Why did the best animated feature category not exist until 2001? Sure, earlier implementation would have resulted in over 80 years of Disney domination. But this delay also robbed animated classics like “The Prince of Egypt,” “Yellow Submarine,” and, of course, “The Care Bears Movie,” from taking the Oscar stage. The truth is that animation is consistently devalued by the Academy, evidenced by the inclusion of only three animated films in best picture. For that reason, we must emphasize this category to make up the difference.
The first winner of this award was “Shrek,” and the impact of that movie is still being felt over two decades later. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is a part of the ogre-verse and was a surprise hit across the board. Sequels do notoriously awful in this category unless they are a “Toy Story” film, but there is no doubt that “The Last Wish” is a fan favorite. The fact that it was nominated in the first place shows it has a sturdy amount of respect in its corner.
While not a sequel, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” does rope audiences into a familiar story. Guillermo’s tactful narrative changes add fresh social commentary to the overdone Pinocchio formula, and the stop motion animation greatly elevates the film. We should probably canonize this as the best Pinocchio movie since the 1940 Disney classic. Unrelated to the film’s quality, I despise the clumsy title. In a year that includes corporate headliners like “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” and “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” still stands out as awful.
While “Pinocchio” was trendy Netflix fare for a while, the streamer’s biggest animated smash of the year was “The Sea Beast.” The film is already being prepped for a sequel, the only honor in Hollywood more valuable than the Oscar. This is just a really good, unpretentious animated flick. Netflix has been a little hit or miss when it comes to how their animated films have resonated, but “The Sea Beast” seems to have firmly settled into the hit category.
“Turning Red” is probably the most uniquely animated film to come from the masters at Pixar. To be clear, that doesn’t mean it has the best animation, but “Turning Red” is more closely related to anime than it is to “Finding Nemo,” so it certainly stands out. Many ignored this aspect of the film when it was first released because it became a talking point in the culture war. The movie dares to talk about puberty and teenage hormones, which is just too much to bear for some. It’s a solid film from up-and-coming Pixar director Domee Shi.
I have a little bit of beef with the fifth nominee: “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.” While certainly a strong film by pretty much all accounts, to classify this as an animated movie is an uncomfortable leap. The animated titular character lives in the real, live action world. If this is an animated film, so is “Mary Poppins” for the chalk drawing sequence. I have nothing against the filmmakers and their techniques. In fact, the degree of difficulty to make it was extremely high. But this category exists so that true animated films have a chance to compete at the Oscars. Including “Marcel” in the lineup feeds the Academy’s biases and takes a spot from a film that should truly qualify.
Ranting aside, the Academy at least nominated five films that stand out for their quality and inventiveness. Honoring such films is a net positive for sure, so don’t misunderstand my recent saltiness. Any opportunity we have to celebrate the art of animation, at the Oscars or otherwise, is one worth taking.
To read more of Sam Zavada’s Oscar coverage, click here.
