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Academy Shortlists 12 Animated Oscar Contenders
Filed under: Animation », Awards », Oscar Watch »
I think we all know that Ratatouille will win the 2008 Oscar for Best Animated Feature. So, do we really need to waste time nominating others? Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named 12 movies eligible for the award, a shortlist that will eventually be pared down to three finalists when the Oscar nominees are announced in January. Had there been at least 16 eligible animated films this year, the number of nominees would be five, but with only 12, the category will only see three contenders. What could they be? Certainly Ratatouille will be one of them, and it's my guess that Persepolis and Surf's Up (the Academy loves penguins) will be the ones to join the Disney/Pixar sure-thing. I'm on the fence about Beowulf, especially after reading Scott's praise this morning, but I think it has a good chance of eventually being disqualified from being nominated. There's some debate already about whether or not it is technically an animated film. Another movie I have doubts about is Alvin and the Chipmunks, which seems to be primarily live-action. Last year, Arthur and the Invisibles ended up out of the race due to its own matter of having too much live footage.The full list of animated features: Ratatouille; Persepolis; Shrek the Third, which should be the first of its series to not get a nomination; The Simpsons Movie, which the Academy should deem too television for its award; Bee Movie, which would only get a nomination if the Academy needed Seinfeld to attend the ceremony -- and hopefully it doesn't; TMNT (aka Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters; Alvin and the Chipmunks; Beowulf; Meet the Robinsons; Surf's Up; and Tekkonkinkreet, a Japanese film by American director Michael Arias, which could be a dark horse if Persepolis wasn't the favorite for the necessary foreign animated selection. I'm not sure why Happily N'Ever After was excluded, but I guess it wouldn't have a chance anyway. What do you think should win, or at least make the nomination round?
Gromit guys explain those bowties
Filed under: Animation », Fandom », Exhibition », Remakes and Sequels », Oscar Watch »
The geeks among us who watched the Oscars this year didn't have much to talk about. Our heavy hitters, despite being
kings at the box office (Narnia, Star Wars, and Potter, for example), didn't get much love from the Academy,
taking in only the occasional peripheral nomination for costuming and the like. However, we did get a small moment of
enjoyment when Wallace and Gromit claimed the best animated
feature award* and its beloved creators Nick Park and Steve Box stepped forward to collect their prizes wearing outlandishly
large bow ties, complete with miniature versions for the Oscars. Park and Box explained the attire by simply saying
that initially they couldn't decide if the gimmick was passable, but by the time the evening rolled around they were so
nervous that they just decided "what the heck." I, for one, am glad they did, because it provided one of my
few moments of true enjoyment in an Oscar ceremony from which I was otherwise rather detached.Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to devalue the movies that did win, just noting that the films I enjoyed most from this year didn't make the Oscar cut. I guess the filmmakers will just have to comfort themselves with the piles of money they can roll in while the rest of Hollywood laments the declining box office numbers.
*The geeks of the world would have been just as satisfied, certainly, if anime hit Howl's Moving Castle had claimed the award.
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