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Disney Leads Oscar's Cartoon Contenders
Thu Nov 20, 3:44 AM ET Add Movies - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Josh Spector

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Walt Disney Co. dominates the list of this year's Oscar-eligible animated features, fielding four of the 11 eligible entries with its releases, which include the Pixar-produced "Finding Nemo," "Brother Bear," "The Jungle Book 2" and "Piglet's Big Movie."


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But while Disney scored on the distribution front, anime director Satoshi Kon enjoyed the distinction of being the only director with two eligible films. He is represented by the DreamWorks-distributed "Millennium Actress" and the upcoming Samuel Goldwyn Films/IDP release "Tokyo Godfathers."


Rounding out the list of eligible films, which were announced Wednesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (news - web sites), are Warner Bros. Pictures' live-action/animated combo "Looney Tunes: Back in Action," Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon's "Rugrats Go Wild," Miramax Films' "Pokemon Heroes," Sony Pictures Classics' "The Triplets of Belleville" and the German-produced "Jester Till."


While the success of "Nemo," to date the top-grossing film of the year, has led many commentators to decree that 3-D animation is the wave of the future and 2-D is a dying art, "Nemo" is the only fully 3-D feature among this year's eligible films. "Nemo," however, is widely considered the front-runner in the competition and a possible contender in the best picture category as well.


The eligibility of three of the films -- "Jester," "Tokyo" and "Triplets" -- is subject to their opening in Los Angeles before Dec. 31.


One notable absence from the list of eligible films is DreamWorks' "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," which the studio did not officially submit. "Cowboy Bebop," distributed by IDP, did not qualify for consideration, according to its distributor, because it was first released in Japan in 2001.


The actual nominations in the animated feature category will be announced along with the rest of this year's nominees Jan. 27 at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Nominations - Brother Bear, Nemo, Millenium Actress(OK they are the only three I actually saw).

To Win: Nemo slightly over Brother Bear.


It should be finally Disney's year after losing to superior competition in the prior two. I would argue that they did not deserve the first two Shrek was better than Monsters Inc(although only slightly so) and Spirited Away was far and away the best animated film of 2002.

Interesting that Dreamworks did not submit Sinbad - what better way to promote DVD sales by saying your film sucked than by not nominating it. And it was absolutely wretched, guess they were afraid of losing(highly unlikely it would have been nominated with two good Disney films and likely two good Japanese films).

If Finding Nemo wins, I won't really view it as a win for Disney, personally...but for Pixar. When Disney wins for in-house, I'll count it as a true victory. But I believe the nominations will be...

Finding Nemo - (winner)
The Triplets of Belleville - (dark horse)
Brother Bear

I want Brother Bear to win, but...unfortunately, it doesn't have a chance. I will jump through the roof if it actually upsets. lol. Finding Nemo was a pretty good film, though I have issues that keep me from connecting with it. It would be deserving. Though I'm eager to see Triplets...

I love this category, though.

Maybe Disney's in-house will win for Home on the Range (though the competition will be fierce: The Polar Express, The Incredibles, Shrek 2, Shark Tale)...or, hey, maybe Fantasia 2006! I would love to see that happen...but that's still several years down the road...

I think they'll win for their own product, someday...

And, though I haven't seen it, I say Belleville over Millennium Actress because I think Belleville will be a critical darling, judging from things I've read...and because Sony Pictures Classics has said in so many words that they're serious about their campaign, that maybe they can pull what Spirited Away did last year...

And I think that, to vote for Animated Feature (along with documentary and foreign film, I believe) the voters have to watch all the nominees at special screenings before they can vote...so who knows. But Nemo is the heavy favorite, yes, and will almost certainly win...

I just hope Brother Bear is represented!