The Oscar For Best Animated Movie

(and why it's bad)

Sources/References

The Academy Rules

• Animated Feature Film Award (2022)

• Branch Requirements

• Short Films And Feature Animation Branch

• Regulations Concerning The Promotion Of Films Eligible For The 95th Academy Awards (2022)

• Short Film Awards (2022)

• Documentary Short Film (2022)

• Documentary Awards (2022)

• International Feature Film Award (2022)

• 95th Academy Awards Complete Rules (2022)

Submission Process

• ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ Qualifies for Oscars’ Animated Feature Race (Hollywood Reporter - 2022)

• (Marcel Director) Dean Fleischer Camp Twitter (2022)

  • “We're eligible but may have to submit documentation. Here's the Academy's eligibility requirements...”

• Academy’s Animation Branch Disqualifies ‘The Smurfs’ (The Wrap - 2011)

• Oscar's Animated Feature Race Will Be Down to 3 (CBS - 2010)

  • “Although "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" - a mixture of live action and animation - passed the 75% threshold, "Yogi Bear" apparently did not.”

• New Oscar Rules Deem Motion Capture ‘Not an Animation Technique’ (ComingSoon - 2010)

• Filmmakers Are Outraged by the Academy's Disqualification of 'Apollo 10 1/2' (No Film School - 2022)

• Richard Linklater’s ‘Apollo 10 ½’ Rejected as Animation by Oscar Committee as Filmmaker Speaks Out (IndieWire - 2022)

• High Toon (EW/archive.org - 2001)

  • Films like ''Waking Life'' blur the lines between full animation and mere special effects. It's a hotly debated issue within the industry this year because of the new Oscar category for Best Animated Feature (rules stipulate that for the award to be given there must be at least eight films released). ''Right at the point where you can't tell what animation is anymore, they start a new category,'' says Schumacher. ''What is 'Osmosis Jones' -- live action or animation? What is 'Pearl Harbor' with all those effects?''

• 95th Oscars Shortlists Announced for 10 Categories (A.frame - 2022)

  • Live Action Short Film

    15 films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards. 200 films qualified in the category. Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation, Directors, Producers and Writers Branches vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

Nominations

• Academy Announces Rules For 92nd Oscars (2019)

  • “In the Animated Feature category, the theatrical release of eight eligible animated features in the calendar year is no longer required for the awards category to be activated. In addition, nominations voting will be automatically open to all active members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch. Other active voting members of the Academy must opt-in to participate in the nominations round.”

• Academy Announces 259 Eligible Titles for Animated, Documentary and International Feature Races (Variety - 2022)

  • “The five nominees are determined by the 867 short films and feature animation branch members and any Academy members outside the branch who opt to participate. The number of members who opt in is unknown.”

• Andrea Riseborough Oscar Nom Inquiry: Grassroots Campaign or Illegal Lobbying? (The Wrap - 2023)

• Is the Best Animated Feature Oscar Broken? (The Ringer - 2022)

  • Quotes taken for Animation Historian Charles Solomon

    • “I wanted to see the animation branch take over choosing these nominees,” he says. “As long as the body at large is choosing the nominees, they’re going to go with what’s familiar, and what they think would appeal to their kids, rather than the works that are perhaps a little more unusual.”

    • “The award itself,” Solomon says, “seems to be reserved for the major American studios. And at a time when everyone is calling for a greater diversity of visions, they’re not giving us that kind of diversity and they’re not opening it to different talents and different voices.”

• Proof That Oscar Voters Are Clueless About Animation (Cartoon Brew - 2015)

  • “If you can call anything a “snub,” this year, it was The Lego Movie, which was one of the best movies of the year.”

• Lego Movie snub signals animation Oscar is growing old before its time (The Guardian - 2015)

• List of submissions for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (Wikipedia)

  • List of submitted films that were disqualified, not nominated, nominated and won.

Voting

• Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot No. 4: ‘Birdman’ “Bored Me to Death,” Carell “Blew Me Away” (Hollywood Reporter - 2015)

  • “If I was just voting for animation, I’d have gone with Boxtrolls. But since you have to consider everything, I went with Big Hero 6.”

  • BEST SOUND MIXING

    Again, I don’t know enough to make an informed decision. Obviously, the sound in Whiplash, with the drums and music, was so important.

    MY VOTE: Whiplash

• Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot #2: Bradley Cooper “Perfect,” ‘Green Book’ “Retrograde and Borderline Offensive” (Hollywood Reporter - 2019)

  • I didn't see Mirai, Ralph Breaks the Internet or Incredibles 2. Isle of Dogs? I didn't like that at all. Spider-Man [Into the Spider-Verse] was fantastic.

    My Vote: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

• Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 7 (Hollywood Reporter - 2014)

  • I did not see all of the nominees.

    MY PICK: I abstain.

• Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot No. 6: ‘Birdman’ “Genius on Many Levels,” “Loved” ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Hollywood Reporter - 2015)

  • I saw all five. I like to sit down with [the young people in her family] and watch them. We all loved Big Hero 6 and there was no discussion, no argument, no nothing. The kids watched that one three times — what does that tell you?

    MY VOTE: Big Hero 6

• Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot No. 5: I “Love” ‘Sniper,’ “Just Can’t Do It Again” With Streep (Hollywood Reporter - 2015)

  • I only watch the ones that my kid wants to see, so I didn’t see [The] Boxtrolls but I saw Big Hero 6 and I saw [How to Train Your] Dragon [2].

  • This extract this quote comes from later refers to the Japanese film “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” and the Irish film “Song of the Sea” as “these two obscure freakin’ Chinese fuckin’ things that nobody ever freakin’ saw”.

• Oscar Voter Reveals Brutally Honest Ballot (Hollywood Reporter - 2014)

  • I have seen none of them. I have no interest whatsoever. That ended when I was 6. My son dragged me to a few when he was 6; I would seat him and go outside and make phone calls.

    MY PICK: I abstain.

• For Your Consideration ad for Shrek (Twitter - 2022)

• Can WALL-E Win Best Picture? (Time - 2008)

• Academy Awards Controversy: Wall-E Gets Snubbed For Best Picture Oscar (US News/archive.org - 2009)

• 10 Years Later, an Oscar Experiment That Actually Worked (NY Times - 2020)

  • “Still, the best-picture formula had by then become stale, too often finding spots for twinkly Miramax films like “Chocolat,” ”Finding Neverland” and “The Cider House Rules.” Without big hits in the mix, viewer interest was fading, and after the 2009 best-picture lineup snubbed well-reviewed blockbusters like “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” in favor of middlebrow dramas like “Frost/Nixon” and “The Reader,” Ganis huddled with academy decision makers to figure out a new path forward.”

• Oscars Won’t Televise All Awards Live, Adds “Popular” Film Category (Hollywood Reporter - 2018)

• Academy Postponing New Popular Oscar Category (Hollywood Reporter - 2018)

• The Best-Popular-Film Oscar Was an Attempt to Save Ratings, Academy President Confirms (Vanity Fair - 2018)

• Oscars Slammed by Film Journalists for Creating ‘Best Popular Film’ Category, Especially in the Year of ‘Black Panther’ (IndieWire - 2018)

• Who Votes for the Academy Awards? (Britannica)

  • “For the final voting, all active or lifetime academy members are allowed to cast ballots in any category, but they are discouraged from voting in categories where they lack expertise.”

• How Oscar’s Preferential Ballot Works — And Could Produce a Best Picture Shocker (Hollywood Reporter - 2019)

• How does a movie win a best picture Oscar? There’s a method to the voting madness (LA Times - 2022)

• 'Encanto' Wins Best Animated Feature Film | 94th Oscars (Oscars/YouTube - 2022)

  • The award presentation by Lily James, Naomi Scott and Halle Bailey with the comments about animation being “for kids.”

• Phil Lord (Twitter - 2022)

  • “Super cool to position animation as something that kids watch and adults have to endure”

• Phil Lord and Hollywood’s Animators Slam Oscars for ‘Belittling’ Animation Categories (The Wrap - 2022)

• Charlie Kaufman: the Oscars Are 'phony' (AP/YouTube - 2016)

Short Films

• 15 Animated Shorts Make Oscar Shortlist, ‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio’ Picked For Best Sound, Score, Song (Cartoon Brew - 2022)

  • “Last year, the Academy expanded the shortlist from 10 to 15 films, which proved a major benefit to independent and international works that were slowly being nudged out of the competition by big studios that had deep pockets to campaign with.”

• 'The Windshield Wiper' Wins Best Animated Short Film | 94th Oscars (Oscars/YouTube - 2022)

  • Alberto Mielgo speech including “Animation for adults is a fact, it’s happening. Let’s call it cinema.”

• Wake Up, Oscars: Animation isn't just for kids (Mashable - 2022)

• The Oscars categories that almost got cut (and why they are awesome) (Mashable - 2022)

• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Wins Best Animated Motion Picture | 2023 Golden Globe Awards (NBC - 2023)

Additional Material

• The Oscar voters: Meet the members at large (LA Times - 2012)

• How Does Oscar Voting Work? (Variety - 2020)

• Who Votes for the Oscars, and How Do They Do It? (Vanity Fair - 2022)

• What Hollywood Insiders Won’t Tell You About the Academy Awards (Reader’s Digest - 2023)

• Academy Voters Don’t Watch The Animated Features They Vote On — And The Academy Is Fine With That (Cartoon Brew - 2019)

• Have the Oscars Finally Given Animation the Respect It Deserves? (Collider - 2023)

• The Academy Awards shot themselves in the foot (CC2K/archive.org - 2018)