What About the 'Animated Feature' Category at the Oscars?

It may be only October. But let's face it, we're getting some glimpses of the films which are sure to be nominated at the Oscars, and awards season will kick off in less than two months. So, it's never too early to start predicting...or get excited. Personally, awards season is my favourite part of the year.

Now everybody has been predicting the Best Pictures and Actors and Actresses, particularly because there have been some really good films coming through the several film festivals. But what about the animated feature category? Naturally, we'd expect a PIXAR flick to take it out, but they will probably be having a break this year since Cars 2 didn't exactly fare too well with the critics. In fact, there haven't been any real 'stand-out' animated features this year...just some good ones, and quite a few terrible ones. Then again, not every year can have a Toy Story 3.

Let's look at our possibilities:

The ones that definitely deserve a chance:

The Adventures of Tintin - Now, for some reason, I keep thinking that this movie isn't going to be eligible for the category. I don't really know why this is, and there's this sneaking feeling that I really can't lock this film in as the winner. I mean, what if this movie isn't really that great? What if, for whatever reason, the film isn't eligible? Gosh...I don't know. I still can't see this movie in that particular category, but it doesn't seem to have that much competition keeping it out. You're probably thinking now that I wrote this post for no reason at all, considering that, y'know, this one seems like 'the one', but I'm not convinced. And even if I were convinced, there isn't really the 'competition' to back it up, like we had last year with How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist. I'm not crazy...yet.

Rango - This film seems to be loved by most film bloggers, mainly because of the many references to pop culture and Western films. Rango was a cool film, but I haven't really heard a lot of love from people outside 'film world'. I think it's a film that has a very specific audience: the kids will find it funny because of how ridiculous it is (in a good way) and some adults who know their stuff will get a lot of the jokes. This might hurt it's chances, but come on. The technical side of the movie is almost flawless, since the vocal acting was done so realistically and the attention to detail in the animation was so good. If Tintin doesn't get a look in, then this will probably be the one that wins.

Rio - While this film performed well critically and financially, I still feel like this movie just 'slipped by'. It was a cool movie, very colourful and funky, but perhaps it was a little too simple. There was this feeling that everything about this movie was 'just there'. It was good, but not excellent. Perfectly adequate, really. A couple of impressive musical numbers, nice vocal acting and an excessive amount of colour should pull this movie in. I just hope that voters haven't forgotten about it by the time awards season really gets going.

Winnie the Pooh - There are unfortunately so many things riding against this otherwise excellent little film that may see it not get a nomination. The film failed to earn it's (exceptionally high) budget back in America, so it didn't perform as well as it should have. It got brilliant reviews (a 91% Tomatometer), but the reviews weren't amazingly raving. The fact that it's only 52 minutes long (excluding the credits) makes it a lot shorter than your average film. But hey, this movie is nostalgic, simple and whimsical...it's truly old-fashioned Disney at it's best. If, for anything, the voters choose this film, then it should be for the glorious hand-drawn work. 3D is so over-rated.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - The first was nominated in this category back in 2009, and this one is apparently just as good. But I'd probably put this one behind the other four, so I doubt that it will get a nomination unless they open the category up to five nominations. Yet, I wouldn't dismiss it, because it's sheer popularity could see it coming out over Winnie the Pooh or Rio.

They haven't been released yet, but they may have a chance:

Puss in Boots - Considering the last couple of Shrek's weren't that fantastic, dear old Puss in Boots may have lost a bit of traction and this movie could totally flop. But I doubt it, since Puss in Boots was definitely the awesomest character in the Shrek series after Donkey. I just don't see it getting a nomination. I'm sure the box office won't be a problem for it, but the critics might. We don't have long to find out, though!

Happy Feet Two - Well, my cat is named after Mumble, so this will have to get nominated! Haha. The first won the award in this category, but the movie itself received mixed reactions from what I can remember. I doubt this will get a nomination...and I doubt that it will be that great. Mind you, I was one of the ones who absolutely loved the first one. It must be just my shaky attitude towards sequels.

Arthur Christmas - Jeez, didn't the trailer for this come out last Christmas? I don't know how well Christmas movies fare at the Oscars. And for that, I'm willing to leave this out of my predictions. Unless, of course, there's some miracle and it gets rave reviews. Even then, I doubt it has enough pull to get nominated.

The Wildcard:

Cars 2 - Yes, it didn't get the best reviews. But I'm sensing that there will be some sort of sympathy towards PIXAR's only failure. And hey, Cars got nominated back in 2007, even though it wasn't the best of films. I wouldn't completely dismiss the film. Oscar is known for being unpredictable. Maybe that's a bit too unpredictable, but not too out of the ordinary.

They're never gonna get a nomination:

There has been a surprising amount of bad animated movies coming out this year. At the very start of the year, there was Gnomeo & Juliet. Shakespeare wasn't always meant to be adapted into an animated flick with garden gnomes playing his famed star-crossed lovers. Mars Needs Moms was a huge flop, despite it's cool motion-capture animation style. But come on, after it was made for $120 million, and it only earned just over $21 million at the USA box office, can you really expect it to get nominated? Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is unlikely to get a nomination, as the first one wasn't even that great and the animation looks scarily cheap. Plus, Anne Hathaway didn't even wanna come back for it.

My final prediction, as of 09/10/11:

If Tintin is eligible/good, then I'd be inclined to pick that, Rango and Rio. Excluding Tintin, I'd go for Winnie the Pooh to take the final spot. I think Rango is a definite lock, and I'd be surprised if it didn't get nominated.

So what do you think will get nominated? And what have you thought of 2011's animated feature selection?