OVP: Best Original Song
The Nominees Were...
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets, Music and Lyrics by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyrics by Siedah Garrett
My Thoughts: I was about to check out for the night, and then I recalled the travesty that happened in last year's Oscars in the Original Song category-just two songs received Academy Award nominations, despite new songs from P!nk, Mary J. Blige, Bruno Mars, and Elton John, amongst many others, being eligible. So I figured I could do a quick one before I go to bed.
Thankfully, the Academy revamped the rules for this category so this year will be an anomaly rather than routine. I truly enjoy this category (anyone who doesn't should remind themselves of how many great movie moments happen with original songs), so I want it to succeed, and with five nominations nearly guaranteed in 2012, we should be in better shakes (though they also need to eliminate the 2-song limit so that original musicals, when someone has the guts to make one, get their due, like this past year).
For, in both of our nominated films, we got that rarest of birds-a pair of original musicals. And oddly enough (that metaphor was intentional), one of the films is about two rare birds. Rio, an animated film that somehow got left off of the Animated Feature list, despite being nominated in a non-animated category (something none of the actual nominees pulled off), is about two Spix's macaws, and how they find love during Carnaval while being chased by poachers and a devilishly funny cockatoo (voiced by Jermaine Clement). The song actually is played twice in the film-at the very beginning and the very ending. It's a rousing samba which I found myself humming for an hour or two after I saw the film, though it clearly didn't stick, as I had to re-listen to the tune just before I wrote this piece.
The second nominated song is a bit groan-inducing to include, considering the bevy of choices that Oscar had within the movie, but it's still quite amusing, if for nothing else than the sight gags. The song is "Man or Muppet?" and is performed by Jason Segal, Peter Linz, Jim Parsons, and Bill Barretta within the film, and shows the characters of Gary and Walter at a crossroads, trying to decide whether they are men or muppets. It's a cute identity crisis, but considering this is the film franchise that brought us the tear-inducing melody of individuality "The Rainbow Connection," and that this is the third best original song in this movie alone, it seems a shame that it was for this song that Oscar decided to honor the franchise.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes had an entirely different lineup (as they oftentimes do) filled with famous names (as they oftentimes do). Selections from Albert Nobbs, Gnomeo and Juliet, Machine Gun Preacher, The Help, and W.E. (the ultimate winner), meant that Glenn Close, Elton John, Chris Cornell, Mary J. Blige, and Madonna were in attendance there.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Where to begin? I suppose that Oscar should be at least given a little bit of a break in that this was not a strong year for Best Original Song. That being said, they at least could have picked the best songs in these two movies-"Pretty Bird" from Rio would have been a better choice, as it's smarter lyrically (and would have meant that the two stars of Flight of the Conchords would have competed against each other-a great story). And "Man of Muppet" cannot hold a candle to the very Muppets-esque "Life's a Happy Song" (complete with celebrity cameos!) or the sad lament "Pictures in My Head."
Oscar's Choice: Oscar made the obvious choice, and went with The Muppets, the first Oscar for their franchise.
My Choice: Honestly, this is a close race for me-on the surface, it makes more sense to go with The Muppets, but this isn't a cumulative award, and what could have been an easy score with one of the other songs is a close match. However, it's still a match that they win, and Bret McKenzie also gets my Oscar.
And now, of course, I welcome you to discuss in the comments-of the two films, what movie deserved the trophy? What films should have been nominated? And of all films in 2011, which had truly the best Original Song?
No comments:
Post a Comment