7 animated feature films that deserved more attention than their Oscar competition
Often overlooked, the Best Animated Feature category has piqued some interest this year because of a few unexpected nominations. But some of us have paid close attention to it for years.
Prior to 2018, voting on the Best Animated Feature and the Best Animated Short nominations were restricted to industry professionals, which allowed smaller, independent movies to be showcased. This year, however, the nomination process was opened up to the whole Academy. Hence, Boss Baby.
And with it comes the worry that a big name will take an Oscar from a more deserving film. But this is far from the first time big studio animated films were honored more than their scrappy competition.
Big industry names have a monopoly over the category recently, with Disney and sister-studio Pixar snagging the award for 11 out of the past 16 years.
There have been many overlooked, and perhaps more deserving movies across the years that have lost to bigger names. Here are some highlights that deserved more recognition.
2004: Howl's Moving Castle and Corpse Bride
The winner: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is cute, but the other two films nominated that year—Howl's Moving Castle and Corpse Bride—had more heart to their story. Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle with its themes of personal loyalty and compassion against the broader anti-war message stands out, but Tim Burton's quirky Corpse Bride, with its surprisingly elegiac ending, also deserves a nod.
Purchase Howl's Moving Castle on Amazon Prime.
Watch Corpse Bride on Amazon Video.
2007: Persepolis
The winner: Ratatouille
Ratatouille is an amazing film and any other year, it would be an undisputed winner. That being said, Persepolis is not only an amazing film, but an important film. Based on a graphic novel by Marjane Santrapi, Perseopolis is Santrapi's autobiographical tale of her coming-of-age during the Iranian Revolution. As indicated by the Hollywood Reporter ballots, oftentimes animated films are seen as being solely for children. While we shouldn’t discount the tastes of the youth, this was one year where a more serious, mature film should have been recognized.
Watch Persepolis on Amazon Video.
2013: Ernest and Celestine
The winner: Frozen
Frozen was great for the first month it was out but now, nearly five years later, it’s about time we just... let it go. While it definitely stood out musically, storytelling-wise, Frozen was... okay. Its big commercial success overshadowed the quality of the smaller films that year.
One of these smaller films, French studio Les Armateurs' Ernest and Celestine, tells of the unlikely friendship between an orphan mouse and a hungry bear—sounds like it could be kitchsy, but it involves the duo becoming fugitives, navigating tense race relations, and encouraging the pursuit of each other's artistic talents, all with a warm, almost glowing aesthetic.
Watch Ernest and Celestine on Netflix.
2014: Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The winner: Big Hero 6
2014 was a pretty good year for animation in general, but amongst the real standouts in the pool, Big Hero 6 fell a little flat.
Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea and Ghibil's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya especially stood out among the bigger names—two films lumped as "these two obscure freakin’ Chinese fuckin’ things that nobody ever freakin’ saw" by one Oscar voter, per the Hollywood Reporter. (For the record, Song of the Sea is an international collaboration and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is Japanese).
Both are fairy tales at heart and explore their regional folklore with care—not to mention, each of them is visually stunning, stepping outside the typical big-eyed Disney-esque CGI.
Watch Song of the Sea on Amazon Video.
Purchase The Tale of the Princess Kaguya on Amazon Prime.
2016: Kubo and the Two Strings
The winner: Zootopia
Zootopia is a funny movie with a timely message—and characters that could be easily marketed and sold as plush toys. Kubo and the Two Strings, from stop motion studio Laika, is a tale of the power of storytelling, memories, and what makes us human—set against a brilliantly animated feudal Japan. Kubo is one of only two animated films to be nominated in the visual effects category. It may not have had the pop culture references of Zootopia or the infectious soundtrack of Moana, but Kubo stands out for its uniquely beautiful animation and timeless story.
Watch Kubo and the Two Strings on Netflix.
This year, Pixar's Coco is basically guaranteed to bring home the prize, but two of the smaller films, The Breadwinner and Loving Vincent deserve more recognition. The Breadwinner, a product of Cartoon Saloon, is done in the studio's unique animation style and tells the story of a young girl growing up in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. BreakThru's Loving Vincent is a biopic about Post-Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh and the first fully painted animated film—that feat alone makes it stand out.
Coco is a fantastic film with great representation and a poignant theme—but so were these two films, which will likely just get a small round of applause as their names are announced for nomination.
Watch The Breadwinner on Netflix.
Watch Loving Vincent on Amazon Video.
Petrana Radulovic was a web culture fellow here at Mashable. She enjoys exploring the growing intersection of story-telling and digital spaces, hanging out in book shops and art museums, and the tasteful meme. Follow her on Twitter at @pet_rana for #relatable content.
