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2009 Animated Feature Oscar Analysis

2009 was an excellent year for animation. It was a very diverse year as it featured great instances of not only CGI, but also stop-motion and even hand-drawn styles. The Academy itself chose some of the best nominees to fill out that year’s slate, though unfortunately they snubbed the best (animated) movie of the entire year.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

5. Fantastic Mr. Fox

The last spot very easily belongs to this Wes Anderson flick. First and foremost, I actually like this movie. It’s a rare film of his that I tolerate. That’s all due to its outstanding stop-motion animation, meticulously crafted technical aspects and a very charming feel that permeates the film throughout. However, the casting was horrendous, hurting the film’s characters quite a bit, and the movie is never as truly entertaining or as funny as it could have been. It’s solid, but far from great.

4. The Secret of Kells

Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells is often rushed and ultimately too short in runtime, but it succeeds as a wonderfully folk fantasy period piece, which makes great use of Irish Medieval history. It is also populated with endearing characters. The score is simply magnificent while the animation is not only gorgeous, but downright artistic and meticulously crafted in its stunning interiors. The reason why it ended up only fourth on this list is that it’s way too abrupt and simply quite inferior to the director’s next amazing feature.

3. The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog surely belongs among Disney’s most underrated movies of all time. Yes, its villain is weak and some of the film’s scenes are more problematic, but overall it’s such a hugely pleasant, wonderfully old-fashioned adventure that works on all levels – the animation is polished as it hearkens back to Disney’s hand-drawn past, the fantasy elements are excellent and the movie is populated with superbly realized, great characters, both main and supporting. The highlight, though, is its brilliant soundtrack with many instantly recognizable songs.

2. Coraline

Whenever somebody mentions animated horror, this classic instantly pops to mind. Yes, Coraline is the quintessential such genre flick that has remained to this day and date Laika’s most spectacular achievement. The character development is strong and the animation is gorgeous and quite striking, but it is the film’s very interesting storyline that grips you from start to finish. It has the best world building out of all these movies here, and it’s above all else immensely creepy in a couple of chilling sequences.

1. Up

Though many would be mad at Pixar taking the prize yet again, especially among such a stylistically diverse slate, you cannot really deny the power of Up. This is one of the studio’s greatest movies that features that iconic opening that can really devastate you emotionally. It’s also populated with excellent characters that are so well developed and a deep, mature storyline about a grumpy old man trying to let go of his dead wife. Yes, it’s a surprisingly adult movie that ranks among mainstream animation’s most emotionally and thematically complex, thus it deserved its award without any doubt.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

Mary and Max – The fact that this amazing movie wasn’t even nominated was a travesty in my opinion and it ranks among the worst snubs ever in this particular category. Yes, Mary and Max is a masterpiece that to me is the overall best movie of that year. It’s a heartbreaker that is tender, gorgeously crafted, somber and hugely inspirational in its phenomenal quotes.

Summer Wars – The Academy hates anime is a cliché that is unfortunately pretty much the truth. Summer Wars is this truly excellent, undeniably incredibly fun flick coming from this incredible director that is also beautifully animated, terrific in action scenes and very interesting in its intriguing plot beats.