OVP: Best Sound Editing (2004)
The Nominees Were...
Michael Silvers & Randy Thom, The Incredibles
Randy Thom & Dennis Leonard, The Polar Express
Paul NJ Ottosson, Spider-Man 2
My Thoughts: We are tackling the sound categories this week, and with that we are back into the three-wide fields, and in this case the first (perhaps only?) time that a non-music category has ever been dominated by animated films (other than Animated Feature, obviously). Two of the three nominees this year are from animated features from 2004, which is weird because as we'll see next week, animation wasn't at the top of its game in 2004 (arguably the worst overall field the Academy ever created). We'll start with one of those two films, the one that has a far more controversial public memory than the other (which is basically beloved).
The Polar Express is one of those cases of a film having a lot of hooks, but not necessarily a lot of reasons to award it. The film plays to the Academy's baser instincts with this category (trains, holiday music cues, giant chase scenes), but there's nothing special going on in this movie, and oftentimes it feels a bit tinny to the ear (we'll get into this more when the movie is up for mixing). The crispness isn't there that we'd expect from an animated feature in this race, and it honestly feels like in a year bereft of major blockbusters, that the Academy just went for a movie going through the motions rather than one that actually had solid sound design.
This wasn't the case for The Incredibles, however, which is a home run. The movie, like Polar Express, has a lot of obvious hooks (the gadgetry, again some splendid action sequences), but it brings an ingenuity that Polar is lacking. The giant drill at the end of the movie has a great roar, pretty much everything involving Syndrome's superpower feels ripe & well-timed, and each of the Parr family's own skills have a set of sound effects to match. Pixar would become a mainstay in this category throughout the decade for a reason-this was really raising the bar ahead of most of the live-action sound work we'd get throughout the decade.
This was evident, unfortunately in Spider-Man 2. While I generally liked the movie (though not as much as some, who have proclaimed it the "greatest" superhero movie ever), the sound work is just average, and sometimes overpowers the conversation. Particularly the later battles with Dr. Octopus, the effects overwhelm the dialogue (and then vice versa), pulling you out of the movie...again, we'll get into this with Mixing, but there's nothing that really stands out here for me. This, like Polar Express, feels like the kind of nomination where the Academy was like, "well, it has sound editing" but it didn't question whether or not that sound editing was anything above.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Reel Awards split their categories between live-action & animated, and frequently have a lot of nominated pictures in the running. For Animated (which we'll start with since it was the Oscar driving force), The Incredibles won, here besting Kaena: The Prophecy, Shark Tale, Shrek 2, Team America: World Police, and The Polar Express, while Live-Action went with The Aviator over Collateral, I Robot, Kill Bill: Volume 2, Million Dollar Baby, Spider-Man 2, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Day After Tomorrow. Sound Editing had a shortlist in 2004, so we know the fourth place was either The Aviator, Collateral, The Day After Tomorrow, or Ray...and it has to be The Aviator, right? Sound Mixing nomination, it has all of those early aviation effects from Howard Hughes...it's a weird snub.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I mean, I hate to beat a dead horse but House of Flying Daggers not making this list is a damned shame...the forest effects & the constant, distinct battles make for arresting aural design. Also, I know this is before Tarantino could get nominated as a default, but could someone explain to me why Kill Bill couldn't get into any category, particularly for its sound work?
Oscar’s Choice: The Incredibles became the first (and to date, only) animated film to win an Oscar for its sound design.
My Choice: Yeah, I mean it's obviously The Incredibles-this is a bad field with an A+ exit ramp to take for the winner. I'd put Spider-Man ahead of Polar Express in the silver medal race.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone want to make the argument in favor of one of the other two, or are we all Team Pixar on this one? Why do you think the Academy was so into Polar Express here but wouldn't cite it for Animated Feature? And what was with the strange Aviator snub...was it the obvious fourth place? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
Also in 2004: Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2004
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