Oscars 101: Best Animated Feature Film

In which I run down on the nominees (and likely winners) of the Academy Awards.

Best Animated Feature Film has been the most wildly inconsistent category in terms of quality since its creation in 2001.  Nominees have ranged from three to five in any given year, with winners as inspired as Finding Nemo and as meritoriously devoid as Happy Feet.  It's the one category where even purely pedestrian films can potentially walk away with the win because it inspired a pleasant-enough afternoon with voters' kids (or, more likely, grand kids).  This year's nominees are no different:

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Obviously everything isn't awesome.  I've said it once and I'll say it again: where is The Lego Movie?  Easily the best animated film in a year bursting at the seams with great animated films, it is never the less not among the nominees for best animated film of 2014.  I mean, I know that some of my favorites had outside chances at best of getting nominated, but The Lego Movie was the obvious favorite to win going into the nominations.  What the Hell?

Big Hero 6 - It was inevitable that Disney would eventually adapt a Marvel series into a film independent of Marvel Studios.  But rather than producing an animated Thor or Captain America, they took an relatively obscure comic that few people had heard about before and turned it into the must-see animated adventure of the year.  Big Hero 6 is honestly one for the ages: one with all of Marvel's jovial heart, but steadfastly refuses to pull any emotional punches for its younger viewers and giving a new generation of kids a fresh take on "with great power comes great responsibility."

While its quality is certainly beyond reproach, its chances of winning are not (even in the wide-open Lego Movie-less race that it finds itself in).  Many of the old guard of Hollywood (many of whom are Academy voters) are tired of the now overly-familiar superhero film and will not be eager to bring further attention to its kind of of movie.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 has also supplanted The Lego Movie as the Oscar heir apparent, even winning a Golden Globe when The Lego Movie was actually there to compete against.  Although it is certainly a likelier candidate than the upstart Song of the Sea to win, it still has a lot of ground to cover before this Sunday.

The Boxtrolls - The Boxtrolls is the exact kind of broad, overly-commercial and ultimately underwhelming film that's allowed to sneak into this category because "it's just a kids movie."  It's grossly unfair that a forgettably juvenile romp can be considered one of the best of 2014 while one of the most boldly original and subversively intelligent films of the year is overlooked by the country's premiere film awards body, but such is life.

Although this kind of movie always seems to make the list of nominees, they really never win the big prize.  The Boxtrolls' sole distinguishing feature in retrospect will be that its nomination guaranteed The Lego Movie's exclusion (even if Song of the Sea was the nail in its coffin).

How to Train Your Dragon 2 - No other animated film has been able to capitalize on The Lego Movie's absence more than How to Train Your Dragon 2: the sequel to 2010's coming of age story about a boy and his dragon.  Its success in the pre-Oscar award ceremonies, coupled with its Blockbuster success, gives it a sizable advantage among the rest of the field.

Its incredibly broad appeal, stunningly rendered animation and satisfying complex narrative are unparalleled among the nominees, even by the standout Disney movie of the year.  It transplants its familiar characters and settings in a wildly different context, completely undermining the ultimate take-away from the last film with reckless abandon.  Like all animated greats, it treats its audience like adults, regardless of age, and presents a story that speaks to adults, children and everybody in-between.

Song of the Sea - It doesn't matter how good Song of the Sea is.  It honestly doesn't matter if it's the best animated film of the year.  It is a foregone conclusion that it will not win an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards.

Never mind the fact that it stole The Lego Movie's slot in the animated lineup (although it most definitely did).  It lacks momentum of How to Train Your Dragon 2, the appeal of Big Hero 6 and the exoticism of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.  Its competition is far too strong and too well supported, while the first that anybody had ever heard of this movie was when it was nominated.  It's simply a matter of "too little, too late."

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Studio Ghibli allegedly final film is without a doubt the most strikingly and uniquely animated feature film of 2014.  It is a revelation among anime: abandoning bright colors, crisp lines and oddly proportioned characters for a watercolor sketches and an exotic fluidity that is far more miasmic than what's currently being produced on any continent.

It almost seemed to be a given when Spirited Away won the category in 2002 that anime would dominate future nominees and winner in the field.  And while it has certainly played a large role in the past decade, it has never quite lived up to its initial potential.  Not even Miyazaki's swan song, The Wind Rises, could overcome the insurmountable popularity of Frozen.  It's possible that the nostalgia that was lost on Academy members last year will inform their voting this year.  And with a category this open, anything could happen.

Safe Bet: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Long Shot: Big Hero 6

Longer Shot: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

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