Disney Oscars

[DisneyKingpin]

The podcast team noted today the great success Disney enjoyed at the Oscars this year. And Ryno made a good point about how every sector was recognized (Pixar, Lucas, etc).

I just wanted to add that Disney's ESPN also won an Oscar for "O.J.: Made in America" (Best Documentary Feature). It was ESPN's first Oscar, and has gone unnoticed in a lot of the news stories I've seen about Disney and the Oscars.

ESPN is a critical part of Disney, and with all the bad news surrounding it lately, I thought it was worthy of celebrating along with the traditional cartoons created by Disney. The truth is that ESPN is one of the most creative entertainment units in the business.

 

[Tonyz]

Nine times out of the last 10 years Disney/Pixar has won Best Animated Feautre.

It's insane the level of quality output this company puts out. No ones can touch them.

 

[Mattimation]

Nine times out of the last 10 years Disney/Pixar has won Best Animated Feautre.

It's insane the level of quality output this company puts out. No ones can touch them.

It's not quite that simple - it's fairly well documented that Academy Voters don't usually watch all of the "Best Animated Feature" nominees, and just choose the Disney or Pixar nominee because they know the name, or abstain from voting. That 1 time Disney didn't get Best Animated Feature in the last 10 years is because neither Disney nor Pixar were nominated - that was 2011, the year of Cars 2 (Cars 1 having been nominated and losing) and Winnie-the-Pooh. Within the animation community, the Oscars are sort of seen as being, at worst, hugely disrespectful to the animated art form or, at best, a joke. I would bet right now that Coco wins this award next year because it's the only non-sequel animated movie that Disney is putting out this year - it probably won't matter what the other studios put out.

This year, I think Zootopia was probably the right choice considering how contemporary and relevant it is to politics and inter-racial relations in America, but there have been many years where the wrong movie wins because the Academy doesn't bother to look beyond the Disney name. I love Disney and the movies they make, but as an animator I can't say they make the best movies every single year.

Despite all this, I was very happy to see the other awards for Disney. Jungle Book very much deserved it's VFX win, and that's a wonderful point about ESPN winning too - I didn't even make that connection while I was watching the awards.

 

[Tonyz]

It's not quite that simple - it's fairly well documented that Academy Voters don't usually watch any of the "Best Animated Feature" nominees, and just choose the Disney or Pixar nominee because they know the name, or abstain from voting. That 1 time Disney didn't get Best Animated Feature in the last 10 years is because neither Disney nor Pixar were nominated - that was 2011, the year of Cars 2 (Cars 1 having been nominated and losing) and Winnie-the-Pooh. Within the animation community, the Oscars are sort of seen as being, at worst, hugely disrespectful to the animated art form or, at best, a joke. I would bet right now that Coco wins this award next year because it's the only non-sequel animated movie that Disney is putting out this year - it probably won't matter what the other studios put out.

This year, I think Zootopia was probably the right choice considering how contemporary and relevant it is to politics and inter-racial relations in America, but there have been many years where the wrong movie wins because the Academy doesn't bother to look beyond the Disney name. I love Disney and the movies they make, but as an animator I can't say they make the best movies every single year.

Ratatouille, Wall*e, Up, Toy Story 3, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Inside Out, Zootopia, Moana.

I don't care if none of these films ever won an award. The quality of film is still there, regardless of winning the Oscar or not. And it's not just the Oscars. Disney does amazing at any award show... Globes, BAFTA, Annies where Disney has won between 6 to 8 times in the last 10 years.

So again, I don't care if they never won once. It doesn't take away from their near peerless track record of the last 10 years or so. But let's also not water down their much deserved victories when they do win.

 

[Mattimation]

Ratatouille, Wall*e, Up, Toy Story 3, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Inside Out, Zootopia, Moana.

I don't care if none of these films ever won an award. The quality of film is still there, regardless of winning the Oscar or not. And it's not just the Oscars. Disney does amazing at any award show... Globes, BAFTA, Annies where Disney has won between 6 to 8 times in the last 10 years.

So again, I don't care if they never won once. It doesn't take away from their near peerless track record of the last 10 years or so. But let's also not water down their much deserved victories when they do win.

Oh absolutely, I in no way mean to say that I don't think Disney and Pixar make quality movies. In my opinion, Princess and the Frog is Musker & Clements finest work (though Little Mermaid will always be my favorite) and I believe Inside Out is by far the best film Pixar has made yet. Their performance at the Annie Awards is certainly impressive, well-deserved, and I think much more respected among animators considering how the Annies don't funnel the entire industry into two categories. It's because of the way the Academy Awards treats the field that my animator friends and I take Oscar wins with a grain of salt, and I do believe there have been years this last decade where what Disney and Pixar offers is surpassed by other studios, but that doesn't mean what they produce isn't incredible.

 

[Tonyz]

I do believe there have been years this last decade where what Disney and Pixar offers is surpassed by other studios, but that doesn't mean what they produce isn't incredible.

Yeah I don't disagree with this in the case of 2014. Big Hero 6 probably shouldn't have won. It should have either been The Lego Movie or How to Train Your Dragon 2 (since the first one had no chance of winning in 2010).

Now how the Annies didn't give it to Wall*E in 2008 is beyond me. Forget animation... it's one of the greatest films of the last 20 years.

I also think Princess and the Frog should have gotten the accolades that Up got (which is great too but Princess was a true return to form for Disney animation). And Tangled should have won in 2010.

 

[Lesverts]

If you actually look back there are some interesting things

2001 - Monsters Inc should have won
2005 - Miyazaki should have won, but there is a persistent rumor that because the Academy thinks he and Studio Ghibil disrespected the awards in 2002, they will never win again.
2012 - Wreck-it-Ralph should have won
2014 - How to Train Your Dragon 2 should have won, but this was likely a make-up for 2012
2016 - Kubo should have won.

I don't honestly see a lot of times when the Academy made a bad choice. I mean it is all pretty subjective (except the wins of Crash, Braveheart, Gandhi, Forest Gump and The Last Emperor, that was just some garbage right there). But in my estimation the error rate in animation reflects the error rate in best picture.

 

[Tonyz]

2001 was a tough year because Monsters Inc was great but Shrek was revolutionary for animation. It's the only non-Disney animated film I consider a classic.

2012 was a pretty subpar year for Disney in my opinion. I like old Disney type movies which Brave kinda resembled (even though it was not nearly as good). I'm not a big Wreck It Ralph fan. But there was really nothing great in 2012 period.