Oscars 2011 Talkback - Animated Feature Film

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ice_cream_cake

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So the nominees were announced this morning and we have 3 pictures up for the award.

And the nominees are..

Surprised The Illusionist made it. Haven't seen it yet, but have heard really good things. Good choices all-around.

Winners will be announced February 27, 2011. check your local listings for channel and time.
 
I'm not only shocked, but a little upset by the fact that Tangled wasn't nominated. I enjoyed it more than How To Train Your Dragon, and even Toy Story 3. Haven't seen The Illusionist, but I just can't believe it. Tangled was incredible, and did a ton for Fairy Tale animation, and was the best Disney CGI feature ever. I'm just at a loss for words.
 
Didn't see "The Illusionist," but I am sure "Toy Story 3" is going to win. It's no contest; it definitely is better than the rest of its competition.
 
As amazing as I heard the illusionist is (I haven't seen it, and most likely won't for a while), I'm glad it got the nomination. Personally, I would have put Tangled in instead of HTTYD, but whatcha gonna do with only 3 slot? Congrats to all of the nominations!:)
 
Toy Story 3 is the obvious winner in this case. I do like that "How to Train Your Dragon" was nominated, and I got to see the "Illusionist" for myself before I judge it, but I did hear good things about it as well.

Kind of wanted there to be 5 spots this year, so at least Tangled could be in one of them.
 
I'm also pretty annoyed that Tangled wasn't nominated. I thought it was just as good as Toy Story 3 and had the better animation, not to mention some amazing music and voice acting. I think a lot of the hype for TS3 stems from familiarity with the characters, being that there were two previous films with mostly the same ones. People have grown up with them and so feel good about piling praise upon anythng involving the franchise. Don't get me wrong: TS3 was a great film and a fitting conclusion, but I think there's a bit of prejiudice in favor of it due to said familiarity.

I know it's been discussed here in the past, but the real problem stems from the fact that so few films can be nominated for Best Animated Picture (3), while both Best Picture (with 10!) and even Best Animated Short (5) enjoy a larger number of nominations. You can't tell me that, given the number of animated films released around the world each year, at least 5 can't be nominated every year. The Academy needs to change their rules and allow more animated films to be nominated, the same way they now nominate twice the number of films for Best Picture than they used to.

So now Toy Story 3 enjoys having a Best Picture nomination which, face it, it has NO shot at winning, while it will obviously trounce the other two films and win Best Animated Feature going away. I'd like to see the Academy (in addition to increasing the number of films nominated for Best Animated Feature) implement a rule that if a film is nominated for Best Picture, it can't be nominated for Best Animated Feature. Would it make sense, if there were awards for specific genres (Drama, Comedy, Musical, etc), to have films nominated for Best Picture, too? A moot point I know, since genre specific awards don't exist (except for Animated Feature), but I think it still illustrates my point.

Just how much negative press would the Academy get if, by some fluke, TS3 won Best Picture and Best Animated Feature? A ton, I think...
 
While I'm disappointed that My Dog Tulip wasn't nominated, I'm happy The Illusionist got the nod. It is an amazing film about changes one goes through in life. It's virtually silent; the dialogue it had was in French but even that was limited. I'm glad that at least one nod went to an adult animated film.
 
I wish I saw The Illusionist when it was screened at the film festival in college's town. Everyone who saw it thought it was great. I'm always happy to see an independent foreign animated film (in 2D, no less) win a nomination in the category.



If there are over 16 animated films submitted during that year, then five will be nominated. It doesn't matter the amount of animated movies released around the world, what matters are the ones that are released in the States, and the ones that were submitted for competition of the award.
 
^That = Truth!

I've been saying this since the debacle that was the double nomination of Up last year and people have been getting on me about it.

And while AMPAS is trying to patronize the animation crowd with pity nods in the Best Picture category they really should be introducing categories like Best Animation (since they can't get cinematography or visual effects) and Best Voice Actor (one category but the most noms out of any of the acting categories).

If they're not going to give animation the true respect it deserves than they should at least concede and give it due in its own little subsection of the entire awards show.

Cut some musical numbers and jokes. They've been doing it anyway.
 
If you ask me they should just dump the Best Animated Feature catagory in general. With the expanded nominee pool fully in place now, its uselessness is pretty apparent.
 
I think The Illusionist was nominated solely to have a hand-drawn feature in competition. :shrug: I have yet to see it (release the damn thing already!), but I loved The Triplets Of Belleville, so I'm assuming the nomination is deserved. Like last year's The Secret Of Kells, it probably won't get a wide release until after the Oscar ceremony.
 
I apologize for misspeaking. I know only films released in the States are considered, but small studio or independent films are often given "token" releases, running at film festivals or limited engagements late in the year so they becomes eligible, then disappear (case in point, last year's The Secret of Kells and The Illusionist this year), never to be seen by most of the general public. After reviewing the 15 films submitted for Best Animated Feature and the films released in the States during the year, I believe the Academy could have easily added a 16th (specifically Space Chimps 2, released in May) to allow 5 films to be nominated. I realize the film might not be that great (I haven't seen it), but I think its selection would have been just as valid as Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore or Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue. Tinkerbell must have had a screening somewhere before its home video release to allow it to be submitted for nomination.
I disagree as, even with the expanded Best Picture category, animated films will continue to get the shaft here in the States. The only way an animated film could win the award is if it is groundbreaking in some way (technology, story, voice acting). If there continues to be a small number of U.S. releases, the Academy needs to lower the number of submitted films to allow 5 films to be nominated. I haven't seen all the submitted films, but at least 4 others could have been nominated (Dispicable Me, Megamind, Shrek Forever After, and Summer Wars).
 
I agree 100%.

Throwing in an animated film into the Best Picture category is basically their way of giving away the winner of the animation category to the audience, since everyone knows it would never win Best Picture.
 
I too am upset about Tangled's snub, but I really can't complain. Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon were great movies, and I haven't seen The Illusionist. It honestly looks like there's only three possible answers to the problem everyone's complaining about.

1. Abolish the Best Animated Film category.
2. Only allow films to be nominated for Best Animated Film OR Best Picture, not both.
3. Have there be five nominations no matter what in Best Animated Film.

Out of all these, I'd say that option 3 is the best. If that had happened, Tangled would've certainly been nominated this year, along with Despicable Me, (even though I myself believe MegaMind was a far superior film... but I digress.) Option 1 seems awful to me, since no matter what, the prejudice against animated films will hurt their chances to be nominated for Best Picture, and it's pretty much impossible for any to win. Option 2, I can see working, but I honestly don't like the idea that the best animated film of the year could end up leaving the Awards with nothing.
 
What's the point of nominations? Just give it to whatever Pixar film they released this year, whether it deserves it or not. The Oscars have become clockwork for the past ten years.
 
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