Friday, March 16, 2012

85th Oscar Animated Feature Updates (3/16/12)

Typically when considering the animated film category, prognosticators look at the scheduled wide-releases and simply line them up based upon the studios that produced them. Last year, however, four foreign language films made the short list, and two of them received nominations.

I’ve stepped up my game to try to acknowledge this, looking for foreign and independent animated films that might sneak up and surprise us. In reality, fewer than 20 of these films will actually qualify, with the others foregoing U.S. releases, going directly to DVD or being disqualified. Still, I’m hoping to claim the bragging rights for being the first one to identify those surprises.

For the moment, I have moved The Lorax out of the top 5. Reviews seem to suggest that it is a solid kid’s story, but the critics don’t seem to be overjoyed by it the way they were with last year’s Rango. I am also beginning to wonder whether the supernatural themes of Frankenweenie, ParaNorman and Hotel Transylvania might lead to a situation where all three are overlooked. With their current release schedules being compressed within a two month time frame, it will be that much more difficult for one of them to emerge as the clear front-runner.



1. Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman for Brave (previous rank 2)
2. Hiromasa Yonebayashi for The Secret World Of Arrietty (Kari-Gurashi No Arietti) (previous rank 1)
3. Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt for The Pirates! Band Of Misfits (previous rank 14)
4. Peter Ramsay for Rise Of The Guardians (previous rank 4)
5. Richard Goldgewicht for Pablo (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 21)



Alternates:
6. Tim Burton for Frankenweenie (previous rank 7)
7. Chris Butler and Sam Fell for ParaNorman (New)
8. Ken Daurio and Kyle Balda for Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (previous rank 3)
9. Will Finn and Dan St. Pierre for Dorothy Of Oz (previous rank 19)
10. Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar for The Rabbi’s Cat (Le Chat Du Rabbin) (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 2)
11. Patrice Leconte for The Suicide Shop (Le Magasin Des Suicides) (previous rank 15)
12. Genndy Tartakovsky for Hotel Transylvania (New)
13. Jairo Eduardo Carrillo and Oscar Andrade for Little Voices (Pequenas Voces) (New)
14. Alex Williams for The Wild Bunch (previous rank 11)
15. Rich Moore for Wreck-It Ralph (previous rank 8)
16. Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier for Ice Age: Continental Drift (previous rank 13)
17. Bibo Bergeron for A Monster In Paris (Un Monstre A Paris) (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 24)
18. Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath and Conrad Vernon for Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (previous rank 5)
19. Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie for Aya Of Yop City (Aya De Yopougon) (New)
20. Anca Damian for Crulic: The Path To Beyond (Crulic: Drumul Spre Dincolo) (New)
21. Yoshimi Itazu and Satoshi Kon for The Dreaming Machine (Yomemiru Kikai) (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 8)
22. Michel Ocelot for Tales Of The Night (Les Contes De La Nuit) (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 12)
23. Antoine Charreyron for The Prodigies (La Nuit Des Enfants Rois) (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 6)
24. Zack Keller and Ed Skudder for The Inventors (previous rank 27)
25. Hiroyuki Okiura  for A Letter To Momo (Momo E No Tegami) (New)

26. Seong-yun Oh for Leafie: A Hen Into The Wild (Madangeul Naon Amtak) (New)
27. Chris Sullivan for Consuming Spirits (New)
28. Luis Mandoki for Banking On Mr. Toad (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 23)
29. Martin Clapp, Dorota Kobiela and Geoff Lindsey for The Flying Machine (New)
30. Terence Nance for An Oversimplification Of Her Beauty (New)
31. Eduardo Schuldt for Los Ilusionautas (New)
32. Remi Bezancon and Jean-Christopher Lie for Zarafa (New)
33. Barrett Esposito for Henry & Me (New)
34. Juan Jose Campanella for Metegol (Foosbal) (previous rank 22)
35. Wayne Thornley for Zambezia (New)
36. Jean-Francois Laguionie for Le Tableau (The Table) (New)
37. Kresten Vestbjerg Anderson, Thorbjorn Christoffersen and Phillip Einstein Lipski for Ronal The Barbarian (Roanl Barbaren) (New)
38. Kory Juul for White Tiger Legend (previous rank 17)
39. Saranne Bensusan for The Hunting Of The Snark (New)
40. Renato Barreto for Ivete Stellar Stone And Light (Ivete Stellar E A Pedra Da Luz) (New)
41. Stephane Berla and Mathias Malzieu for The Boy With The Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Le Mecanique Du Coeur) (New)
42. Tony Tang for Sky Force (New)
43. Anthony Bell for Norm Of The North (previous rank 6)
44. Ben Stassen for Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage (A Turtle’s Tale) (Sammy’s Avonturen: De Geheime Doorgang) (previously listd in 84th Oscar race, rank 16)
45. Tom Walsh for Dwegons (New)
46. Deryck Broom and Roger Hawkins for The Lion Of Judah (previously listed in 84th Oscar race, rank 15)
47. Kevin Lima for Monkeys Of Mumbai (New)
48. Bill Boyce and John Stronach for Noah’s Ark: The New Beginning (New)
49. Keiichi Hara for Colorful (Karafuru) (New)
50. Leon Joosen for Saving Santa 2012 (New)


As always, check the Tracker Pages in the upper right hand corner of this blog for the most updated predictions in all categories!   
See Animated Feature predictions for other years HERE.
If you’re really into animation, check out the Animated Shorts also.
See predictions for other categories at the 85th Oscars HERE.
Switch to another year: 84th,  85th,  86th,  87th,  88th,  89th  
.

14 comments:

  1. Interesting... will have to look up Rise of the Guardians and Pablo. Not come across them yet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pablo is a mix of documentary and animation, so I'm not entirely sure if it will qualify. But it is about Pablo Ferro, the famous title designer, so I can see it making the cut as a tribute to him.

      Delete
  2. LOL. How freaking terrible would it be if Hotel Transylvania won best animated picture? LOL. An Adam Sandler movie winning an Oscar. Ouch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you see how many times Sandler was on those interview clips at last month's Oscars? Clearly somebody in the Academy loves him.

      I am not a fan of most of Sandler's recent works, but given the number of producing credits he has I wouldn't be surprised if they jump at the chance to reward him the first time that he gets "serious" and plays an "Academy-friendly" part--Not that Hotel Transylvania necessarily fits that description, of course!

      Delete
  3. I think Frankenweenie may sneak in, it's such a fun and warm story, maybe next year the academy will give Burton something at last.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wouldn't at all be surprised if Burton made it in here, and the fact that Dark Shadows is also coming out could help him too. Interestingly, his nomination for Corpse Bride also came in a year when he had two big releases, the other one being Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

      Delete
  4. I'm hoping Frankenweenie is good and gets itself in there. With Tim Burton's name attached to it, I think it fares OK in the least. I'm definitely banking on Brave to be good too. Looks like Pixar might make up for its lackluster year last year!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yours makes a second vote for Frankenweenie, so I may need to rethink that.

    I would be shocked in Brave didn't make the nomination list. At the moment I still wonder about Arrietty stealing the win away from it, but since Arrietty has already hit theaters and Brave is just beginning its run, I figured that Brave is likely to overtake it massively if it turns out as well as everyone hopes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I think Brave is pretty much a shoo-in. I'm also looking forward to How to Train Your Dragon sequel, though sequels are rarely better than the originals.

      Delete
    2. It is really bad that I still haven't seen How To Train Your Dragon 1! Luckily I have until 2014 to be able to still understand the sequel. Hahaha!

      Delete
  6. Love the courage of anyone to predict the winners this early on. I’ll be keeping score. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'm sure there will be some changes (otherwise I'd get bored), but I enjoy watching as each film's chances rise and fall throughout the year.

      Delete
  7. I haven't heard of a lot of these, but that's why we have you. I agree that Brave is probably going to be the film to beat. I'm happy to see you think Arrietty could be a contender since it would be one of the few anime films nominated for the consideration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Max. Arrietty seemed to get a pretty big U.S. release,and seemed universally loved by critics, so I think that could help make the difference here.

      Delete