Editor's note: Welcome to the tenth of a 33-part series dissecting the 83rd Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!
by Stevee from
Cinematic ParadoxYou know how at the Golden Globes this year, when it came time to announce the winner of the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category, they called upon Hailee Steinfeld and Justin Bieber to do that? You see, I have something in common with them. No, it’s not the fact that I am girl (seriously...I need to stop with the Bieber jokes). I’m young like them, so it’s a no-brainer having me take on the Best Animated Feature category for LAMB Devours the Oscars this year, right? Well, there’s that, and animated films aren’t usually R-rated, so I am legally allowed to watch these.
The prime reason I chose this category is actually because I thought there’d be five films in here, and I thought I was cool because I would have seen four out of five films I predicted would be in this category. But nooooooooo. The Academy just had to rain on my parade (don’t even get me started on the Nolan snub...) and only nominate three: Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist. Meaning I have only seen Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon, because The Illusionist is still floating somewhere out in space and no-one from this country wants to grab it for me (this country being New Zealand).
So, basically, we all know who is going to win this category. It’s exactly like last year with Up. Toy Story 3 has the unfair advantage over everyone because it’s nominated in this category and Best Picture. If it doesn’t win Best Picture, it’s okay, because it can win this one. Geez, if Inception doesn’t win Best Picture, it doesn’t have the ‘Best Mindf*ck Movie of the Year’ award to fall back on. I guess this is why PIXAR makes such fantastic movies. They practically have two huge categories made for them. It’s like their ‘screw you’ to Hollywood.
Anyway, I digress. Let me explain to you the nominees as if they were a person. Just like how they do the ‘stories’ in Date Night of the people they see in the restaurant.
First up is The Illusionist. I’d say this film would be the foreign exchange student with a vintage sort of style, that possibly comes from a well bred family. Why? Well, the obvious, this film comes from France. Out of the three nominees, The Illusionist is the only one who chooses to be 3D-free, which I suppose is very fitting to its 1959 setting. The press-kit for this movie that Sony sent to the US says that the "script for THE ILLUSIONIST was originally written by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati as a love letter from a father to his daughter, but never produced". Jacques Tati, back in his heyday, directed such comedy fares as Mr. Hulot’s Holiday. So The Illusionist must have had high expectations from the get go, and it seems to have succeeded.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91% - critics; 79% - audience.
IMDb rating: 7.8/10.
Metascore rating: 84/100 (23 reviews).
You know how back in 2001 DreamWorks released a medieval tale of sorts named Shrek. Well, I can’t help but think that How to Train Your Dragon is like its little brother. Kinda like the very diligent but funny little brother of the most popular guy in school. How to Train Your Dragon didn’t quite live up to the magic of Shrek nor the hype that had been set up for it since it’s theatrical release, but nevertheless, this is a very memorable animated flick. Who didn’t think Toothless was cute? You’ve gotta love those animal sidekicks. Plus, it was effortlessly well written and often very funny. Of course, like most animated movies, it has the famous moral. I really liked the set up of this movie: it devoted lots of time to breathtaking dragon flights and fights, but it also had a good amount of meaningful drama and comedy going on at the same time. Usually, a live action film may forget that. This is perhaps one of the better animated flicks not made by PIXAR. Not to mention the fact that this is probably the only non-crappy film Gerard Butler has been a part of in a while.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98% - critics; 90% - audience.
IMDb rating: 8.2/10 (#179 on Top 250).
Metascore rating: 74/10
Oh dear. It must suck to be PIXAR. To have all those expectations. And to top them, Every. Single. Time. Toy Story 3 is like the kid who always wins the speech competition. The team who always wins the championship. The smart one who always gets the top mark for everything. Basically, it is possible to beat it, but you’d need all the luck in the world. Making a sequel to a movie which had been in the ground for around 11 years is a bit of a risky decision and it shouldn’t have worked. But PIXAR, being the amazing animated-films-on-steroids factory that it is, not only made the sequel work, but it topped the other two by far, and soon became the #1 animated film of all-time. This probably has something to do with the fact that this movie has everything: lots of laughs, dramatic depth, action sequences, frightening villains (you know who you are, Losto) and the end which will make you cry. A lot. That bittersweet farewell is the thing that has seemed to work into Toy Story 3’s favour, as the voters will probably be too emotionally rattled by this film that they have no choice but to vote for it. You can really believe the hype with this film, because it’s one of those rare films which are impossible not to love.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 99% - critics; 91% - audience.
IMDb rating: 8.7/10 (#27 in Top 250).
Metascore rating: 92/100
So, is it possible for either The Illusionist or How to Train Your Dragon to become like The King’s Speech and upset Toy Story 3’s winning streak? Probably not, no. It’s nominated in five categories, and it has the best chance right here. It’s nominated for Best Picture. It won’t win that one, so it will have to settle here. If it doesn’t, there shall be cries from every toy in the land.
You don’t get $1,063,161,943 without getting an Oscar.
