Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Monday, December 28, 2020
Soul Mr. Bee’s Short Review
Hello and welcome,
Many of you may know that I am a huge Pixar fan. If you remember one of my very early blogs, when I counted down my top 10 favorite Disney movies, you will know that I put all the Pixar movies at number 3. During that time when I made that list Inside Out had just been released and I had not yet seen it, but when I did, I immediately fell in love with it, and now if I were to do an updated list I might include it in its own place separate from the rest of the Pixar movies (If I were to do the list again I would also exclude Cars 2).
The director of Inside Out, Pete Docter (since 2018 he is also the Chief Creative Officer), decided to make a movie about what happens to your soul after death which is kind of crazy, but I said the same thing about a movie that takes place inside a human brain. Looking at how Inside Out turned out I was interested in this movie and thought if anyone can do a concept such as this, Docter could. With that out of the way, let’s begin.
Plot
Joe (Jamie Foxx) is a middle school music teacher who right after getting a major gig falls down a manhole and dies. He manages to get separated from others going to “The Great Beyond” and ends up in “The Great Before” and he meets an unborn soul called “22” (Tina Fey). Joe is determined to get back to Earth and that is everything I can say about the plot without giving away spoilers.
Opinion
Let’s begin with the animation. The animation is Pixar so of course, it is fantastic but there are some very unique designs in the afterlife and even with a little 2D (2D was probably created on a computer and not in traditional hand drawing).
The characters are fun and engaging and will be destined to rank very high with the other great Pixar characters.
The music is done by the one and only John Baptiste (bandleader for the Late Show and other projects), therefore it is automatically great.
Now the story is very hard to give my opinion on without giving spoilers. But let’s just say that it is one of those movies where you think you know where it is going and what its message is but then it goes away from that. However, with that said, it is fantastically done and has a universal message that everyone should hear. On a side note, they did make a conscious effort to be sensitive to all religions. Overall, Soul ranks toward the top of the Pixar catalog. If you are wondering if it is as good as Inside Out I am not going that far yet but I will say that it is the best-animated movie that I have seen this year (of course 2020 has been limited). I will say that everyone should watch Soul at least once and I am proud to give it the highest rating I can give which is 5 Gold Stars.
Thank you to everyone that has read or watched any of my content this year. I hope that I have brought you a little bit of joy in this tough year. I have a lot more things planned for the new year and with that said, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Wonder Women 1984 Mr. Bee’s short review
Hello, and welcome. One of my most anticipated movies of the year has been Wonder Woman 1984. You can imagine my disappointment when this movie was delayed and delayed due to this little thing called a pandemic. (Most of my other anticipated movies of this year have been delayed till next year and we will see how many of them will actually make their release date). Warner Bros. decided to give me a Christmas present when they decided to release Wonder Woman 1984 day and date (meaning same day) in theaters and on HBO Max. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the lasting impact of this decision and Warners Bros. to release all of their 2021 movies in a similar fashion as this could be disastrous for the movie theaters. With that being said it is probably best to get to my review now and leave that discussion for another day.
Plot
Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot)
is living during the 1980s more or less incognito but she comes across a magical stone that will grant you your heart’s desire. The stone winds up in the hands of an evil businessman, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal). Wonder Woman now needs to get the stone back before the world ends. This is the most basic plot summary without giving any spoilers.
Opinion
Overall, I loved this movie, but that is not to say I loved everything about it. Gal Gadot is wonderful as Wonder Woman and I also loved to see Chris Pine back as Steve Trevor as their chemistry worked well. The other actors did a fine job as well, especially Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva.
On the technical side, this movie is fantastic. You see great visual effects with Wonder Woman’s lasso, particularly in one scene when she lassos a bolt of lightning (remember, it is a comic book movie)
With all of that out of the way, I do have a few criticisms and unfortunately, they are major. Kristen Wiig’s transformation into the cheetah is kind of forced and it would have been a lot better if they had introduced her in this movie and her transformation in the next movie, that way her arc of going from good to evil would have left a strong impression on the audience. (This is not a spoiler because it is in the trailer). My next major criticism is rather hard to do without giving too much away, but let just say that a major scene toward the end of the movie with Wonder Woman and Steve is extremely rough. Overall I give Wonder Woman 1984 4.5 stars.
Some of you might be wondering which way I would recommend that you see this movie. The question is a lot more complicated during a pandemic because it all depends on your comfort level. If you happen to live in an area where movie theatres are open (I do not) it might be worth the risk as this is a movie that is made for the big screen. But if you do not then HBO Max is probably your only option I would advise that you to watch it on the best TV in your home, I did not do this movie any favor by watching it on my computer screen.
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Ernest Saves Christmas Mr. Bee’s Review
Hello and welcome,
If you have been a reader since 2018, or before, you may remember in my introductory blog to the Ernest movies I mentioned that only one of them I have seen more than twice, that is the movie at hand. Just to clarify one thing, I have seen this movie way more than twice as it is a bit of a Christmas tradition in my home, hence I may have a little bit of nostalgia for it. But with that out of the way, let me begin.
Background
This movie was released in 1988, a little bit over a year after the release of “Ernest Goes To Camp.” This movie was directed by John Cherry again. The movie was a moderate box office success making $28 million on a $6 million budget, (not including the marketing and adjusting for inflation).
Plot
Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) is retiring and he travels to Orlando, Fl to find a replacement. While Ernest (Jim Varney) is transporting Santa in his taxi they meet a very troubled teenage runaway named Pamela Trento (Noelle Parker). Ernest takes Santa to a children’s museum to meet a children’s performer named Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark) who Santa believes would make a good successor. Unfortunately, Santa left his sack in Ernest’s car which is now back in the shop. It is now up to Ernest to retrieve the sack and help Santa to convince Joe to take on the role of Santa by 7:00 P.M. on Christmas eve. There is also a sub-plot with Chuck and Bobby (Gailard Sartain and Bill Byrge respectively) who are the airport baggage handlers who are stuck with Santa’s reindeer.
Opinion
Let’s get some of the bad stuff out of the way first. This movie is kind of predictable, however, one probably does not go into an Ernest movie expecting a masterful plot. With the Chuck and Bobby subplot, they did a better job than the last one as they actually connected it with the main storyline, but it was only with a slight improvement as a good chunk could be cut without problems. With Joe as the new Santa we do not see much character development, granted what we do see is not bad. The visual effects, particularly at the climax, look extremely dated but to be fair this movie was made on a $6 million budget which is low even for a 1980’s film.
On a side note, is it just me or Santa Claus getting arrested becoming a cliche in Christmas movies? However, I am not criticizing this movie outright because as far as I know, this is one of the first ones to do it after Miracle on 34th St.
With this out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. Douglas Seale’s performance as Santa is fantastic as he is one of the few actors that captures the traditional characteristics of Santa. (If his voice sounds familiar, it is because he also played the Sultan in Aladdin). The comedy, for the most part, lands with only a few duds. (Most of the duds tend to be in the Chuck and Bobby subplot).
Overall this movie a good and fun holiday film. It is not a holiday masterpiece in the same category as “It’s A Wonderful Life,” but I don’t think it sets out to be that. I give “Ernest Saves Christmas” four out of five stars. And for those keeping score, if I were to rank all of the Ernest movies I have reviewed so so far, this one would be at the top, and “Dr. Otto” would be at the bottom.
Thank you all for reading this and on behalf of all of us at Mr. Bee’s Brilliant Movie Buzz, have a very merry Christmas.
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
Friday, November 20, 2020
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Lincoln Mr. Bee’s Review
We are just a few days away from the presidential election in the US of A. So continuing on with our look at films based on America’s 16th and possibly greatest president, let’s begin with Spielberg’s Lincoln (if you can’t tell, this one is based on historical facts).
Background
As I mentioned earlier, this movie was directed by the legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. It is based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Sally Field (Mary Todd Lincoln), and Tommy Lee Jones (Thaddeus Stevens).
Plot
This movie takes place during the final months of Abraham Lincoln’s life. It describes his fight to get the thirteenth amendment passed, the looming peace negotiations with the south, as well as personal family matters.
Opinion
Let’s get some of the negatives out of the way. First, it could be argued that this movie is rather one-sided and it does not give a balanced portrayal of history, but the historical facts are correct. The running time is a little bit lengthy and it could use a trim. Now let’s move on to the good stuff. The acting is fantastic, Daniel Day-Lewis completely embodies Abraham Lincoln. If I could go back and meet Abraham Lincoln I would be shocked if he was any different than what Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed. Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, and the rest of the cast also give superb performances. The makeup is picture-perfect to how the figures looked. The cinematography and editing are also phenomenal! The score is by John Williams so of course, it is good. Overall Lincoln is a fantastic movie that everyone should watch at least once. I am giving Lincoln 5 out of 5 stars.
I will not be posting another blog until after the election so I encourage all of my readers in the US to vote if you have not already, and then watch and enjoy Lincoln for yourselves.
Goodnight and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Mr. Bee’s Review
Hello and welcome! For my readers outside of the US, we here in the states have a big election coming up (actually with the increased number of mail-in and early voters, the election has already started). We will be electing a president, so to honor our big decision I am going to take you back to the year 2012 (the “good ol’ days”) when we got two movies about our 16th president. One of which is based on historical facts the other one is entirely fiction, you can decide which is which. So without further ado let’s begin in order of release date.
Background
This movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, written by Seth Grahame-Smith. The movie was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, and it was also produced by, certifiable nutball, Tim Burton. On a side note, this movie was released by 20th Century Fox, making this movie now owned by Mickey.
Plot
This movie starts when Abraham Lincoln was a child, and his mom was murdered by a vampire. Years later, Abe meets Henry, who shows him how to hunt vampires, so he can take revenge for his mom’s death. Henry shows Lincoln that the only way to kill a vampire is with silver. Later on, we find out that Henry is actually a vampire himself and that the vampires are fighting alongside the Confederates in the Civil War.
Opinion
This movie is a complete mess! So let’s start with the parts I like. The acting is actually pretty good, not oscar level but pretty good nonetheless. The choreography in the fight scenes is well done, and the music, while not really memorable, has nothing wrong with it.
Okay, now let’s get into the bad stuff. The costume design and make-up are not the best, Abraham Lincoln looks like a guy in a Lincoln Halloween costume. The cinematography and editing, especially in the fight scenes, has too many jump cuts making it hard to follow and kind of overwhelming. Now for the screenplay, the story jumps around too much making the movie extremely hard to follow and convoluted. For example, in the movie, it is revealed that a vampire can not kill another vampire, but in the climax we clearly see 2 vampires killing each other? The writer needs to read his own writing!! Overall Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is a convoluted mess!
There are some enjoyable parts, but there are not enough of them for me to recommend this movie. I give this movie 1½ stars out of 5.
Join me next time, for hopefully a much better movie with Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln.
Goodnight and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee
Friday, September 18, 2020
Ernest Goes to Camp Mr. Bee’s review
Hello and welcome, I am finally here to review the next Ernest movie, or more accurately, the first actual Ernest movie. The last time we looked at the beloved mechanic, which was 2 years ago, was with “Dr. Otto”. Now “Dr. Otto” can barely be considered an Ernest movie considering that Ernest only makes a short appearance at the very end. Just to clarify the release date for “Dr. Otto” is a little obscure, if I was going by the video release date “Dr.Otto” would have been 1992 after “Ernest Goes to Camp”, but I’m choosing to go by the theatrical release date 1985 even though there was no theatrical release that we know of. Now with that out of the way let’s kick off Fall with a movie about a traditional Summer activity that did not happen this year.
Background
This movie was released in 1987 and was directed by John Cherry. There is not much other information on the movie, but one interesting thing is, the actor that played the Chief in the movie, Iron Eyes Cody, is also known to play several other Native American parts. Throughout his life, he claimed to be of Native American descent, but after his death, however, he was revealed to be Italian, with no Native American blood in him. Is it just me or does knowing this fact make the movie not age well?
Plot
Ernest is a maintenance guy at a summer camp, and he dreams of being a camp counselor. The camp is chosen to get some kids from a reform school. The counselor that was assigned to these kids ended up breaking his leg, putting him out of commission for the summer. Ernest is given the job! That’s not all, an evil mining company wants the land that the camp is on, and will stop at nothing to get it. To thicken the plot, the camp is located on an ancient Native American ritual site. On a side note, there is a minor subplot with the two camp chefs trying to make a dish called “Eggs Erroneous.”
Opinion
Let’s begin with the good stuff, the acting is pretty good throughout the movie, the jokes for the most part hit their mark, and there is not much to say on the technical end. Now with all that said, the plot of the evil businessman wanting the land has been overdone; don’t get me wrong, overdone plots are fine if used with a fresh idea (if you go by the “hero's journey” theory there is only one plot ),unfortunately there is nothing unique about this plot. The subplot, making “Eggs Erroneous”, while funny at times does not add anything to the movie and could be cut out without taking anything away from the story. Also, in my opinion the constant use of the word “indian” makes the movie dated and makes me feel slightly uncomfortable at times.
Overall I give Ernest Goes to Camp 3 out of 5 stars. About average.
Thank you all for reading this, I hope to have my review of the next Ernest movie before this post turns three.
Goodnight and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
Friday, August 14, 2020
a Local Theater on the The theatrical window
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Hi guys, In the time I finished and posted my last blog, I got a response back from the owner of the Cinema Saver, a second run theater in my area. So without further ado, I will share his response with you.
“ While AMC and Regal may well recover from this pandemic due to their foreign ownership or foreign financial backers, we don't have that luxury. The film industry has long wanted to release VOD much closer to the theatrical release date to make greater use of their advertising. Actually, Disney has been in the forefront of this push and they're obviously the biggest dog in the business at this point. We are wondering how this will affect us as a second run theater. Will the VOD release push up the secondary market for theaters like ours? We're thinking that's not likely. We've been able to carve out a niche in that time period between when a movie leaves the first run theaters and before it comes out on Blu-Ray or on one of the streaming services. If that shrinks (and it has over the years) we're very likely to feel the squeeze. The pandemic has given the film production companies a chance to test the waters of even skipping movie theaters completely. When the movie industry comes out of this terrible time the landscape is sure to be different. We guess it's just a matter of how things evolve. “ -Cinema Saver
Thanks again to the Cinema Saver for your response. To everyone else, when movie theaters reopen or if they have already reopened, I encourage you to go local.
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
2024 Update,
last year the Cinema Saver closed for good, a tragic casualty of the post-COVID Moviegoing landscape.
Are the Movie Theaters Dead? Part II
Hello, It has been 6 years ago today since I started my blog. A lot has changed since I started my blog, and that my friends, is the understatement of the past 6 years. The last blog I posted back in June, was about the current state of the movie theaters, that blog is now outdated despite the fact that it is less than 2 months old. So, I have decided, in true Hollywood fashion, to put out a sequel while the paint is still drying on the first one. First, I will begin with something that I never expected to become outdated, and that is, the law that prohibits movie studios from owning their own theaters. Last week, the department of justice and a federal judge eliminated that law. If you are interested in my more in-depth analysis please check out my most recent episode of “In the Mind of Mr. Bee”. ((Go To my Facebook page)
Let’s move on, two weeks ago Universal and AMC made a landmark deal that could shorten the theatrical window to just 17 days. To more accurately understand this, let’s have a brief history lesson. The theatrical window is the amount of time between when the movie comes out in theaters to the time you can purchase it for your own viewing pleasure. This window came about sometime in the early ’80s when VHS tapes were the new thing, and during this time the theatrical window was a whole lot longer, we are talking almost a year! Sometime in the early 2000s, the window was shortened to about 74 days for digital and 90 days for physical media (DVD, Blu Ray, etc.), to about 3 months. This brings us back to today, or at least 2 weeks ago. The full terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but the crux of it is it will see Universal movies playing in AMC theaters for 17 days or 3 weekends before Universal can put the movie on Video On Demand (VOD). Now, AMC and Universal have clarified a few things. Number one, Universal has said they will not be doing this for all of their movies, so there will be some that will be at the 90-day window. As to which of the movies this will be, we do not know and I am not sure Universal knows. Also, the movies will not necessarily be pulled after 17 days, meaning that a movie could be in theaters while you are able to watch it at home. Now AMC’s two biggest competitors (Regal and Cinemark) are against the deal. The CEO of Regal’s parent, Cineworld, blasted the deal, calling it “bad for business.” Cinemark’s CEO was a little bit kinder by simply "saying that shortening the theatrical window could have an adverse effect on their business." Despite being offered by AMC the other studios have yet to sign on to the deal. Granted, the CEO of Viacom (Paramount’s parent company) said that the theatrical window does need to be shortened, but he gave very little detail. A Lot of independently owned theaters are against the deal and fear that this will eventually put them out of business.
Now let’s take a look at Disney. At the end of last quarter, while on a conference call with investors, the CEO Bob Chapek, announced that Mulan would be going to Disney+, but with a catch, there will be an extra $30 fee. Chapek did make it clear that they are looking at Mulan as a “one-off event”, but you need to keep in mind that what Chapek says and does are two different things. Now before you get sticker shock over the price, let’s do the math; depending on the number of people in your party, you could pay that price or well above, for example, a family of 5 would be about $70 just for admission. Disney does have some problems with the numbers though, to understand this let’s break it down. Mulan has a $200 million budget, add in the marketing price (which they finished in March!). Disney has not released the marketing budget, but I would estimate that Disney needs to make $300 million to break even. Now with it being released on Disney+, Disney will get 100% of the profits, so to break even Disney would need 10 million subscribers. On the surface, 10 million subscribers don’t seem like much, but Disney only has a 60 million subscriber base, which compared to Netflix’s 182 million subscriber base, it is a little high to expect to get 10 million subscribers to pay. Now, remember this is only to break even and an estimate on my part, so the number of subscribers needed could be even higher, but probably not much lower. If you are wondering why Disney is taking this chance, it was done on the day that Disney reported a loss of nearly $5 billion dollars, so it was a way to get the shareholders to “look the other direction” and it worked.
In conclusion, the shortening of the theatrical window is inevitable, but will it be 17 days? Probably not, more likely the new standard will be 30 to 60 days. For the reasons I laid out, Disney's new “premiere access” venture will not become the “new normal” (crazier things have happened!) Just for the record no, I will not be paying the extra $30, but I would have gone to the theater. Starting next week Movie theaters will be reopening in parts of the US, and have already opened in most other parts of the world, but as for me and other New Yorker’s we must continue to be content with Disney+ and Netflix. This pandemic will be remembered for a lot of reasons, for me personally I will never forget watching a 130-year-old industry go haywire right before our eyes!
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
image courtesy of AMC Theatres
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Are the movie theaters dead?
My second reason is the premium video on demand (PVD). Now for my readers that have no idea what I am talking about, it is when you pay a few dollars to watch a movie on a platform such as Amazon. Now during this pandemic, we have seen companies use this model as a way to release their movies, such as Universal with Trolls, and Warner Brothers with Scoob! Now Universal has reportedly made over $18 million on rentals on the first day. Universal has stated publicly that they will be doing “day and date” from now on, meaning that their movies will be released theatrically and digitally simultaneously, which has resulted in a war with the theater industry. I hate to be the bearer of bad news for Universal but I don’t think PVD is that profitable as a release model, on the surface it seems like it will be more profitable, because on a PVD release the studio will get about 90% of the sales, whereas, with theatrical releases, the studio only gets about half of the box office gross. But with PVD it all has to do with pricing. Like if Disney released the Avengers for $5 on Amazon, while people will jump for that, Disney will not be making that much of a profit, due to the Avengers having a $220 million budget. Now if Disney did a release with the same price as a movie ticket which is $15-$20, and the same amount of people bought as they did with the $5 (this is not counting families it is referring to individual people), Disney would easily make a profit, but people will not. With theaters, you are not only paying for the movie you are also paying for the experience, such as surround sound, etc. So overall I do not see it as a sustainable model after the theaters open back up.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
streaming
Mr.Bee
The medium for watching films has dramatically changed over time. In the early days of film (the 1890s-1940s), the only way of watching films was at a movie theater. When the 1950s rolled around, television became another way of watching film. During the late 1970s, VHS and Beta came along followed by laserdiscs, DVDs, and Blu Rays came along much later on. However, movie theaters were all active during this time and doing better than ever. Yet, today, the internet and streaming movies might be slowly causing the death of movie theaters as they are currently known. With the advent of movies being viewed at home, theaters developed new gimmicks to continue to draw people in (such as widescreen and 3-d). However, with streaming, consumers do not have to just watch it on their computers or phones - they can watch it on their tv with literally the click of a button in its original aspect ratio. A major aspect that may signal the death of the theater is the price. For example, a month-long Netflix or Amazon streaming subscription is roughly equivalent to a single premium movie ticket and allows unlimited access to its ever-expansive library. Another factor is convenience. The turn-around time from theater to home is quicker than ever, so the consumer does not have to wait long to see “new” movies. Also, being able to access a given movie anytime allows flexibility to the consumer. In addition, the major streaming companies are making original content such as movies and series. For example, The Little Prince and Beast of no Nation are premium-produced movies available initially through streaming only. Whether or not streaming will truly cause the death of movie theaters is up for debate and only time will tell. This fact remains, in a very short time, streaming has become a legitimate threat to a 130-year industry.
Bibliography
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/09/how-movie-theaters-are-striking-back-against-netflix.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/15/netflix-and-kill-is-streaming-hurting-movie-theaters.html
copyright 2020 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.
image courtesy of Positively Osceola
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Best Animated Feature: The Closest Oscar Race This Year.
Hello and welcome back. Some of you might be thinking that I might have fallen off the face of the Earth or died. In fact I heard a rumor that the academy was going to add me into the “in memoriam”. But I am back to talk about my favorite night of the year; the Oscars. Which just so happens to be this Sunday. Now due to my busy schedule, and the earlier date of the ceremony, if you can’t tell by the title, I will only be talking about one category in this blog. If you want to hear my thoughts on the other categories you can listen to them in a, soon to be posted, special video on my “youtube” channel with my partner in crime “Lenny.” Be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel so you can be one of the first to see it, when it comes out.
Now for the category at hand, Best Animated Feature. Despite my criticism of the academy handling of it, it remains one of my favorite categories. This year it happens to be unusually competitive. I haven’t seen a year this close since my first year covering the Oscars, but other than that there are very few similarities between these two years. I will talk about the movies from least likely to win to most probable front runner, but bare in mind that all of the nominees have a chance of taking the “little naked man.”
Let’s begin:
How To Train Your Dragon The Hidden World
Now on the surface this movie does have several things going for it in this category. It is the finale of a well loved franchise, and the movie itself was very well liked by critics and audiences. But when you dig a little deeper it makes a win here seem unlikely. For one, while the movie was received positively it is the common opinion that it was the weakest in the series. At the ‘Annies’ the movie got several nominations, including Best Animated Feature, but it was totally shut out as far as wins go. Which is a problem for its Oscar hopes. The first two installments swept the ‘Annies’over movies like Toy Story III and Big Hero 6. As far as the Oscars are concerned the academy does not seem to be big fans of the series. The first two were nominated for the Oscars but they lost to the very movies they swept away in the ‘Annies’.
Missing Link:
This film kind of came out of nowhere this award season by winning the ‘Golden Globe’ (keep in mind the ‘Golden Globes and the ‘Oscars’ share zero voters). The ‘Golden Globe’ has often times predicted the ‘Oscar’ outcome, so it does place “Missing Link” towards the front of the pack. But, since the ‘Golden Globe’ is the only major award that I know of that it has won, its ‘Oscar’ chances are starting to look a little bleak. At the ‘Annies’ though it did receive a ton of nominations, like the coveted Best Animated Feature, it did not win any of them, and it wasn’t even nominated at ‘BAFTA’ (neither was How to Train Your Dragon). On a side note I have seen the movie and found it, in my opinion, to be “just okay”.
I Lost My Body:
This movie may be one of the most unique movies that I have ever seen. (I am not even going to attempt to tell you the premise, because that would turn you off, it needs to be seen to be believed!) This movie has won several ‘critic awards’, (but critics do not vote for the ‘Oscars’). It has been nominated for almost every major award except for the ‘Golden Globe’. It won three ‘Annies’ including Best Animated Feature- Independent. This category has only been around for about six years and has yet to be a predictor for the ‘Oscar’, but there is a first time for everything.
Toy Story 4:
Now the academy seems to enjoy the Toy Story series. They gave the first Toy Story an honorary award, as the category Best Animated Feature was not yet created. It was also nominated for Best Screenplay. Toy Story 3 was nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Animated Feature, which it won. The academy really likes Disney and Pixar. More than half of the Best Animated Feature winners have gone to either Disney or Pixar. Now Toy Story 4 has won the Critics Choice Awards (again, critics do not vote for the Oscars). The movie seems to be nominated everywhere, but without a lot of wins. At the Annies it received 6 nominations, however it won nothing. Despite this, Toy Story 4 has a very good chance at taking the “little gold man”.
Klaus
This movie is directed by a former Disney animator (Disney really needs to keep their animators with them, as when they leave they make something even better!). Klaus completely stole the Annies, by winning seven out of seven awards, including Best Animated Feature! Now in the seventeen years that the academy has had a Best Animated Feature category, the Oscars and the Annies have only split four times. Klaus has also won the BAFTAs. As of right now, Klaus seems to be the front runner.
Now, I have seen all the nominated movies and if I was voting, I would personally give it to Klaus, it pushes the art of hand drawn animation forward. Unfortunately, however, the academy has not yet invited me to become a member (how rude of them)! It bears repeating that I won't be surprised if any one of these movies won. Enjoy the Oscars tomorrow! Goodnight and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee