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

[Rumors Rocks]

Why was it omitted to make way for films like The Croods? http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/did-pixar-39-monsters-university-deserve-oscars-snub-001800293.html

It's funny how things turn out. Ever since Pixar released 'Toy Story' almost 20 years ago, they've been on a steady rise in the CGI world, whereas Disney, the monopolists of the animation industry for 50+ years, have struggled to adapt.

More accomplished films have surfaced recently, with 'Bolt' and 'Tangled' showing that the Mouse House had finally begun to get to grips with computer animation, yet still remained behind Pixar, and significantly so. However, the past 18 months have seen the balance of power shift. While Pixar's rep has remained strong and ever-expansive, they've perhaps not emulated the same string of successes as their perceived 'Golden Era' that saw 'Ratatouille', 'WALL-E', 'Up' and 'Toy Story 3' released over consecutive year from 2007-10. Since that, their quality has dipped a little with the awful 'Cars 2', followed by the entertaining 'Brave' and 'Monsters University'.

Don't get me wrong; 'Monsters University' is a great film. It's funny, sweet, beautifully animated and has a solid, if not overly imaginative story. To the same degree, 'Brave' looks stunning and is a pleasant experience, but lacks the spark of said 'Golden Era' titles -- notably, each of those went on to win a Best Animation Oscar. 'Cars 2', unsurprisingly, didn't, yet 'Brave', to my shock, did.

In contrast, Disney's CGI output has significantly upped its game. 'Tangled', 'Wreck-It Ralph' and 'Frozen', their recent movies, show a massive improvement from previous efforts. But was it right that Pixar got a snub for 'Monsters University' as 'Frozen' sails through as a frontrunner? It was a surprise, to say the least, with the only other snub coming in the shape of 'Cars 2', which, for me, was a shallow, unfunny movie lacking any substance or spark. 'Monsters University' isn't on par with this. If I were to place it in Pixar's rankings, then sure, it would fall short of the 'Toy Story' trilogy and a few other gems, but I believe it's superior to 'Brave' and much better than both 'Cars' films.

So why the omission? Critical and public reception was positive, as were the box office takings. It's interesting to look at the competition in the Animation Oscar group, too. 'Ernest and Celestine' is a special, heart-warming animation and 'Frozen' is a definite high point for Disney in recent years. But why were 'Despicable Me 2' and 'The Croods' favoured over it? The latter isn't a particularly engaging film, yet has been included in the shortlist. It baffles me how this is deemed worthy, but MU isn't. Pixar's movie is superior to that of DreamWorks', there's no doubt in my mind, so what gives?

Were the Academy simply trying to mix it up? Pixar feature regularly, so was it a case of allowing something else to win for a change? Surely not, as there should be no bias involved. Was it weighed up against the merit of their previous titles? I certainly hope not. It shouldn't matter that it's a sequel;
'Toy Story 3' was up for (overall) Best Picture in 2011 and breezed its way to the Animation gong.

Disappointing doesn't cover it, especially when you sit through the likes of
'The Croods'; I've no idea why it was left out in favour of this. 'Monsters University' is intelligent, witty and fun, whereas 'The Croods' isn't.

The snub is hard to take, not only as a member of the hard-working Pixar team, but as a fan, also. Hopefully the Oscars 2016 will see either 'The Good Dinosaur' or 'Inside Out' walk away with a win.

As a Pixar fan, are you disappointed that 'Monsters University' wasn't nominated for an Oscar?'

 

[surferdave]

I can't agree with the author, I think The Croods was better (if only a little). So were Despicable Me and of course Frozen (I didn't see the other two nominees).

 

[Proud Cheapskate]

I didn't think Monsters U deserved a nomination, it was just ok in my book but the Croods was painful to watch

 

[Iowajes]

I thought Monster's University was a fun movie (and IMO better than the Croods; though the Croods did what the first Monster's Inc did: built an entire world that was pretty outstanding) but I didn't really feel like it was much more than a derivative of the first. It wasn't really outstanding to me, so I don't think it deserved a nomination for best animated picture.

The Saving Mr. Banks snub was much bigger, IMO.

 

[jewood1234]

Am a huge Pixar fan...but Monsters U was a "second tier" Pixar effort. Frozen was superior in story, production, and music. (My opinion!)

Seems right to me for this year.

 

[Castle2Castle]

I haven't seen all the films up for consideration, but having seen MU I didn't feel like it would be an Oscar contender regardless of the competition. It was enjoyable and I really liked it for entertainment value, but nothing about the animation or story struck me as the higher caliber for Oscar talk.

 

[Michael623]

Frozen was superior in story, production, and music. (My opinion!)

I think this is everyone's opinion. MU to Frozen is an apples to oranges comparison.

 

[Whatsthegoodword]

Am a huge Pixar fan...but Monsters U was a "second tier" Pixar effort. Frozen was superior in story, production, and music. (My opinion!)

Seems right to me for this year.

+1.

Yeah, MU was better than "Crudes" , but it was still just "good." Pixar needs to get back to basics. They haven't had a new idea in awhile now.

 

[cpanagiotakos]

I didn't think Monsters U deserved a nomination, it was just ok in my book but the Croods was painful to watch

Completely and totally agree with this statement. It was painful. MU definitely deserved it more than the Croods. Despicable Me 2 was cute.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

+1.

Yeah, MU was better than "Crudes" , but it was still just "good." Pixar needs to get back to basics. They haven't had a new idea in awhile now.

It looks like some are missing the point of the OP. He didn't say that it was Pixar's *best ever*...only that it is remarkably better than the The Croods.

The Croods got a nomination...MU didn't.

Everyone agrees that Frozen deserves it, that's not even what the OP is talking about.

In a nutshell, if there was to be a film "snubbed" this year it should have been The Croods...NOT Monsters University.


Okay... please continue to discuss from this new starting point.

P.S.-while I do think Frozen is better than MU....MU is still a wonderful, animated film that is another solid entry in the Pixar canon. It should have easily garnered a nomination, imho.

The Croods? Yuck.

 

[wiigirl]

I didn't think Monsters U deserved a nomination, it was just ok in my book but the Croods was painful to watch

Agreed!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Agreed!

So if MU deserved to be snubbed, and The Croods should have also been snubbed...what animated film should have gone into that slot?

 

[surferdave]

So if MU deserved to be snubbed, and The Croods should have also been snubbed...what animated film should have gone into that slot?

I think it was a particularly bad year for animated films; other than Frozen I didn't walk out of any other mainstream production thinking "wow, that was a pretty good movie".

I'm not one to defend the Academy's choices over the years because I think they miss the mark an awful lot, but I also don't think the studios should feel miffed if they miss a nomination unless they think they had a good enough movie to win the award. If I had read that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Free Birds had gotten nominations ahead of Monsters University, though I think MU was better, I would have just thought "too bad, but Pixar should have made it better if they wanted to ensure a nomination". Frozen is the only one I saw this year that I thought would have deserved to feel snubbed if it missed the nomination.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

Why was it omitted to make way for films like The Croods? http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/did-pixar-39-monsters-university-deserve-oscars-snub-001800293.html

~Brave did not deserve the Oscar last year -- like Merida's mom was really going to remain a stupid bear forever.

~Wreck it Ralph was a much better film and deserved the Oscar -- Disney Animation was robbed. We were all blindsided as no one knew that Turbo was King Candy -- no one.

~I think The Academy caught some flack for that and really put Pixar under the microscope this year. I liked Monsters U way more than the Croods. It just doesn't deserve an Oscar. Some Pixar fans are really taking this to heart.

 

[ChoppityChops]

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.

 

[surferdave]

~Brave did not deserve the Oscar last year -- like Merida's mom was really going to remain a stupid bear forever.

Ah, c'mon, Brave doesn't deserve to be singled out for this criticism; even the best kid's movies don't make you worry about things not turning out all right. I believed Elanor would remain a bear for about as long as I believed Anna's heart would remain frozen (and that scene in Frozen was very reminiscent of the similar penultimate scene in Brave). But I agree wholeheartedly that Wreck It Ralph was a better movie than Brave (but I think that was a much narrower gap than the one this year between Frozen and everything else), and Pixar exhausted the goodwill and enormous benefit of the doubt that they typically get from the Academy. It wasn't a good year for them to put out a fun but uninspiring sequel (or prequel) like Monsters University.

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.

I think that's true in general, not just for animated features. Usually there are at least a couple of animated features that deserve to be in the discussion, but not this year.

 

[Whatsthegoodword]

I dislike the whole "animated" category anyway. A great animated film (like Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Toy Story, Incredibles or Ratatouille) deserves to be nominated for Best Picture - not best animated. That's almost like an asterisk on a great film.

 

[yitbos96bb]

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.

It looks like some are missing the point of the OP. He didn't say that it was Pixar's *best ever*...only that it is remarkably better than the The Croods.

The Croods got a nomination...MU didn't.

Everyone agrees that Frozen deserves it, that's not even what the OP is talking about.

In a nutshell, if there was to be a film "snubbed" this year it should have been The Croods...NOT Monsters University.


Okay... please continue to discuss from this new starting point.

P.S.-while I do think Frozen is better than MU....MU is still a wonderful, animated film that is another solid entry in the Pixar canon. It should have easily garnered a nomination, imho.

The Croods? Yuck.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I dislike the whole "animated" category anyway. A great animated film (like Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Toy Story, Incredibles or Ratatouille) deserves to be nominated for Best Picture - not best animated. That's almost like an asterisk on a great film.

By that rationale then best documentary and best foreign film should be done away with as well.

I always thought they should split best picture into best drama and comedy like other shows do... If you need to do a best overall, then send out a second ballot with the films nominated in best animated, documentary, comedy, drama and foreign and vote on the best of those lots for best overall.

But that would never happen.

The whole things a joke anyway... Just industry folk stroking the egos of other industry folk.

 

[surferdave]

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.