So the nominees are in and these are the animated features to make the list.
Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent
Which did you think was the strongest? I really love Loving Vincent, Coco AND Ferdinand. All three were strong stories, the first being a crime drama based on an actual person.
I think Loving Vincent and Coco should be the winners. Boss Baby’s inclusion baffles me,but I never watched it even Hough I know the story and it’s just for kids.
What’s your take?
I’ve only seen Coco, and the trailer for Ferdinand.
Coco had some moments that took my breath away (the marigold bridge, natch, but also some others). It tread familiar ground in some ways but new ground in others. It was absolutely delightful, possibly my favorite Pixar.
Ferdinand looks like a steaming pile of cliches, the worst sort of book-to-movie adaptation.
At some point, maybe I’ll try Loving Vincent.
I haven’t seen Ferdinand or Boss Baby, but I think The Breadwinner was far and away the best of the other three–particularly in the story and characterizations (though the two different kinds of animations they use are also very beautiful). Then again, I’ll admit to being far less enamored with the Pixar than anyone I know (which would include some people who worked on the film, lol).
Not that it matters. The last time a Disney or Pixar film lost this category was the year of the first Cars. If there’s any category that’s a slam dunk, it’s Coco.
Yeah, pretty much. The Breadwinner was the best, Coco will win. In my heart, it will go to Boss Baby, just to highlight how ridiculous this category is. It isn’t as bad as Costume Design, but it’s up there.
I’m with you on Pixar, they make fine movies but the vast majority are simply pretty good movies, rather than life changing. I mean sure, they have their Toy Story’s, Incredibles, Up, and Wall*E (Ratatouille was my personal favorite, but I expect I’m in the minority), but they also have Brave, The Cars series, The Good Dinosaur, and a few others that are simply above average movies (and in the case of a few, not even that).
Lately good animation is coming from everywhere and one can’t automatically assume that the top of the heap (quality wise) every year will be from Pixar.
Coco will win. Disney/Pixar has won 12 of the 17 times it was awarded and the last five years in a row. The last time a Disney/Pixar film was nominated and lost was in 2006; they didn’t win in 2011 but had nothing nominated.
It has nothing to do with quality. If the award did, then Boss Baby would never have gotten near a nomination. But Disney/Pixar has made some good films, and they are the go-to for anyone who hasn’t seen all the nominees.
I absolutely loved The Breadwinner and would love to see it win.
(Besides, it would be nice to see a woman film director get handed the statuette even if it’s not the Best Director category… Ooooh! Imagine if she and Gerwig BOTH won!)
I generally feel antagonistic towards shoo-ins but I have to admit that Coco was absolutely wonderful in every way.
Only saw Loving Vincent. Was incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, the theater was crowded and I sat way up front - the images were almost overwhelming!
Since I can’t not take that bait: what’s the glaring problem I’m missing with an Oscar for Costume Design? Looking over the winners for the last couple of decades, it seems indispensable for ‘way back in the day’ stuff — you simply can’t do a picture where William Shakespeare or Marcus Aurelius shows up and we all snicker instead of going with the story — and, likewise, for sci-fi/fantasy stuff, be it Alice in Wonderland or the denizens of a post-apocalyptic wasteland or whatever.
(And that’s also true of the just-to-be-nominated folks: you’ve got your Snow White and your Cinderella, just like you’ve got Jean Valjean and Achilles — and I don’t see any of those projects getting off the ground if the costumes don’t work.)
So what am I missing?
Yeah, I certainly can’t begrudge the wins for Toy Story 3, WALL-E or Inside Out. All were fantastic films with great stories and stellar creativity.
But I certainly would’ve given the Oscar to My Life as a Zucchini, Frankenweenie, The Boxtrolls, Persepolis and Fantastic Mr. Fox over its victorious Disney/Pixar counterparts. I’m a particular fan of stop-motion animation and am bored to death of the incessant CG creations that monopolize the category.
Stop-motion has only won once, and cel animation has also only won once–both from countries outside the US and in years where Disney wasn’t a major contender (unless you count Treasure Planet “major”). They have a strangehold on the category because they’ve mainlined their entire marketing machine into the popular culture. Which is fine if you’re a shareholder, but dull if you’re interested in recognizing a wider array of artistic animation.
Oh please, not Boss Baby. I mean, Alec Baldwin doing his Glengarry, Glen Ross thing as a baby was funny but otherwise the film is without merit. The plot is stupid and the animation unremarkable.
But then I’m still grumpy about Big Hero 6 winning when every other film in the category (How to Train Your Dragon 2, Boxtrolls, Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) was better than that, and The Lego Movie, which didn’t even get a nomination, was far better than all of them.