Best Animated Feature - 2016: Zootopia, Moana, Kubo, Zucchini, Red Turtle

[Infernus]

On 3/2/2016 at 2:52 AM, cannastop said:

Lolwut? So far, the only anime the Academy acknolledges is from Studio Ghibli, and the only announced project from that studio is an international co-production called The Red Turtle. That movie doesn't even have a confirmed American release date yet.

 

Hmm, yeah you're right. Since we've been getting an anime nom almost every year for quite some years, I kinda forgot that its been absolutely Ghibli exclusive. I do hope this year gives us the first non-ghibli anime movie nom but seeing that even wolf children didn't get one, that would indeed, and unfortunately, be quite unlikely.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Infernus

[Infernus]

42 minutes ago, tribefan695 said:

The thing that makes it less than a lock is Andrew Stanton's last film, which with its reception would not be a best movie contender in any capacity. One could compare this to Peter Jackson doing The Hobbit after The Lovely Bones crashed and burned

 

C'mon now, that was four years ago. And this is definitely more of a Pixar property than an Andrew Stanton one for the people. Moreover Carter and Dory are two completely different films. Also, Unexpected journey still scored 3-4 academy noms. One can't really expect a movie to get a Best Pic nom just on the basis of the previous parts of the franchise. The Best Animated category is much more lenient and easy. And the Pixar domination is real. If brave could win with an RT score in the 70s and against Wreck it Ralph (not particularly commenting on which was better, just that WIR was quite better received), I see very few chances of this not atleast receiving a nom.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Infernus

[AniNate]

I certainly hope it delivers, but Carter is the one reason why I'm not 100% certain it will

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, tribefan695 said:

I certainly hope it delivers, but Carter is the one reason why I'm not 100% certain it will

Do you think that failure is contagious or something?

[AniNate]

Lemme put it a different way: John Carter is the one reason I'm not angrily shouting "You're all full of shit!" at everyone doubting Dory. It was the first indication that Stanton is human.

Edited March 14, 2016 by tribefan695

[cannastop]

7 minutes ago, tribefan695 said:

Lemme put it a different way: John Carter is the one reason I'm not angrily shouting "You're all full of shit!" at everyone doubting Dory. It was the first indication that Stanton is human.

I think Monsters University is also a good reason to think that Finding Dory might not be totally amazing.

Edited March 14, 2016 by cannastop

[AniNate]

MU had the basic problem of a really contrived premise that was at odds with everything the original film set up, and that was pretty obvious from the get-go. It doesn't seem like that'll be an issue with Dory. Judging from what Stanton has said it has the potential for greatness and it's mostly a matter of whether he's able to get all these big ideas to coalesce into a satifying whole.

Edited March 14, 2016 by tribefan695

[SLAM!]

On 3/12/2016 at 1:02 PM, cannastop said:

How the fuck is it not going to get a nomination? Have you seen the acclaim it has, and the money it's making? I think whether or not it gets a Best Picture nomination is a better question.

 

I think Zootopia is the best CGI animated movie by Walt Disney Animation Studios by far in my opinion, which is quite an accolade in its own right. It think it absolutely deserves a nomination. But after what I saw happen with The Lego Movie, and after seeing all of the competition laid out for this year, I'm extremely nervous. Maybe I'm being an idiot, but I believe the chance is there that Moana's a classic, Kubo's a classic, Finding Dory's a classic, and 2016 animated movie after 2016 animated movie end up being classic enough to stand next to the classic that is Zootopia. If there's like 7 or 8 critically-acclaimed 'classics' this year, something's going to have to give. I believe the chance is there for a shocking snub, but I think Zootopia's probably fine in reality.

 

I'm going to laugh really hard at myself in 10 months, aren't I?

[cannastop]

1 minute ago, slambros said:

 

I think Zootopia is the best CGI animated movie by Walt Disney Animation Studios by far in my opinion, which is quite an accolade in its own right. It think it absolutely deserves a nomination. But after what I saw happen with The Lego Movie, and after seeing all of the competition laid out for this year, I'm extremely nervous. Maybe I'm being an idiot, but I believe the chance is there that Moana's a classic, Kubo's a classic, Finding Dory's a classic, and 2016 animated movie after 2016 animated movie end up being classic enough to stand next to the classic that is Zootopia. If there's like 7 or 8 critically-acclaimed 'classics' this year, something's going to have to give. I believe the chance is there for a shocking snub, but I think Zootopia's probably fine in reality.

 

I'm going to laugh really hard at myself in 10 months, aren't I?

The Lego Movie wasn't exactly a Hollywood production. For example, the animation was done in Australia. There's no way the Academy would snub a Disney movie that did so well.

[SLAM!]

I don't feel like the country of production is a viable factor nowadays. These days, an animated movie from anywhere in the world can edge it's way in the nomination slot if it's good enough. Just last year, an average-for-the-company Studio Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There, and the Brazilian Boy and the World double-teamed out of nowhere to edge out The Good Dinosaur, an american Pixar film.

 

Also, I could use the argument that in 2010, when Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon were already locks, but you had other American hits like Tangled and Despicable Me in contention, the academy went for The Illusionist, a French/British film, instead to fill the 3rd spot in what was a three-movie year. By the Hollywood-Disney logic, Tangled would've won that 3rd nomination in an absolute landslide.

 

However, I agree that relations with the Hollywood people wouldn't hurt a film's chance.

 

(Unrelated side note: the guy that made The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville has his next movie in 2017. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that one!)

[SLAM!]

Just now, slambros said:

30 minutes ago, cannastop said:

The Lego Movie wasn't exactly a Hollywood production. For example, the animation was done in Australia. There's no way the Academy would snub a Disney movie that did so well.

 

I don't feel like the country of production is a viable factor nowadays. These days, an animated movie from anywhere in the world can edge it's way in the nomination slot if it's good enough. Just last year, an average-for-the-company Studio Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There, and the Brazilian Boy and the World double-teamed out of nowhere to edge out The Good Dinosaur, an american Pixar film.

 

Also, I could use the argument that in 2010, when Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon were already locks, but you had other American hits like Tangled and Despicable Me in contention, the academy went for The Illusionist, a French/British film, instead to fill the 3rd spot in what was a three-movie year. By the Hollywood-Disney logic, Tangled would've won that 3rd nomination in an absolute landslide.

 

However, I agree that relations with the Hollywood people wouldn't hurt a film's chance.

 

(Unrelated side note: the guy that made The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville has his next movie in 2017. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that one!)

 

[AniNate]

Lego Movie was just a big brainfart. However you try to explain its snub it still deserved to get in. Was hardly the first time the Oscars got it wrong.

Zootopia should be safe but Lego Movie will always be a reminder that sometimes the Oscar voters just plain suck

[Ezen Baklattan]

Found an indie potential! 

 

Moana (If this wins Best Original Song, Lin Manuel Miranda will be the fastest person to win the EGOT)

Zootopia

Kubo & The Two Strings

The Little Prince

Loving Vincent

 

 

[BadAtGender]

 

On 3/16/2016 at 6:20 PM, slambros said:

I don't feel like the country of production is a viable factor nowadays. These days, an animated movie from anywhere in the world can edge it's way in the nomination slot if it's good enough. Just last year, an average-for-the-company Studio Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There, and the Brazilian Boy and the World double-teamed out of nowhere to edge out The Good Dinosaur, an american Pixar film.

 

Also, I could use the argument that in 2010, when Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon were already locks, but you had other American hits like Tangled and Despicable Me in contention, the academy went for The Illusionist, a French/British film, instead to fill the 3rd spot in what was a three-movie year. By the Hollywood-Disney logic, Tangled would've won that 3rd nomination in an absolute landslide.

 

However, I agree that relations with the Hollywood people wouldn't hurt a film's chance.

 

(Unrelated side note: the guy that made The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville has his next movie in 2017. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that one!)

 

After 2010, we've been in a 5 movie era and the behavior from earlier years doesn't apply. If we were still seeing 3 films regularly, it would probably be a case of one or two obvious frontrunners and then about a handful of ones that are fighting for the last slot.

 

In the 5 film era, that doesn't happen so much. Instead of being forced to choose from multiple deserving films, the branch has settled on fairly consistent criteria about what films will tend to make it. For the most part, stop motion, especially if it gets a wide release, is guaranteed a slot. Traditional animation gets a big boost.

 

For computer animated films, they need pretty strong acclaim and to have really cutting edge technology.

 

The latter pretty much narrows things down to Pixar, WDAS, and DWA. They're the only companies that regularly push the envelope.

 

LEGO isn't a good comparison for Zootopia. As much as people feel it was a snub, it makes a lot of sense because of the high bar that computer animation has to meet. LEGO is a mid-budget title and it utilizes live action elements at the climax. They did a really good job about making the film look like real plastic, but that's a much lower technical hurdle than, say, getting hair just right.

 

Most of the people who believed LEGO was a shoe-in were looking at the script, and it's pretty clear that while they like a good script, it's not the driving factor for the animation branch.

 

Zootopia, instead, is a cutting edge film that may possibly have the most complex character elements ever seen in an animated film. And, yes, it's got universal acclaim. I also don't think that the competition is especially stiff this year. If it's going to lose its slot, it's only because both Dory and Moana are equally acclaimed and boundary pushing AND there are two other non-Kubo films that are impressing the branch. And there isn't an offering from Ghibli, Cartoon Saloon, or Chomet.

 

(The one weird exception to the animation branch's tendencies is in 2013, when DM2 got a nom instead of MU. I don't know what was going on there. Maybe the animation branch figured Pixar hadn't suffered enough for Cars 2. But MU didn't have strong acclaim regardless.)

[SLAM!]

So, Gkids recently released the well-received April and the Extraordinary World. Could that be our indie?

[cannastop]

On 3/25/2016 at 0:33 PM, slambros said:

So, Gkids recently released the well-received April and the Extraordinary World. Could that be our indie?

Sure, it seems like all the critics like it.

[AniNate]

Little Prince's distribution woes will probably hurt it, and last I checked reviews were more like than love. So I could see it losing out here. Long way to go in the year though and we may not have heard of the fifth nominee yet

Sent from my Z667T using Tapatalk

[MinaTakla]

Secret life of Pets could have a shot too if the reviews are good

BAFTA nod seems likely too esp after MINIONS's nom

[CelestialFairyIX]

- Finding Dory

- Moana

- Zootopia

- Kubo and the Two Strings

- Kung Fu Panda 3 / Indie flick

 

Winner: Zootopia, Moana, or Finding Dory

 

No matter how you slice the pie, Disney's animation department is on a roll and it ain't stopping any time soon.  Even The Good Dinosaur was better than the "things" DW, Illumination, and other companies spew out.  My Mom loved it more than IO!  

Edited April 7, 2016 by CelestialFairyIX

[cannastop]

On 3/28/2016 at 0:07 PM, MinaTakla said:

Secret life of Pets could have a shot too if the reviews are good

BAFTA nod seems likely too esp after MINIONS's nom

No freaking way it beats Zootopia, though. The trailer would have to be completely misleading.