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Oscars 2023 Review: Best Animated Feature Nominees

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

This year makes it the first year I had the luck to see all five nominees for the Best Animated Feature. A lot of good films. Most are family-oriented but some have some adult appeal. Three are American made with one from Japan and one from Spain. Here are my reviews of the Best Animated Feature nominees:

The Boy And The Heron

Anime may or may not be to your liking. but Hayao Miyazaki makes anime films worth liking. If you’re familiar with Miyazaki, his film Spirited Away won the very second Oscar in this category. This film is his fourth film to be nominated in this category and his first in ten years when he went into retirement.

Here he ends his retirement to return with a story about a boy who lost his mother during World War II and doesn’t know how to deal with a new stepmother, an upcoming baby brother and a new school. He thinks he can fake a rock attack from a school bully to get out of his problem but a mystic heron who speaks to him has clues to how he can encounter his mother.

In many ways, this story is quite similar to Spirited Away. The path the boy Mahito takes is very similar to the labyrinth Chihiro in Spirited Away took. Both children begin the story as they face a difficult change in their life. Both children find a place that takes them to a supernatural world which they would find themselves imprisoned in and facing obstacles. Both would see imagery of beings that represent their parents or parent. In Mahito’s case, he’s led to an underground world led by a Heron and then to an image of who he thinks is his deceased moth, only to learn she’s made of water. It’s as Mahito learns he has to fight his way out of the society of parakeets that he’s able to come across his long lost mother, although she comes across as a different image.

Once again, Miyazaki succeeds in creating a world that is mystical, frightening and colorful. His films are known for capturing people’s imagination with mesmerizing imagery and dazzling colors. He’s one of few who know how to continue to innovate with 2D animation. His use of animal characters to represent the demons the child is trying to fight is present again here. With this film, it’s a human living inside a heron that is the one to guide Mahito with the ability to resolve with his new mother, fight his way out of the kingdom of parakeets and and meet his mother. The film shows Miyazaki’s magic is not lost. In fact it’s very active even after almost ten years of retirement. Miyazaki and Studio Ghjibli do it again!

This film has had a lot of awards buzz. For all the buzz in winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar, it’s seen by many as a rivalry between this film and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse as the two most likely to win. This film has won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. It also finished second at the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice award, won many critics circle awards and was nominated for seven Annie Awards winning two. Although the Spider-Verse film, which I will review later, has more awards, this film’s big wins show it can upset.

The Boy And The Heron is one of the few animated films this year that can impress older viewers. It has what it takes to help the audience escape into a hugely imaginative world.

Elemental

In the 21st Century, it’s the team of Disney/Pixar who has delivered the most in animated films. Their films have won this category eleven times in seventeen previous nominations. They’ve done a lot to reshape the way animated films are done starting with 1995’s Toy Story. Their impact has been noticed by how other film companies do their films. So much so, Disney/Pixar is no longer alone at the top. Now they have rivalry from Walt Disney Studios whom have experienced a 3D renaissance with their films, DreamWorks Animation who pioneered Shrek, Sony Pictures Animation, Laika Studios and Netflix Animation.

I hate to complain to those that like this film, but it’s one Disney/Pixar film that isn’t all that innovative. We’ve seen their magic with toys in the Toy Story movies, insects in A Bug’s Life, monsters with Monsters Inc., fish in Finding Nemo, feelings in Inside Out and souls in Soul. Their past films have even been nominated for the Best Pictures Oscar. Here, I get the sense I’ve seen this before. It’s a case of the four natural elements of the earth trying to co-exist but those belonging to the fire element are most shunned and she falls in love with a water man. Something tells me I’ve seen better and more innovative from Pixar.

Despite this feeling like something common of expected from Pixar, it does keep Pixar’s reputation for quality and perfection in animation intact. Once again, we see Pixar deliver quality images without a glitch. Not even the appearance of the characters has an image of something out of place. On the topic of animation, Pixar again succeeds in taking the viewer to an incredible universe. Element City is a sight to behold and a world to mesmerize audiences, just like the worlds in their previous films have done. Also the story itself is another case of how Pixar can take a serious issue and turn it into a film enlightening for the whole family. Here, it’s  the theme of systemic racism and xenophobia. It’s an intense topic but this film succeeds in sending a positive message about overcoming prejudices.

It’s interesting with the awards clout this year. In almost every type of awards with the Best Animated Feature category, this film has not won but found itself a nominee or finishing second or third. The big shocker was at the Annie Awards. They earned six nominations at that awards but not Best Feature!

Elemental offers nothing really original or innovative for a Disney/Pixar film. It does, however, still keep alive Pixar’s reputation for delivering top notch animation, dazzling effects, and a good story. Pixar keeps on delivering!

Nimona

This is a unique story of how a defamed knight is rescued by a troubled shapeshifter girl who is just the friend he needs. This is one story that will catch you off guard as two unlikely people become the best of friends and what each other need to overcome their biggest obstacles. For Ballister, it’s to get his reputation, his freedom and his honor back. For Nimona, it’s the false image of her being seen as a monster: an image going back 1,000 years ago and bestowed by Gloreth. Both have social alienation in common. One is looked upon as a monster. The other is regarded with contempt for being a commoner trying to be a knight.

It’s also about a villain who will do whatever she can to control things and make things their way. She doesn’t want a commoner like Ballister as a knight while the queen is willing to break down that barrier. So she secretly gives Ballister the sword that will kill the queen. She also tries to keep the myth of Nimona being the black monster alive to all those in the town. Just as the truth is revealed, the Director won’t quit and will deliver one last seize of power.

Just like Elemental is great at creating Element City, Nimona does a great job in creating the kingdom. It’s a town that mixes in the tradition of knighthood with the technology of the modern world and the common imagery of future worlds. It’s also a place that will capture your imagination as you watch.

This is a story that’s great and entertaining. This is the third film from Big Sky Studios to be nominated in this category. This is also the third straight year an animated film shown on Netflix is a nominee in this category. Seems like Netflix has become a challenger for top animated films. Last year, they delivered the winner: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. Looks like Disney and DreamWorks have a future threat on their heels!

Nimona is an excellent enjoyable animated film. It offers a unique story that will have you laughing, dazzled and entertained.

Robot Dreams

Usually in this category, it’s common to have an independent nominee or two. This year, the independent nominee is the French/Spanish film Robot Dreams. It’s worth checking out if you are up for something different.

This is a charming two-dimensional story of a lonely dog in New York who’s lonely. He decides to buy a robot to be that friend. It works that summer as the two have a great time after great time. Then the robot is stuck in the beach and the beach doesn’t open until June 1st. During that whole time, the dog patiently waits while trying to make new friends. The robot still lies on the beach with colorful dreams and hopes of reuniting again. Then things take a turn for the shocking come spring. This leads to the happy ending you didn’t expect with the Earth, Wind and Fire song “September” reminding them both they’ll still be together one way or another.

This is not the first time an animated film without dialogue has been nominated in this category. This is one film that relies on facial expressions, body language, and the various images and sounds to tell its story. It does an entertaining job, especially in the various scenes it has and the switches from dreams to reality. The addition of music also adds a boost to the film.

This is a great creation from Spanish writer/director Pablo Berger. For this film, he hired French animation director Benoit Feroumont whose works include The Triplets Of Bellville and The Secret Of Kells. It’s a fun story that turns New York to look like Zootopia. The film is full of humor, a good mix of original music and past hits, of a few sad moments and even a couple of shockers. You might think you won’t like a story with no dialogue but it works from start to finish. Not a boring moment.

Robot Dreams is the independent threat in this category. It’s a fun story of friendship, the long wait, an unexpected change and a different kind of happy ending.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Five years after the first movie, the Spider-Verse is back! Once again, Miles Morales is the central Spider-Man. This time, there’s a Spider-woman in his life named Gwen Stacey who’s also a teenager like him. While the first Spider-Verse film was more comedic, this film was more dramatic. It’s not just the villains they have to fight, but they also rival each other. Animosity between the Spider-people start and disunity and even Gwen’s expulsion happened. Meanwhile Miles and Miguel become enemies.

This is not a story of a beginning, middle and an end. This is a beginning, middle and a cliffhanger obviously to set up for the third Spider-Verse movie. The film can get confusing as there are so many Spider-men and Spider-women and they don’t all meet. The film does its best to keep it all intact and keep us the viewer understanding the story

For me, the highlight of the film has to be the mix of various styles of animation. When I go see an animated film, a great animated film is not just about the story. It’s also about animation that dazzles the eyes. Writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller learned some new animation styles after working in The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines. Lord and Miller along with the direction team made a smart move when they decided to have a different artist do each different universe. Six different animation styles were used in this film. They all make for a delight to watch as the story progresses over time.

The awards buzz has been quite something for this film. I mentioned during The Boy And The Heron that this is their biggest rival. For the Animated Feature category, Spider-verse has won the Critics Choice award, the Producers Guild Award and the Annie Award as well as the six other Annie categories it was nominated in. It has won numerous critics circle awards and their sound mixing and visual effects have won awards of their own competing against many live-action films. It has a good chance of winning the Oscar here but I know in this category, they’re not too friendly to sequels. And the first Spider-verse film won in 2018.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse keeps the excitement from the first Spider-Verse movie alive. It also has its own drama and a new batch of dazzling animation styles, and a cliffhanger that makes us hungry for the next Spider-Verse film!

And there you go. My look at the films nominated in the Best Animated Feature category. I saved my Should Win and Will Win picks for my blog of Oscar predictions tomorrow.

Summer Movie Summary: Animated Movies

Jon The Blogcentric3 Comments

If there is one style of film that reigned supreme at the box office this summer, it’s the animated movies. It had some of the best results not just of the summer but the whole year as Finding Dory grossed more than any other movie in 2016 and The Secret Life Of Pets is also in the annual Top 10 so far. There were a wide variety of animated movies from sequels to stop-motion to even an animated movie for adults only. For my summary, I will review four animated films for the summer: Finding Dory, The Secret Life Of Pets, Sausage Party and Kubo And The Two Strings.

Finding Doryfinding-dory

It’s been thirteen years since Finding Nemo hit the big screen and captivated crowds. This time around it’s Finding Dory. The question is does it still have the same magic?

The magic of Disney/Pixar films is that it’s not only about top notch animation but also about taking the audience to new and exciting worlds of the imagination. The magic of Finding Nemo is that it captured the magic of the sea world. Finding Dory attempts to capture the magic of the sea world again but it also tries to capture another magic. This time it’s the magic of the Marine Life Institute. It does a very good job of creating a universe out of a marine life park. I’m sure that when Pixar was writing the script for this film, it had to create its own map on how the park would be for Dory to go from place to place. It even had to create the system of communication through pipes.

In addition, the story had to focus on the animals headed to quarantine. That was intertwined with Dory’s search for her parents. It gives a story with many facets. It starts with Dory’s search for her parents and leads to much more. Whatever the situation, it leads to a story that the audience will find thrilling as well as enchanting to look at.

Pixar does it again with writing out an excellent story and giving it top-notch animation. Once again I doubt if you’ll find a glitch. Andrew Stanton returns as director and co-writer with Victoria Strouse and they deliver an excellently entertaining movie. This time it’s Ellen De Generes’ time to own the show. She stole Finding Nemo and now this is her time to have the show as her own. Albert Brooks is back again and he delivers an excellent performance as Marlin too. The film features a lot of other big names as voices like Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Ed O’Neill, Bill Hader, Alison Janney, Sigourney Weaver (of course) and Idris Elba.

If there’s one glitch about Finding Dory, it’s that a lot of children may not understand the story in its entirety. For the most part, it’s us older adults who have seen Finding Nemo that understand Dory and her situation. I think that was it. Pixar was making a film that would be meant for both children who love animated movies and the grown up adults who have a special place in their heart for Finding Nemo.

Finding Dory continues on the excellence of Disney/Pixar and continues the charm we first saw in Finding Nemo and entertains crowds this summer in big numbers.

The Secret Life Of Petslife-of-pets

Ever wonder what your pets do when you go to work or school? The Secret Life Of Pets attempts to answer that question of what happens, as long as you live in modern Manhattan. And boy does it give some interesting answers.

This movie creates a humorous premise: pets that come across as your typical house pets but have a sneaky double-life when their owners aren’t home. However they find themselves in trouble and they all have to get back home in time before their owners return.

The thing about this movie is that it’s not focused too much on the story or taking the audience to another world the way Pixar movies do. Instead its focus is on creating crazy humor and funny characters. It’s obvious from the start its intention is to be a crazy goofy comedy to get us all laughing and it succeeds.

However such a movie cannot compromise on things like a solid story with the right beginning, middle and end, characters that fit the story and top quality animation. The movie does exactly that. Actually this movie is more driven on the humorous characters rather than be story-driven like Pixar films. Hey, we’re talking about the same animation studio that gave us the Minions. It works for such a movie and it wins over movie audiences young and old.

Pixar is not the only animation studio alone at the top. Illumination Entertainment has given it some rivalry especially with the Despicable Me movies and the Minions. Here Illumination brings back its main director Chris Renaud and its writer Bryan Lynch, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio to create another entertaining film. The film even includes a lot of great vocal talent from Albert Brooks, Kevin Hart, Louis C.K. and Steve Coogan just to name a few.

The Secret Life Of Pets isn’t so much about creating a mesmerizing world the way Pixar’s movies are. What it does is create a story that’s entertaining to watch and full of fun intriguing characters. No wonder it charmed crowds this year.

Sausage Partysausage-party

Sausage Party is the first wide-release animated film since South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut to earn an R-rating. And rightly so. And I’m sure the animators, directors and actors of the movie wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s obvious right from the start that Sausage Party is a spoof of Disney/Pixar movies but as you watch over time, and even as you look back in retrospect, it’s obvious it’s a lot more.

Those of you who’ve seen Sausage Party will know that it’s not like most of the animated movies released today. Sometimes you may even get the feeling the movie is trying to sabotage all those family-friendly movies and the wholesome values they stand for. It sure seems that way.

I hate to bring up retro 90’s assimilations but it reminded me of a lot of 90’s entertainment that pushed envelopes and had sadistic pleasure slaughtering sacred cows and skewered values and morals we held dearly, and somehow charmed us into wanting more. Yes, such entertainment that knew we’re all gluttons for punishment. And we saw that in Sausage Party as they were definitely doing lot of tricks in the book to freak us out, whether it be the storyline or characters or images, and succeeding. We also see how it’s even skewering the wholesome values that are normally promoted in the family-friendly animated movies.

One major difference that keeps it from being 90’s-style envelope-pushers. One thing about all those envelope-pushing balls-to-the-wall entertainment of the 90’s that they not only pushed boundaries but they were also successful in making squeaky clean entertainment or entertainment with morals and a conscience look either wimpy or look like a complete joke. Yep, entertainment that broke all the rules and changed the game in the process. Can you blame me for calling them ‘The Nasty Nineties?’

I don’t think Sausage Party succeeded in doing that. Despite the ‘Dixar’ bumper sticker, it’s not as much the punch-in-the-stomach comedy or middle-finger to squeaky clean entertainment from Seth McFarlane or the South Park duo is. Yes, it does mess with wholesome entertainment but it’s more interested in having fun and pleasure making us squirm in our seat. Even though it did warp my brain, I will admit this was the most fun I had in a movie theatre this summer. It’s definitely my ‘guilty pleasure’ movie of the year.

Some people have complained that the movie is anti-religion. I don’t deny that as made obvious by the characters which include one Jewish and one Arabic and most of the lot appearing to resemble Christianity. You get the first hind right at the beginning as the groceries refer to the humans as ‘the gods’ and of the mustard coming back scared over the reality of what they’ve always called the ‘great beyond.’ I knew it would be critical of religion from the reviews I’ve read and I was expecting to get my tolerance on that subject tested. However I will state it’s not the obvious blasphemy as one would commonly see in South Park episodes or a lot of works done by Seth MacFarlane. I will also state that even atheism is also looked upon critically as it will state some common traits among many atheists like a feeling of misery or a ‘smarter than thou’ attitude.

If there is one glitch, I will have to say it’s the ending. What you first think will be the ending isn’t. Instead it will lead into what should be known as an ‘animation orgy party’ and then into a bizarre ‘reality check.’ I don’t have problems with them being in the movie or even in the ending but there are many times I feel the ending could have been done better or mapped out better.

Since I’ve been doing a lot of animation studios talk, it’s interesting to know that heading this film is a Canadian studio: Nitrogen Studios Canada Inc. The head of the studios, Greg Tiernan directs his first ever feature length film along with Conrad Vernon who has directed films like the Shrek movies, the Madagascar films and Kung Fu Panda too. You could say Vernion is spoofing his own films here. Interesting that while most animated movies of this summer have big budgets, this one only cost $20 million to make. Even though the animation was not as flawless as Pixar–and I noticed some technical glitches– its top focus was the humor and it definitely succeeded at that.

Without a doubt, Seth Rogen owned the film. It was pretty much his idea to do such a film like this for years. He not only acts in this but is co-producer and co-writer along with Kyle Hunter, Evan Goldberg and Ariel Shaffir with a story he wrote along with Goldberg and Jonah Hill. He has the delightfully evil charm of the film in his hands and knows how to deliver it well. Additional acting highlights come with Kristen Wiig and Brenda Bunson, Salma Hayek as Teresa del Taco, Bill Hader as Firewater, Nick Kroll as Douche and Edward Norton as Sammy Bagel Jr. just to name a few.

Sausage Party is a film that deserves to be hated but you can’t help but love it. Yes, it will warp your mind but it has a delightfully evil charm that will make it your guilty pleasure of the year. Just don’t bring the kiddies.

Kubo And The Two Stringskubo

After Sausage Party warped my mind, I had to watch Kubo And The Two Strings to reclaim my sanity. Good choice as it was a marvel to watch.

Normally it’s the Pixar movies that have the animation magic that mesmerize us and take us all to another world. This summer, I’d have to say it’s the world of Kubo. It was best at creating a world and an adventure that was enchanting and mesmerizing. It took a unique story that isn’t exactly one that’s best at winning big crowds and turned it into a spectacular marvel.

The thing with Finding Dory is that it does succeed in doing that but it’s a world we’ve been to before and whatever new world is in the story doesn’t differ to much from the world of Finding Nemo. In Kubo, we have a fresh new world of the imagination and that’s its advantage.

The story element of the film is just as strong. It’s about the fate of humanity and good in the world being threatened by evil and the mortality of souls and it resting in the fate of Kubo. Especially since it includes the fates of the souls of Kubo’s own parents. It’s the story of a son of a late master samurai who goes from master storyteller to the one to fight the evil forces. The very cinematic values that make the superhero movies make Kubo. In addition, it gives an alternate definition of ‘destroying the enemy’ one would come to expect. And a definition that appears to be the right thing.

While most of the films this summer were 3D computer animated films from start to finish, Kubo was a mix of both 3D computer animation and 3D stop-motion. This is a common trademark of Laika studios as seen in their past releases like Coraline, ParaNorman and The BoxTrolls. Such style of animation works to its advantage and comes off as a refreshing alternative to the 3D computerized films. It also works best in what makes this movie so captivating. I don’t think 3D computer work alone would make this film work as well.

This film is the directorial debut of Travis Knight, son of Nike CEO Phil Knight. He has actually been an animator with Laika during their first three features and now he takes the step into directing this time. He does an excellent debut job in directing. I was actually surprised to learn this is an original story. It was created by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes with the screenplay written by Haimes and Chris Butler. Very excellent and very true to spirit of common mythology. Vocal talents were also very good. Game Of Thrones actor Art Parkinson does a very good job in voicing Kubo and creating his personality. Charlize Theron captures the mysterious side of the Monkey excellently and Matthew McConaughey does a very good job in capturing Beetle in both his bravery and his idiocy. Dario Marianelli does a very good job with making the music fit the film. It captures the whimsy of it perfectly.

Kubo And The Two Strings is my favorite animated film of this summer. It had the best combination off all ingredients that make a great animated film from great animation to a great story to a great redeeming message. Sure, Sausage Party was fun in how it was the complete opposite of your typical family-friendly animated movie but Kubo is a reminder of why such movies win us over time after time. Also it helped me get my sanity back.

And that’s my review of animated movies of the summer. Three were strictly 3D computer animated while one mixed it with 3D stop-motion. Three were mostly family-friendly while one was obviously adults only and proud of it. Three were comedies while one was mostly a drama. Three were fresh new stories while one was a long-awaited sequel. All were entertaining in their own way and wouldn’t let you down. In addition the comedic animated movies had the box office success that eluded the live-action comedies of the summer. So yes, today’s moviegoers do have a sense of humor after all!

In conclusion, the animated movies were this summer’s top box office fare. If you’ve even seen one of the films I reviewed, you’d know why.