2013 Oscars "Best Animated Film" Nominees

[Macaluso]

I'd hate to see Brave win. It was perfectly fine, with astouunding animation, but far from a classic story-wise. I'd be fine with WIR winning.

Yeah, Brave was just not as good as Wreck-it Ralph. And if WIR loses to Brave then it'll just seem like they won because they're Pixar. WDFA deserves to win this award for once

[Dacey]

Think even Pixar will be using Brave as future textbook example of What Not to Do (ie., "Don't let ONE person be Sole-Credit Story Czar and waste the entire studio on a half-written personal vanity project, that's not what we do at Emeryville.")

Considering the moolah they made from Brave...not just in theaters but in terms of Merida dolls sold...yeah, I highly doubt they're saying that. Having said that, Ralph is clearly the favorite to win.

As for Paperman, I wish I could say that was a surefire win, but having seen Head Over Heels--which was animated by 11 students over the course of 15 months!--, it could end up losing.

[James]

There's a lot of love for Adam and Dog on some other forums with more animation industry types.

[Dacey]

For me, Adam and Dog felt a bit on the long side, but it ended on a strong note. And the fact that many DreamWorks/Disney folks were involved with it doesn't hurt.

At the very least, I think we can write Fresh Guacamole off....

[ShyViolet]

The Incredibles was very much Brad Bird's show and it was fantastic. Ditto Ratatouille, even with Pinkava's early work.
I think the great thing about Pixar is that, on the whole, many of their films are "vanity projects" but in the best possible way. They're a labor of love; think WALL-E and Up. Even with the occasional reigning in of some directors (eg Pinkava and Ratatouille, Brenda Chapman and Brave) Pixar films basically ARE the director's show. It's other studios thst utilize groupthink and committee production.

BTW I still wish ROTG had been nominated, but I'm very glad for WDAS. It's about time they get recognition again.

[EricJ]

Considering the moolah they made from Brave...not just in theaters but in terms of Merida dolls .

Before (I emphasize "Before") the movie came out, there was a marketing push to cash in on the new acceptance for Rapunzel and Tiana, and mandatorily feature Merida in all group marketing as the 10th Classic Princess--That's already shown up in one or two Toy Fair images that got out early, but I...don't realistically expect it to keep happening a year down the road. Tiana's anti-defamation-by-law was Bob Iger's personal battle to fight, but here, there's too much sense of lumps being taken at the parent company...As far as the boardroom is concerned, Brave deserved what it got.
(And be fair, Merida is a good appealing character to market, in that unlike the movie, dolls or T-shirt images don't open their mouths and reveal the character to be a stuck-up, privileged, androphobic snot, who antagonized half her potential audience with Chapman's words in her mouth.)

The Incredibles was very much Brad Bird's show and it was fantastic. Ditto Ratatouille, even with Pinkava's early work.

While Brave, OTOH, had too much of Chapman's "heartfelt metaphor of a mother and daughter" and the plot seemed to reflect a sense of "...That's IT?? No, seriously, the bear, that's your 90 minutes?" So we got a LOT of "filler" material added to bring it back up to the mainstream level of a house movie that would appeal to all ages and genders--The funny "contemporary' witch, the wacky chieftains & sons, the lost-prince backstory, the three bear cubs who don't really have as much to do in the plot as the marketing hype would suggest.
Up seemed to have a lot of added story filler too (the dogs), and Ratatouille only succeeded after its infusion of post-director filler (the restaurant critic), but neither one's central concepts had the sense of being...repaired with it. Chapman made the movie "her" show, may have pushed the limits of Playing Well With Others at the studio, and both she and her movie paid the price for it.

(And as for Short, they're gearing Paperman for sainthood. I know I certainly want to see "the feature someone should make from this style".)

[Dacey]

Yeah. The movie that made more than $200 million domesticly alone. The movie that won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature along with various other awards. The movie that got an Oscar nomination. Obviously, Brave has fared horribly. But since Brenda Chapman is apparently your new Jason Segel (and because you were clearly there when they were making the film, as that's the only way you could know any of this stuff), I see no reason to even try here.

[ShyViolet]

I actually haven't seen Brave yet so I can't really assess its quality at this point, but I do feel sad that WDAS didn't get their moment to shine.

[Dacey]

You haven't seen Brave...but you've been wearing Merida for more than half a year.

[ShyViolet]

Yeah, I know. I'll get around to it eventually lol.

[ShyViolet]

Who will win next year? I hope WDAS brings it home!

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/early-2014 ... e-line-up/

[ShyViolet]

Possible nominees for 2014:

Monsters University
Frozen
Turbo
Despicable Me 2
The Croods
The Wind Rises

And some others lol!

IMHO it'll be another dead heat between WDAS and Pixar. MU looks like lots of fun and I'll be seeing it this coming Monday, but again I really hope WDAS has their moment.

[Bill1978]

Not sure if The Wind Rises will be eligible as at the moment there is no release date for it in the US. Most likely it will be eligible for the 2015 Oscars.

Every year I hope for a WDAS win, I though this year was their best shot as I feelt Ralph was the strongest out of the nominees. If Frozen can win I think it would be nice that Disney won their first onewith what they are known for a musical princess story.

[ShyViolet]

I agree. It would be a great "return to form."

[Bill1978]

Well I FINALLY got around to watching ParaNorman. And as much as it pains me to say this as an obsessive Disney fan, I think ParaNorman should have won the Oscar over Brave. It had me captivated from start to finish. It made me laugh, it made me wonder what was going to happen, it had me on the edge of the seat. It was just wonderful and had that extra something that Ralph almost had. Ranking the nominees this would be my rankings:

1. ParaNorman
2. Wreck-It Ralph
3. The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
4. Brave
5. Frankenweenie

On a slightly different tangent, ParaNorman did make me wonder technically is it possible for the costume designer of a stop motion picture to be nominated for Best Costume Design. Not saying ParaNorman's costume wre outstanding, but it's the fist time I've ever really noticed that someone was required to design and make tiny little costumes for the characters, and so that got me thinking...