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2004 Animated Feature Oscar Analysis

2004 was a solid year for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. They did make one dubious choice for the nomination here, but the other two are pretty good, and the winner was obviously well decided. It’s not the best year for animation overall and the category, but overall it could have been much worse. And surprisingly enough, there are no Disney nominees this time around, but one Pixar and two DreamWorks flicks no less.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

3. Shark Tale

First and foremost, I do not hate Shark Tale whatsoever. I found the humor overall rather solid and the characters themselves are solidly developed. Though predictable, the overall storyline is also passable. But, this is far from DreamWorks’ best efforts so its nomination here is questionable to say the least. The music is bad, the animation is so weak and the character design is literally the most atrocious in the history of big studio animation as all the characters look unappealing and plain ugly.

2. Shrek 2

Shrek 2 is more entertaining and much funnier than its predecessor with improved animation, a nice addition of new characters who are all memorable and it is overall of the similar quality as the original, but it once again relies too much on pop culture references with the soundtrack being incredibly obnoxious here. But it is also too mature at times with some moments being done just for the shock value and its parodying of Disney was not pleasant in my opinion. So it’s another solid, but overrated entry in the franchise.

1. The Incredibles

This famous Pixar flick is not one of my absolute favorites as it has its pacing and identity issues, but I personally commend them for making a rather sophisticated take on the superhero genre. The characters are great and the family dynamic between them is the film’s biggest selling point, but the action is also thrilling and I found the overall storyline very strong and dealing with midlife crisis surprisingly well. It’s one of the better Pixar films for all of those reasons, but not one of the best. But of this group of nominees, it clearly deserved its victory.

Film That Should Have Been Nominated:

The Place Promised in Our Early Days – Makoto Shinkai has always made very intriguing movies and this one is no exception. The Academy continually ignored him and yes, this storyline is incredibly convoluted, but still very memorable and the film’s visuals and ideas are pretty fascinating overall so it should have been nominated nonetheless.