Hello and welcome,
The Oscars are this Sunday.
I am happy to say my awards season coverage was a little more frequent than last year on other platforms, well at least in January, after that however life got in the way and my coverage became nonexistent. Nonetheless, I can't let the Oscars happen without giving you my thoughts on what’s going to win this Sunday (or more accurately who I think is going to win).
As what has become a tradition, this blog is dedicated to only one category: Best Animated Feature. However, If you want to know my predictions for all 23 categories check out my new episode of In The Mind of Mr. Bee, which I will soon upload to YouTube (If I haven't already).
This year, the Best Animated Feature category looks like it is between 2 movies, with the other 3 whose only real hope of winning is in being a theoretical chance of vote-splitting. As I have done before, I will talk about the movies from least likely to win to the most probable winner. With that out of the way let’s begin:
Robot Dreams
I do see an unlikely scenario where this wins. What it has going for it is that it is well-liked and it has already won a lot of awards this season including Best Feature-Independent at the Annies. However, there are a few problems with this line of thinking, #1, most of the awards it won are from Critics and critics do not vote for the Oscars. #2, the Best Feature-Independent at the Annies has only been around for about 9 years and has yet to be a predictor for this Oscar, but there is a first time for everything. #3, It has missed a lot of nominees at major award shows like the PGA and BAFTA.
Elemental
One thing I have learned in all my years following and covering the Oscars is it’s not wise to bet against Pixar. Out of the 22 years that this award has been presented they have won 11 but I don't think Pixar will add a 12th Oscar to their shelf (at least not this year). Elemental has been nominated but it has not won anything at the Annies. It did get a few nominations (which it did not win) but it was not nominated for the top prize of Best Animated Feature. In all the years since the Oscars and the Annies split winner the Academy they have never gone for a movie not nominated for the Annie (or vice versa). The odds are just not in Elemental’s favor.
Nimona
First off, it would be great irony to see this movie win over Elemental because of Nimona was originally at Blue Sky Studios which Disney shut down soon after they bought Fox,
But I don't see it taking home an Oscar tomorrow. First off, it has not won a lot of awards and most of the awards it has won are from Critics (again, critics do not vote for the Oscars) but it did win 2 Annies for Best Writing and Best Voice Acting for Chloë Grace Moretz, which is more than I can say for Elemental.
The Boy and the Heron
Miyazaki definitely has fans in the Academy and every time he has a movie out it has been nominated and my long-time readers may remember he got an honorary Oscar a few years back. But he has actually only won one time with that being for Spirited Away. This year, The Boy and the Heron has split the Best Animated Feature more or less evenly with Spider-Verse, with The Boy and the Heron winning the Golden Globe and the BAFTA as well as a few others and it won 2 Annies for Best Storyboarding and Best Character Animation.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
First off, it completely stole the Annies, by winning seven out of seven awards, including Best Animated Feature! In 22 years the academy has had a Best Animated Feature category the Oscars and the Annies have only split 6 times. Spider-Verse has also won Critics' Choice and PGA. It is very hard for me to call it the front runner because The Boy and the Heron is strong but in my thinking if in doubt go with the mainstream which would be Spider-Verse,
I have seen 4 out of 5 of the nominated movies, and if I were voting, I would personally give it to Spider-Verse as it is not just the Best Animated Movie but also the Best Movie of the Year. However, the academy has not yet invited me to join (how rude of them)!
Enjoy the Oscars tomorrow!
Goodnight and Bee Happy!™
Mr. Bee
Mr. Bee
