Article: Did Pixar's Monsters University deserve its Oscars snub?

[Planogirl]

I think the problem is that the pool is too small to draw from. I'd almost like to see the award every 3rd year of something like that. It's like "hey, there were 5 major animated films, so we'll nominate all but one, and then pick which was the best, when in reality the best was a B+". They grade some of these smaller categories on a curve. And when you have a bunch of B-quality films, it almost doesn't matter which you nominate.

Actually there were more than 5 http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=animation&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature&year=2013,2013 but I do agree that the group was weak.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Agreed...MU was a better flick than the Croods (which I didn't mind) and Despicable Me 2. It doesn't deserve to win, but it does deserve a nom.

Animation Oscar is weird... I mean, Brave did not deserve to win last year over Wreck It Ralph; there have been some snubs in the past, etc.

Yes...It's all subjective

I would argue that Tangled was a more significant, lasting, better movie than toy story 3

And even the song lost... And as I have said ( here it comes again)... "I see the light" was the best combination of story, animation and song of any sequence since "A Whole New World"

And I'm NOT a big fan of the endless princess Schlick...but this was hard to argue with.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

The early movie to beat in 2014, against all odds, is The Lego Movie.

It could have been a simple cash grab like most movies with a toy tie in but it's not. It's better than any competition Frozen faced in 2013 for certain.

Among the major studios, Pixar will not have a release in 2014, having put off The Good Dinosaur. Disney's only animated release this year (that I'm aware of) will be Big Hero 6, a joint effort with Marvel. DreamWorks will release How To Train Your Dragon 2, Mr. Peabody & Sherman (of Rocky & Bullwinkle fame), and Home, an adaption of a children's book about an alien invasion. Blue Sky is releasing Rio 2. Illuminations will release Minions.

I hope it's a better year for animated films, but I think any of these movies will have a tough time being as good as Lego.

Once again, Disney Animation under John Lasseter's leadership is (potentially) being underestimated by many. With their current track record, I'm fairly confident Big Hero 6 will be a contender.

 

[surferdave]

Once again, Disney Animation under John Lasseter's leadership is (potentially) being underestimated by many. With their current track record, I'm fairly confident Big Hero 6 will be a contender.

I certainly hope so, I want to see more good movies this year! I do believe that WB has set the very bar high early in the game.

 

[alweg]

I think MU should easily have been nominated over The Croods. MU character development is superb. The animation is stunning (look at the lighting and textures - phenominal!)

But...how in the world did Blue Umbrella miss the nomination??? It was jaw-dropping IMO.

 

[JillianMarie]

Monsters University wasn't necessarily bad - it was just really boring. Which I think is worse than being bad. I haven't seen it but I'm sure The Croods is also terrible. Neither of them should be nominated for an Oscar.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Monsters University wasn't necessarily bad - it was just really boring. Which I think is worse than being bad. I haven't seen it but I'm sure The Croods is also terrible. Neither of them should be nominated for an Oscar.

Wow..."boring"? I thought it was highly entertaining and the animation was absolutely state of the art. "The Croods"(which I have seen, unfortunately) is bein ridiculously propped up by the Academy for reasons I can't even fathom.

 

[yoshi2010]

Yeah, I find it very hard to believe that MU wasn't nominated. It is definitely superior to that of The Croods. I started watching The Croods and 20 minutes into it, I just gave up watching it. I didn't feel attached to the characters and what was going on. Even though it's an animated movie, the physics and weight of the grandma running and the girl jumping and climbing all over didn't feel believable (coming from an animator's eye). Despicable Me 2 I have not seen yet so I really can't say whether it's worthy or not. I feel comfortable with the other nominations. I REALLY hope Frozen wins. I will be devastated if Frozen doesn't get the award.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Yeah, I find it very hard to believe that MU wasn't nominated. It is definitely superior to that of The Croods. I started watching The Croods and 20 minutes into it, I just gave up watching it. I didn't feel attached to the characters and what was going on. Even though it's an animated movie, the physics and weight of the grandma running and the girl jumping and climbing all over didn't feel believable (coming from an animator's eye). Despicable Me 2 I have not seen yet so I really can't say whether it's worthy or not. I feel comfortable with the other nominations. I REALLY hope Frozen wins. I will be devastated if Frozen doesn't get the award.

Like most DreamWorks films...The Croods was awful. It's a crime that it's a contender and Monsters University is not.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I do indeed believe MU was snubbed. Lets face it, if 2 Disney animated movie were nominated the other animated studios would be crying and yelling.

AKK

 

[surferdave]

I do indeed believe MU was snubbed. Lets face it, if 2 Disney animated movie were nominated the other animated studios would be crying and yelling.

AKK

Are there any quotes of them crying and yelling from last year?

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Are there any quotes of them crying and yelling from last year?

Like so much of Hollywood it's all behind the scenes. Very possibly why there is only Frozen this year

Most of Hollywood thought Walt and Roy were crazy to make animated feature films and Mayer actually lead a campaign to try and sink Disney. The first part of the campaign was to talk up not lending any money to Walt and Roy to finish the Snow White. Walt finally got the money from Bank of America (the family still run the Bank then).

I do not remember the name of the great movie with Gene Kelly and tom (mouse of Tom and Jerry) made by MGM. However MGM asked Walt to let them use MM. Walt told them in so many words, *Not MM or any other Disney character would ever appear in a MGM film.

Walt and Roy were also the first major studio to embrace TV and made TV shows, something the other studios were afraid of and resisted. This was partially part of the way Walt raised money for DL.

Old Hollywood never liked Disney and new Hollywood is just the same. The thing now is Disney is so big, they can't totally ignore them either.

AKK

 

[surferdave]

I know there's a lot of back room politics and back stabbing in Hollywood. It's one of the few ways that it's like a real place.

But Since Disney bought Pixar in 2006, they've gotten double nominees three times.

I think Pixar recognizes their issues better than some of their fans do.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/06/28/pixar-sequels/

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I know there's a lot of back room politics and back stabbing in Hollywood. It's one of the few ways that it's like a real place.

But Since Disney bought Pixar in 2006, they've gotten double nominees three times.

I think Pixar recognizes their issues better than some of their fans do.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/06/28/pixar-sequels/

Dave, I maybe a bit dramatic here and I don't want to. The endless Hollywood awards programs, with all the back room dealing is really getting to be silly! These just make the awards less important as well.

AKK

 

[JoWiJo]

We need to get away from the idea that a movie should automatically be nominated because it has the computerized approach to animation, or because it has the Disney name attached to it. If the movie itself isn't great, why nominate it?

I didn't bother seeing The Croods. The trailers gave me the impression it wasn't worth seeing in theaters, even at the "dollar" theater. Yet since I didn't see it, I can't really say whether it should have been considered.

Monsters University, however, drew me in. And it was a fun movie. I was happy to get the chance to see it again when Starz added it to their current programming. And so I watched it. But the second time around (and third), the movie just couldn't hold my interest. The novelty had already worn off. Why the change?

Upon retrospect, there is no heart to MU. Protagonist Mike didn't get what he really wanted, nor was there a heart-warming plot twist at the end. Mike's goal was to become a scarer. While he knew how to scare, he himself wasn't scary and his book smarts alone were useless. He needed help to scare. On the surface, the movie seems to be about Mike staying in the Scaring Program, but it's really about Mike wanting to be a professional scarer. And he failed.

True, Mike was a very, very effective scaring enabler, and we know that in Monsters Inc., he was happy with his career, and good things can be said about Mike's job performance as well as his attitude toward it. Still, Monsters University, while humorous and an enlightening backstory, just didn't have the moments that the original movie had like when Sulley realized that scaring kids was wrong, that he loved and missed Boo when he sent her back home, and was happy to get hear her call his "name" again at the end. Instead, MU was just an animated movie.

Was there anything truly special about MU to make it stand out? Music? It wasn't a musical, so no. The animation itself? There have been enough Pixar computer animated movies, as well as the same essential animation from other studios to make it commonplace in the modern market. So no. That pretty much leaves it to the story to make it worthy of award nominations. The setting isn't all that unique in the light of Monsters Inc. It was just a prequel of when Mike and Sulley were college boys. The story of MU was good, but not great.