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The Oscars: Animated Feature Nominees
January 24, 2012 5:43 am
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning. Nominated for BEST ANIMATED FEATURE were: A CAT IN PARIS – Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol THE SCORE: It’s “2″ for Dreamworks and “0″ for Disney/Pixar. “2″ for International independent films, and “1″ for a live-action director making his animated feature debut (and that director isn’t Spielberg). And a big “zero” for Mo-Cap. It’s not a complete loss for TINTIN – the film was nominated for Best Music (Original Score). And RIO got a nod for Best Original Song. A complete list of nominees in all categories is posted here. The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday February 26th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
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No rio or winnie the pooh huh? I knew cars 2 would be left out. Pixar needs to stop with the sequals. Thats what hurt disney was those crappy direct to video sequals.
Actually, those were television-quality video sequels. They were nowhere near as good as the sequels in the Pixar canon.
America has again showed its intelligence, or rather their lack of it…Seriously, Puss in Boots & Kung Fu Panda but not TINTIN?
No matter, I didn’t care too much for that one anyway. These nominations are perfect in my opinion, you got some excellent mainstream choices(Rango, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots), and some great Indie animations(A Cat in Paris, Chico and Rita). Best of Both Worlds.
does it really matter, for Academy, what animation technique was used? for me mo-cap’ed Titntin is same true animation as rotoscoped Chicko & Rita. I mean, is it rotoscoping is very like mo-cap for 2D animation?
I would agree on that but reading thru their production techniques you’ll see that it is a proper animated feature. Tintin was still correctly not nominated.
Link: http://www.hobsoft.net/cases/chico#technique_details
The entire movie is filmed with live action actors.
The sets include dummy objects and tracker marks for camera tracking.
The live action shots are edited in Final Cut Pro and becomes the live action version of the animatic.
Approximately 2 frames of every second of live action is traced in TV-Paint and becomes the drawn version of the animatic.
The traced frames are printed on paper, pegged and sent through a classical 2D hand drawn production pipeline with rough animation, key animation, clean up, ink & paint and compositing.
The live action shots are used to create backgrounds in either 2D, 2½D or 3D where 2½D refers to 2D elements positioned in a 3D universe.
All 2D animation and coloring is done in ToonBoom Harmony
Gollum in Lord of the Rings
Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean
Kong in Peter Jackson’s King Kong
Caesar in Rise of the Apes
All brilliant characters brought to life with Mo-Cap. So it does have it’s place, just not in a purely aniamted film.
Which in turn is great for an American animation industry that just can’t get enough talking animals farting on screen.
Now I see that Chicko & Rita isn’t really interpolated rotoscope animation… I haven’t seen movie yet, but after trailer I assumed this is the same technique as used in A Scanner Darkly or Waking Life. But its not. Live action shots ware used only as reference.
Here is comparison of live shoots to later fully hand-animated scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JAVmBq6cCsY#t=29s
Anyway as Lib said, Tintin was preselected, so technique is not a case.
Frankly, it’s not that different from A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life. After seeing that clip I pretty much think that Chico & Rita and Tintin belong in the same world. Considering that one is animation and the other one isn’t is a very bad case of double standards.
So basically Chico & Rita once was a live action recording that later on was ‘cartoonified’ and tweaked using traditional techniques. Same damn thing as Tintin, only that the latter used CG. Then you can get into the detail fight, and say that in Tintin they tracked 10, 15 or 20 more frames of movement per second, while Fernando Trueba only picked a couple. Let’s also just conveniently ignore those actors wearing full costumes in Chico & Rita, the digitalized camera movements or that period car equipped with markers to get its motion right.
Really, all this debate about what’s animation and what’s not is plain silly. I find ridiculous how people cling to made up, subjective rules to determine when a film becomes animation and when it doesn’t. This is starting to sound like those arguments about when embryo can be considered a human being and when not, only that with a subject that should be a million times less controversial.
Now that I see it, I think the process they used in Chico & Rita is pretty smart, and the movie looks beautiful. Same goes for Tintin. But please don’t come tell me one is animation and the other one isn’t, or that what they did in one is more respectable than the other, because that’s complete bull.
“America”?
These nominations were decided by the voting members of just the Animation branch of the Academy who had actually seen all of the eligible features before they voted, narrowing it down to these 5.
So it was animation professionals who arrived at these films. So yes, they liked Puss and Panda and Cat and Rango and C&R a bit better than Tintin, overall.
Looks like Pixar didn’t get rid of the “director” of Cars 2, brad lewis, soon enough. Poor digital domain.
Those two are the best of the five, though I liked all but “Puss In Boots”.
*slaps forehead*
Rio also got a nomination for Best Original Song, which I guess makes up for the lack of an Animated Feature nomination (it was my favourite animated film of the year).
Looks like Rango has this one in the bag. I was looking forward to seeing A Cat in Paris whenever I could, so a nomination will hopefully give it a more wide release. It’s always nice to smaller films nominated.
Interesting how this list is almost completely different to the one put together by BAFTA – the only film they have in common is Rango.
All ten of the finalists for animated short were good this year, but my favorite, “Luminaris” didn’t get a nomination. It’s a toss up about the others. I liked Tintin but it was mostly mo-cap so I’m not surprised it didn’t get a nod. I’m looking forward to seeing the international features.
luminaris was not in contention this year
I’m disappointed “Winnie the Pooh” didn’t get a nomination – I still think it was one of the best movies, animated or otherwise, last year.
Figured that Tintin wouldn’t get in, but that got it’s share of N award anywY, so it’s all good.Really pleased with the nominees! good luck to those! Really enjoyed KFP2 !But isn’t rotoscoping close to the same thing as mo-cap? Just a different medium? Eh, what do I know. Anyway, CONGRATS!
rotoscoping? are you suggesting that kung fu panda 2 had ROTOSCOPED animation in it?
If so, I’d LOVE to read the article wherein you found such information.
Umm..I was talking about Choco and Rita.
*Chico. I guess my comment wasn’t clear enough, but I would have assumed people would have known what I was talking about without having to mention the actual movie. Don’t be so quick to jump on me here.
^How is this post not highlighted in brown??!?!??!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??
I enjoyed “Winnie The Pooh” very much but, in essence, it was a pastiche of something that was made 45 years ago and, though a good one, not as good as the original (which, in itself, was fine, but far from the best of the “nine old men” era of Disney Animation, if I make sense).
So I think it’s understandable that the Academy would rather choose animated movies that represent today’s tendencies (though none of these appeal to me in any way – not that it matters to anybody btw).
Arthur Christmas being missed is paticularly sad. It was the best-reviewed animated movie of the year and it didn’t even get a nomination. It was so much more than a holiday movie too.
Rooting for Rango and a Cat in Paris though I’m a little miffed that KFP2 and Puss in Boots got in an Tin Tin didn’t. :/
Oh Oscars…
Of these, I’ve only seen two.
RANGO was really unique (an overused word, but totally appropriate here)… it really presented something new, defying the expectations of the animation and neo-Western genres.
CHICO Y RITA was only so-so. I saw it at the NY Latino FF last summer. The script went for melodrama and cliche, which was a disappointment given the exciting potential with Cuban/New York jazz. I’m also not a big fan of rotoscope and the hard outlines around the characters became a little eye-straining.
I have no interest in the DW sequels, though I will seek out A CAT IN PARIS.
RANGO will definately get the award for sure. In my opinion, it was the best animated film of the year.
Yeah, Tintin was definitely a mo-cap fiasco, but I still think it deserves a place instead of one of the Dreamworks titles. That, and I’m kinda sad Winnie the Pooh isn’t on there.
On the other hand, I’m glad to see some indie love, and also glad Car 2 didn’t sneak on by with it’s past Pixar cred. All in all, my money’s on Rango.
Arthur Christmas got robbed.
Very glad to see “Cat In Paris” and “Chico and Rita” make the list. For now, my instinct would also go for Rango.
Sad also that Arthur Christmas didn’t make it (it could have taken the place of one of the two DW films, for more diversity).
Congrats to all the nominees!
Arthur Christmas totally got robbed. Sony has a nack for making good animated films without anyone knowing about them.
Yeah, Sony and Aardman deserved a nomination for this one. This is a major snub from the Academy.
I’m very surprised to see Tintin not get a nomination, especially after it won the Producer’s Guild Award for Best Producing in an Animated Feature.
I’m still pulling for Rango though. Easily the best animated movie of the year.
Huh. Arthur Christmas and Winnie the Pooh were the only animated films (outside Chico and Rita) that got over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.com. I guess that’s not a good indicator of who gets in.
Still, except for the absence Rio, I’m really happy with this list. Two foreign 2D aniamted films got nominated! Really hope to see those two someday, especially A Cat in Paris.
Oh, bother.
Rango all the way!!
Awesome. I loved Rango and liked Puss and Panda but I’m personally going to be rooting for Chico and Rita or Cat in Paris. Maybe if one of them wins they’ll get a wide release and more people will know about them!
Wow great calls by the academy. I have a feeling that Rango will be taking it, however I wouldn’t count out the two lesser knowns Chico and Rita and Cat In Paris, they were both way better than Puss in Boots and Kung Fu Panda 2. Congrats to all the nominees but my money is on Rango with Chico and Rita or Cat In Paris for the upset.
TWO DWA sequels get nominated while Disney/Pixar, Fox, Sony, and, biggest of all, TINTIN are slighted?! It’s fishy, verrrrrry fishy…
(I’m also glad the truly abominable “Cars 2″ got shut out.)
I’d say “Cat in Paris” & “Kung Fu Panda 2″ are both equally deserving the win.
Wrinkles and Arthur Christmas both got robbed!
Nothing fishy about the shutout of Disney/Pixar, Fox, Sony and Tintin. Sequels or not, Dreamworks made better movies. You didn’t seriously want to see Cars 2 get nominated, did you?
I just don’t get the enthusiasm for Tintin. What’s to like? I mean, I’m sure Tintin himself is the bees knees, and I’m very glad a legendary director made a big-budget movie about him for you fans, but his movie just wasn’t good enough to engage us nonbelievers. I’m actually relieved it didn’t get nominated. I don’t believe the mocap had anything to do with it, other than the usual uncanny valley issues intruding on the proceedings.
I don’t understand the nom for A Cat in Paris. It’s not a bad movie, but it fights a constant battle with its inexpressive children’s-book art style.
The villain was OK, if a little generic. The two twin detectives were irrelevant to the plot and they weren’t very funny either (surprising, considering they were played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost!). The only characters who actually had a real personality were Captain Haddock and Snowy. I, personally would have gotten rid of Tintin altogether and just have the film be about the captain and the dog searching for the treasure. Would have been a heck of a lot more fun.
My thoughts on this year’s crop of Animated Films.
Didn’t get to se Kung-Fu Panda 2 till it was released to DVD, than I watched it like 10 times, and loved it every time. Saw Rango in the theatre, bought the DVD, and only had the desire to watch it once. Saw Rio in the theatre, bought the DVD, and haven’t had the desire to watch the DVD at all. Cars 2 is the first time that I have had no desire to watch a pixar film. Lost interest in the Schreck characters after Schreck 2, and have no desire to see Puss in Boots, just based on the fact of how worn out of the characters that I have become. To be fair Puss in Boots may be a good movie, but it’s hard for me to become interested in seeing a film where I have been accustomed to seeing the characters repeatedly associated with pop-culture references, and plot-points which revolve around gags. I will wait till three people who’s film opinions that I trust reommend the film to me, and so far no one has. Watched the new Winnie the Pooh on DVD, but lost interest in the film after the first 20 minutes, as the characters all seemed to be portrayed as too dumb for their own good. Than I ejected that DVD and watched Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (A film that I have probably seen 100 times already, Make that 101 times) Far more entertaining, and highly re-watchable which is the true test of any good animated film. Didn’t have a chance to see a Cat in Paris, or Chico & Rita simply because it wasn’t being shown anywhere near me that I was aware of, so I can’t comment on these films.. That said My vote this year goes to Kung-Fu Panda 2.
The characters in Winnie the Pooh are SUPPOSED to be dumb.
Rooting for either Rango or KFP2. Both were great films that were a lot of fun to watch.
Doesn’t matter if Arthur was a cute, highly reviewed, family film. The fact that the crew was miserable under the rule of an obsessed mad woman director shows through. The animation quality isn’t even in the same league as the other nominations and the academy can tell when the filmmakers have fun actually making a film.
I wonder if anyone at Sony thinks that all the lost talent and bad blood in the industry now was worth it.
I wonder why you had to say “obsessed mad woman director” instead of just “obsessed mad director”. Wouldn’t weaken your argument at all. But this way you appear like any other misogynist.
Man or woman, I’ve worked under similar conditions too often to take the comment lightly. I’ve changed my vote.
I wonder why you had to say “obsessed mad woman director” instead of just “obsessed mad director”.
Maybe Alan wasn’t as obsessed and mad as Sarah. Your statement appears to be reading more into it. Possibly a hint of misandry? In any case, working under those kind of conditions is not acceptable.
I’ll bet someone here a million bucks a foreign film wins the award. its always like this. Mediocre animated films in the U.S. for the year allows the academy to give the award to lesser known animated films and studios. My bet is on A Cat In Paris. No way the academy is giving Rango that Oscar. they always want something “artsy”
Is there some Law that states there needs to be at least one foreign entry into the Best Animated Feature nominations?
Nah, I guess it’s just proof that not all good films are made in the US.
There were none back in 2001 (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Monsters Inc, Shrek), 2004 (The Incredibles, Shark Tale, Shrek 2), 2006 (Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House), or 2008 (Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, WALL-E).
Anyways, it’s good to have foreign nominees. It provides for a broader horizon. Spirited Away winning Best Animated Feature was probably the happiest I’ve ever been in 15 years of watching the Oscars.
If it’s always like this then why has only one foreign language movie won in the first ten years we have had this category?
I do agree that this years Dreamworks movies are pretty mediocre, but Rango was ok.
I just can’t believe that Pooh didn’t get a nomination.
This reminds me of 2011’s oscar, when Tangled didn’t get one. walt disney studios is trying so hard to get back into the disney renaissance and they get 0 wons for either Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Winnie the Pooh?
Now that’s just being mean…
sorry that winnie the pooh, arthur christmas and/or rio did not get nominated.
but the good news is, cars 2 did not get nominated, because (I think) the second reason this movie is produced is that it is made for merchandising anyway.
I’m so glad that rango & kung fu panda 2 got nominated.
we wish rango good luck on the academy awards.
In my place, On January 4, ‘A cat in Paris’ was on tv.
Nice to see Rango and A Cat in Paris nominated. Surprised that Arthur Christmas was not even nominated though.
I looked the nominees for “Best Song”. It all comes down to two kid’s movies I’ve seen (one that I really like). It is rare for “Best Original Song” to have the same number the average person thinks there are choices on the ballot for president, nor be all PG imaginary flicks (CGI and “Muppetry”).
I hope Rango wins. And for short films, I was a wee bit mad “I Tawt A Tawt A Puddy Tat” was eliminated.
Rango is gonna walk it and btw Rio’s song nomination?
What original song?? Who let the Dogs Out!?
Than agai maybe Chico & Rita…ya never know…
Rio is nominated for its song “Real In Rio”, performed by Will– oh I’m sorry it’s NOT capitalized— will i. am and Jamie Foxx. That IS original.
Does anybody know how I could catch “Chico and Rita” and “A Cat in Paris?” I don’t know if it’s out on DVD in the states yet and I want to follow up with all the nominations.
Go to http://www.gkids.tv/films/ and ask around for release dates.
boxofficemojo.com shows a Feb 10 release date for Chico & Rita (I assume that is a US release date). I haven’t seen any release info for A Cat in Paris (I’d like to see that one).
Hard to ignore the snubbing of Tintin.
Debates about technique aside: Tintin was not just the best film in the original short list, but probably one of the best films of 2011.
I just wish Spielberg would call Tintin the fourth Indiana Jones film and we can forget about that whole “Crystal Skull” debacle.
In my opinion, its Rango for the win…
And Thank God Tintin is not in the list.
Of the animated films I’ve seen this year, Arthur Christmas was the best.
Haven’t seem Cat in Paris or Chico and Rita.
KFP deserved to win a few years back, the sequel no so much.
Shrek didn’t deserve to win many years ago and same applies to the spin-off.
And I know everyone loves Rango, but I didn’t think it was that great. Sure the lighting and rendering was crazy nice to look at, but the story was just okay and the gags… man, it’s like someone stole them from a student demo reel.
Didn’t the committee governing the Oscars rule in 2010 that mo-cap (by itself) is not animation? And didn’t Roger Zemeckis, who is probably the director most responsible for the return of motion capture, been quoted as saying “To call performance capture animation is a disservice to the great animators”? Now, he said that in 2007 and he may have changed his mind since then.
I saw all three of the ‘major’ US release films- Rango, KFP2 and Puss in Boots, and liked all 3 of them. Winnie the Pooh was here but only for a short time, and I missed it. And the other nominated films will only show up here now that they’ve got an Oscar nomination. When it comes to films (and conferences, and premiers and fan shows) flyover country doesn’t get a whole lot of daring or off-beat films of any kind, live action or animated. If I had a vote it would probably go to KFP2, but if either of the other 2 win I won’t be crying foul. The 2 movies I haven’t seen I cannot judge.
Please let Rango win it.
Weird nominations.
I didn’t watch Chico and Rita or A Cat In Paris yet, though I have more interest on watching Wrinkles.
I really liked Kung Fu Panda 2, so I’m fine with that nomination. But considering Dreamworks is already represented with that film I’d left Puss’ In Boots out of the competition. It’s not that it was awful, but it didn’t make much for me. Not very funny, not a very original or interesting story, the best aspects were Banderas’ voice acting and the visuals and even those had to deal with the awful Shrek like designs in humans and Humpty Dumpty. Seriously, humans in this film, or any Shrek movie, are much uglier than the mo-cap characters in Tintin.
Speaking of Tintin I think it deserved the nomination, but I’m ok since I want Rango to win, it’s really one of the best movies of the year, period.
Arthur Christmas deserved the nomination too, it was much better than Puss’ In Boots. Winnie The Pooh was also better than Puss’ In Boots. Damn it, even Cars 2 was better Puss’ In Boots. And I’ll repeat, I didn’t hate Puss and I even like the main character, but his movie was just nothing special and every good thing it had , like the ‘western touch’, was better done in Rango.
Also, even though it’s not animation, I’m happy The Muppets got one nomination and I hope they win. I enjoyed their movie, and the songs in it, a lot more than ‘Rio’ and its songs.
Myself I’m totally fine with the films nominated, while it wasn’t a strong year for animated films. I did thoroughly enjoy KFP 2 and Rango so I’d be happy if either of those won.
While I haven’t seen A Cat in Paris or Chico and Rita, I do applaud that they got nominated. Especially since I usually see on other boards people whining about the lack of indepenant/internation films nominated. (Oddly enough, they’re still whining so I guess you just can’t please everyone.)
As for Tintin not getting nominated, I’m in the group that feels they still really don’t know where to put something like mo-cap. (On a personal opinion, I didn’t really care for the film so it’s no biggie for me.)
With Cars 2 not being nominated, this is nither a snub nor surprise to me. It’s easily the weakest film from Pixar, and I’d say people saw right through it that it was only made since it’s a cash cow with merchendise.
Finally with Winnie the Pooh, oh bother. While it was a delightful film, Disney gave it one of the worst release dates in a long time. One should never go up against the relase of one of the most highly anticipated films of the year, let alone one that is the end of a popular series. Sadly WtP was given the Kiss of Death and cast into oblivion.
I’ve very delighted that KFP 2,Rango,and Puss In Boots have all been nominated. I haven’t seen Cars 2 (the only Disney/Pixar movie I haven’t seen) but I’m not disappointed that it wasn’t nominated. I guess Tintin missed out because it was mo-cap. Arrietty will have to wait until next year along with the latest Studio Ghbli
feature From Up On Poppy Hill. (if it gets a US release between now and next January that is) I thought Rio was good but I’m not sad that it missed out either.
I haven’t seen A Cat in Paris or Chico & Rita,but its great they were nominated as well.
Word is out that Disney and Pixar have pulled all support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences *kidding, kidding!*
Kung Fu Panda 2 was, simply put, my personal favorite film of 2011, animated or otherwise. I’m rooting for it for the Annies and now the Oscars.
I’m totally OK with this list. Of all the films I’ve only seen Rango, and was overwhelmed by it. Like to see the others, too, which is a good sign and doesn’t happen often. Maybe I’m interpreting too much ito it, but it looks like Big Names (Pixar, Spielberg) don’t guarantee a nomination, which is very good.
Like the nominees overall. Agree with others above and wish Arthur Christmas was there instead of Puss. Sony and Aardman deserved it. After watching the trailer now, as I hadn’t heard of the film before, I hope Cat in Paris takes it.
For a while, I was thinking that the Academy had been playing fast and loose with its own rules. That was the only way I could explain the nominations for “A Cat In Paris” and “Chico and Rita”. Turns out that each of them had a sneak-into-theaters-to-quality fun in December. The sneaks worked in regard the nominations–but I don’t remember seeing any reviews for them in the mainstream press.
I figure that the award will go to “Rango”. Nobody will have seen either of the entries distributed by a one-lung two-man firm out of NYC that might have trouble getting play dates in art-houses without these nominations. And nobody will want to give the award to either a sequel (“KFP2″) or a spin-off (“Puss In Boots”). So, “Rango will get it by default. Besides, Gore Verbinsky is a Name within the film world.
The only people that have seen either “A Cat In Paris” or “Chico and Rita” are those who saw them at Film Festivals. And I suspect that most of the folks who go to these shindigs are there for the extended pub-crawls, not for whatever films are up for display. I only hope that the folks who have commented above about these pictures were stone cold sober when they saw them!
‘“1″ for a live-action director making his animated feature debut (and that director isn’t Spielberg)’
So, is it Fernando Trueba or Gore Verbinski? I always thought this was the first animated feature at least for either of them?
Good point! We meant Gore Verbinski, but you are correct to point out that Trueba is from a live action directing/producing background.