that.

[Roark]

I really hope The Lego Movie doesn't win.

[Brittani]

How To Train Your Dragon 2 has been my favorite animated movie of the year, so I hope that gets a nomination, AND the win I'd love Lego Movie to get nominated as well.

[Alex Hartsell]

My bets for Best Animated Short and Feature are good ones. They are:

Best Animated Short
* The Bigger Picture
* The Dam Keeper (my predication for the winner)
* Duet
* Feast
* The Numberlys

Best Animated Feature
* Big Hero 6
* How to Trian Your Dragon 2
* The Lego Movie (my predication for the winner)
* Song of the Sea
* The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

[Juan Carlos]

My favorite animated film of the year is "The Boxtrolls": great animation and a moving story about the true meaning of fatherhood. "How To Train Your Dragon 2" was very good, I liked the flawless animation of the dragons. And "The Lego Movie" is partially funny, until Will Ferrell ruins it.

[Glenn]

Lego, Dragon 2, Boxtrolls, Kaguya, Song of the Sea. I feel like maybe Book of Life before Big Hero 6 if they choose a third Hollywood production to enter the bunch.

[ajnrules]

I really hope Kaguya gets in on the final five, and not get pushed out by big studio films and Tomm Moore like what happened to Ponyo five years ago. I'm really dreading that's what might end up happening. Which is a shame because I find it the deepest and most beautiful animated film of the year.

And it's a bit embarrassing for somebody that writes a blog about the animated shorts, but the only shortlisted film I've seen so far is Duet. Hope that will change drastically by the time the nominees are announced.

[kin]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Dragon 2 is safe? I think the diminished returns at the box office plus the lack of passion for the movie (no element of surprise) makes the nomination not a given, even though I like the movie also.