OVP: Best Animated Feature Film (2003)
The Nominees Were...
Aaron Blaise & Robert Walker, Brother Bear
Andrew Stanton, Finding Nemo
Sylvain Chomet, The Triplets of Belleville
My Thoughts: We are moving into the back-half of 2003 with Animated Feature Film today. We talk often about how the Animated Feature film race rarely justifies its existence, specifically as a five-wide field (i.e. there aren't enough films compared to every other category that comes out each year). That's the case here, but it's a bit deceiving. While I was not a fan of all of these films (discussing more in a second), all three of the films that Oscar nominated had their own champions. This is not a year where a film was clearly phoning it in with a nomination. But as you'll see below, when you get outside of these films, there is virtually nothing that Oscar could have chosen instead-these were, in granite, the three nominees for Best Animated Feature Film.
Inarguably the most successful of these films (both commercially & critically) was Finding Nemo, which would've gotten a Best Picture citation in a ten-wide field, for my money. It was huge in the summer of 2003, and for good reason-Nemo was one of the highlights of Pixar's Renaissance. A brilliant piece of vocal work from Ellen Degeneres combined with a gorgeous color palette (all of those blues and oranges-sublime), and a rich story about a father-and-son finding acceptance in the wake of tragedy. It's a brilliant & wonderful movie. Considering this was the only Oscar it won in 2003, I am fine with this category existing solely to honor Nemo.
The other two nominees I was less thrilled with, but with Belleville I was at least curious. Belleville has a bustling animation style from director Sylvain Chomet, one that feels playful & alive even twenty years after the fact (it hasn't aged at all). I love the sight gags involving the Triplets (all of them watching TV together, as if they cannot be separated, even in their aging forms), and the song score is scrumptious. It's just...not a great movie. The movie has too many plot holes (even for an abstract picture), and we hit diminishing returns as the grandmother's journey finds her in increasingly implausible scenarios. It has fascinating elements, but it doesn't succeed with story.
Brother Bear was the last time that Disney (note, not Pixar) would get an Oscar nomination in this category until 2008, easily the longest stretch that Disney has gone without a citation. This is because Disney was in one of its "wilderness" periods creatively, and Brother Bear, despite a nomination, really deserves to be part of that. The film tries to capture some of the magic of the 1990's cartoons, blending classic & modern, but it's dull. The characters aren't engaging (even if the bears are cute), and it borrows repeatedly from other films we'd just seen like The Lion King and Pocahontas. All in all, this isn't a bad movie, but it's not a good one either, and if you're going to compete for an Oscar I should at least be able to give you a thumbs up.
Other Precursor Contenders: We are now in the era prior to either the BAFTA's or the Globes having this category, so the only place we can go on is the Annie Awards, which gave Best Picture to Finding Nemo (for whatever reason the Annie Awards generally don't like Pixar all that much, so this win is telling), over Brother Bear, Triplets of Belleville, Millennium Actress, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. I honestly have no clue what was in fourth place here. Millennium Actress is a possibility, and maybe makes the most sense, though it's not entirely out-of-the-question that Piglet's Big Movie, another Disney film, couldn't have taken this if one of these movies was skipped. Let's just say it was a LONG way down the list for fourth.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I will let you know in a couple of weeks. I am trying to track down a few of the 2003 Best Animated Feature Films that I haven't seen in the coming weeks before we do My Ballot as I honestly haven't seen much beyond these three & I want options.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I will let you know in a couple of weeks. I am trying to track down a few of the 2003 Best Animated Feature Films that I haven't seen in the coming weeks before we do My Ballot as I honestly haven't seen much beyond these three & I want options.
Oscar’s Choice: It was an EASY call for Finding Nemo...one of those situations where the nominee probably got an outright majority of first-place ballots.
My Choice: Another easy call for Nemo, with Belleville and Brother Bear behind (in that order). Nemo hasn't aged flawlessly, but it is mountains above the rest of these pictures.
And that's our Animated Feature film race. Is everyone kind of in line that this should've been Finding Nemo, and if not-who is the best option here? Do you think Disney will ever go through the kind of dry spell they did in the mid-Aughts again, or is it "too big to fail?" And what the hell was in sixth place? Share your thoughts below!
No comments:
Post a Comment