Oscar for Best Animated Feature 2014

[Lady Cluck]

Big Hero 6 isn't groundbreaking either, but it does have a cohesive story and clearly defined characters who exhibit growth. The Lego Movie doesn't so it may not appeal to Academy voters.

Let's be honest here... Only 1 out of the 10 characters grew in the movie. The others were all sidelined!

And how many characters in The Lego Movie? Oh right, the human characters who aren't actually even characters. Hiro and his grieving process were much deeper and more fleshed out than anything in that movie.

Distracting from the main story of Hiro and his grief would have made BH6 a SIGNIFICANTLY worse movie, so I don't understand the complaints about underdeveloped side characters. They still played their roles in Hiro's story, that's why they're supporting characters.

[taei]

Ummm...if you don't think Hiro grew as a character you clearly didn't comprehend the movie.

No. I agree. Only Hiro exhibited growth. However, none of the other 9 characters grew in the movie. All of those unique characters were sidelined in order to make way for a story about a boy and his dragon robot.

[Lady Cluck]

I missed your main point so I changed my response.

[taei]

And how many characters in The Lego Movie? Oh right, the human characters who aren't actually even characters. Hiro and his grieving process were much deeper and more fleshed out than anything in that movie.

Distracting from the main story of Hiro and his grief would have made BH6 a SIGNIFICANTLY worse movie, so I don't understand the complaints about underdeveloped side characters. They still played their roles in Hiro's story, that's why they're supporting characters.

I was never really a fan of The Lego Movie. I was always rooting for Dragon 2 to win. I was expecting a lot from Big Hero 6 and I do understand that you liked that aspect of Hiro's journey, but I felt robbed of what could have been a better movie.

Supporting characters should remain supporting characters and not be included in the title.

[Lady Cluck]

Who are the NINE underdeveloped characters anyway? Hiro and Baymax certainly got enough time, as did Tadashi who is the classic early death in superhero stories. A lot of the others were simply comic relief, which exist in every Disney movie.

I think people take the Big Hero 6 title too seriously, whether its being outraged Disney adapted a Marvel title or expecting all 6 to get equally important stories.

[taei]

Who are the NINE underdeveloped characters anyway? Hiro and Baymax certainly got enough time, as did Tadashi who is the classic early death in superhero stories. A lot of the others were simply comic relief, which exist in every Disney movie.

1. Hiro 2. Baymax 3. Tadashi 4. Aunt Cass 5. Honey Lemon 6. GoGo 7. Wasabi 8. Fred 9. Villain 10. Entrepreneur guy

Honestly... my only complaint about these characters is that they all had the chance and opportunity to uniquely grow. Only two of them did.

As for your comment about the title...

Most countries called it "Baymax". Why didn't the US?

If you call your movie Big Hero 6, I expect to see a group of 6 superheroes represented equally as much as possible.

[Lady Cluck]

Well, I agree that it could have had more emotion and growth from other characters, but I think the same can be said about every Disney movie, even the ones I love. I personally really connected with the heart of the story more than most Disney movies, which I usually just enjoy for the fun characters, songs, etc. I guess I just expect something different from Disney, and it delivered on my expectations. For things like Japanese animation, I expect a more complex, fully realized, mature story. It's a shame Disney can't go that route, but they never have. The closest they came was Hunchback of Notre Dame imo.

[estefan]

Maybe changing the rules for eligibility is a stretch but they could very well open up the nomination process to the entire Academy instead of the animation branch which would have the exact same effect. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen.

Then they would have to do that for every other category, just to be fair. The documentary and foreign language film nominations usually get way more reaction (including this year with the lack of nominations for Life Itself and Force Majeure) than the animated feature nominations and the voting for those categories is still kept strictly to their respective branches. The controversy over Hoop Dreams not getting a documentary nomination was LEGO Movie levels of big back in the day to the point of Siskel & Ebert investigating it. The interesting thing is that the talk over Hoop Dreams not getting in lead to the creation of the documentary branch. And, so whereas before, the nominees were selected by a volunteering committee, now they're only chosen by documentary filmmakers.

[BK]

I haven't seen Kaguya or Song but those who mentioned they should have been left out (this includes DeBlois and etc) why isn't anyone picking on Big Hero 6 or the Boxtrolls?

The Boxtrolls has the worst reviews of the 5. It's also a rather lousy movie, but let's not talk about that and instead focus on 2 foreign films because they didn't get wide releases. That's disgusting.

I'm a bit disappointed in DeBlois for saying that. I mean, perhaps he couldn't get out of the question, but why single those movies out? Perhaps fingering the other American CGI movies and studios might have him under more criticism from his industry, but those movies were completely unremarkable.

Boxtrolls, coming after Paranorman, is yet another disappointment after the wonderful Coraline. I think they only nominate them because of the amount of work stop motion takes and certainly the production design and animation in Boxtrolls is top notch, but what is the award for? It's for best animated movie. Boxtrolls had hateful characters and was just really a mean-spirited and badly written movie.

Big Hero 6 is not as bad, but completely generic. Nothing to distinguish itself from the run of the mill superhero movie. Hits beat for beat with no payoff. Instead of being something of its own and making a classic, it was basically redundant. Tangled, Ralph and Frozen this is not. Don Hall is a yes man and sheep director.

I hope Song of the Sea wins because it looks amazing and sounds amazing.

[Disney's Divinity]

I agree. If I had to kick any of these 5 out for The Lego Movie (because it having the same initials as The Little Mermaid makes me spell it out), it would be The Boxtrolls or Big Hero 6.

[jazzflower92]

I haven't seen Kaguya or Song but those who mentioned they should have been left out (this includes DeBlois and etc) why isn't anyone picking on Big Hero 6 or the Boxtrolls?

The Boxtrolls has the worst reviews of the 5. It's also a rather lousy movie, but let's not talk about that and instead focus on 2 foreign films because they didn't get wide releases. That's disgusting.

I'm a bit disappointed in DeBlois for saying that. I mean, perhaps he couldn't get out of the question, but why single those movies out? Perhaps fingering the other American CGI movies and studios might have him under more criticism from his industry, but those movies were completely unremarkable.

Boxtrolls, coming after Paranorman, is yet another disappointment after the wonderful Coraline. I think they only nominate them because of the amount of work stop motion takes and certainly the production design and animation in Boxtrolls is top notch, but what is the award for? It's for best animated movie. Boxtrolls had hateful characters and was just really a mean-spirited and badly written movie.

Big Hero 6 is not as bad, but completely generic. Nothing to distinguish itself from the run of the mill superhero movie. Hits beat for beat with no payoff. Instead of being something of its own and making a classic, it was basically redundant. Tangled, Ralph and Frozen this is not. Don Hall is a yes man and sheep director.

I hope Song of the Sea wins because it looks amazing and sounds amazing.

I think the word generic is really not a good label for the movie. Actually I think everything about the movie is opposite of generic.

[Sotiris]

I haven't seen Kaguya or Song but those who mentioned they should have been left out (this includes DeBlois and etc) why isn't anyone picking on Big Hero 6 or the Boxtrolls? [...] I'm a bit disappointed in DeBlois for saying that. I mean, perhaps he couldn't get out of the question, but why single those movies out?

I think you're confused. DeBlois didn't say that they should have been left out. On the contrary, he came to their defense. He singled those movies out to support them (and 2D animation) because they were the ones who got attacked in the press and online.

[PatrickvD]

The Lego Movie was a mature story about the dangers of fascism and a society built on spying and extreme government interference. And they told this story with such an infectious dose of comedy. I've not seen any animated feature like this one before. It should have gotten a nod and it should have won.

Saying that the characters didn't grow is preposterous, and besides, it cannot be compared in this regard to straightforward films like Big Hero 6 or Dragon 2. It's too unique and the focus lies elsewhere.

In my opinion, a much bigger snub than Tangled.

[Lady Cluck]

The Book of Life was very pretty and had great, unique art direction. Very promising for an upcoming studio's second animated feature. Unfortunately it was all style and no substance. I lost interest after the intriguing prologue when the main characters became adults and it was very clear where the completely unoriginal story was going, which they dragged on and on with as much pointless filler as possible. Having the characters sing pop songs like "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" was the most annoying gimmick of all. It got a little more interesting once the characters died and went to the other realms, but I got bored again during the overly long, convoluted action scenes. I really wanted to like it more than I did, but I feel like I lost thousands of brain cells while watching. I can't imagine anyone over 12 enjoying this outside of the unique animation, which they could have done more with considering the characters were supposed to be puppets (like the creative use of Legos in The Lego Movie). With that said, I still admire the effort a lot It's at least better than a lot of DreamWorks crap (similar in tone but more creative visually).

Not really worthy of a nomination in a crowded year for animation, but somewhat promising for the future of the studio.

[Lady Cluck]

The Boxtrolls was decent. It had its fun moments, but was rather tedious overall. With the Boxtrolls and the Minions from Despicable Me, I guess I just don't care for these annoying, slapsticky creatures that speak in gibberish and grunts. The other characters weren't very interesting either, nor was the story. I really liked Coraline and ParaNorman, but this was just okay so it was pretty disappointing to me.

The animation deserves to be praised though. VERY impressive stop motion, and a fully realized art style like you'd expect from Laika. While The Book of Life was colorful and vibrant, The Boxtrolls is dreary and brown (in a good way), and both are executed very well. But like The Book of Life, it was mostly style over substance. I did think Boxtrolls was better though, especially from a technical perspective, and the humor was more clever and less forced.

I'm fine with its Oscar nomination because the animation is superb and its the only stop motion one in the bunch, but for actual content, it sticks out as mediocre. I'm surprised people mad over Lego's snub are directing their anger at Big Hero 6 and the foreign films over this.

So Boxtrolls and Book of Life are far from the worst animated films of the year and they certainly have elements worth praising, but they don't come together as great films overall. They're just average and forgettable. I'll NEVER be watching them again, that's for damn sure.


Great:
1. Big Hero 6

Good:
2. The Lego Movie

Mixed:
3. The Boxtrolls
4. The Book of Life
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2
6. Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Bad:
7. Rio 2

Would rather die than watch them again:
8. The Nut Job
9. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return


I hope Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea impress me more than most of these films

[taei]

How to train your dragon 2 just won the Annie for Best Directing and Best Animated Feature!!!

[taei]

List of winners:

Best Animated Feature: How To Train Your Dragon 2
Best Directing: How To Train Your Dragon 2
Best Writing: The Lego Movie
Best Production Design: The Box Trolls
Best Character Animation: Fabio Lignini - How To Train Your Dragon 2
Best Music: How To Train Your Dragon 2
Best Effects: Big Hero 6

Those are the ones that I can remember.

The Book of Life won an award too.

A few notes on the show in general:

It's gotta suck if your show is nominated in the same category as the Mickey Shorts....
Wow. How embracing for these so called "Presenters" to not be able to function without the teleprompter!
Enough with the Let it Go jokes... they're kinda old!
None of the video game winners ever showed up

[Sotiris]

Absolutely disgusting. This is why voting in the animation categories should be restricted to the animation branch and not the entire Academy.

I only watch the ones that my kid wants to see, so I didn't see [The] Boxtrolls but I saw Big Hero 6 and I saw [How to Train Your] Dragon [2]. We both connected to Big Hero 6 — I just found it to be more satisfying. The biggest snub for me was Chris Miller and Phil Lord not getting in for [The] Lego [Movie]. When a movie is that successful and culturally hits all the right chords and does that kind of box-office — for that movie not to be in over these two obscure freakin' Chinese fuckin' things that nobody ever freakin' saw [an apparent reference to the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, as well as the Irish film Song of the Sea]? That is my biggest bitch. Most people didn't even know what they were! How does that happen? That, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/b ... -no-773905

[taei]

The Oscars should be about awarding the best movies, not the ones that people knew the most.

Also, At this point, while everyone is saying that Dragon 2 is going to win, I think Big Hero 6 is getting the award.

[Mooky]

Absolutely disgusting. This is why voting in the animation categories should be restricted to the animation branch and not the entire Academy.

I only watch the ones that my kid wants to see, so I didn't see [The] Boxtrolls but I saw Big Hero 6 and I saw [How to Train Your] Dragon [2]. We both connected to Big Hero 6 — I just found it to be more satisfying. The biggest snub for me was Chris Miller and Phil Lord not getting in for [The] Lego [Movie]. When a movie is that successful and culturally hits all the right chords and does that kind of box-office — for that movie not to be in over these two obscure freakin' Chinese fuckin' things that nobody ever freakin' saw [an apparent reference to the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, as well as the Irish film Song of the Sea]? That is my biggest bitch. Most people didn't even know what they were! How does that happen? That, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/b ... -no-773905

I didn't know dvdjunkie was a member of the Academy...