Mon, December 3, 2007

The New York Times had a nice piece last week about the staggering critical response to Ratatouille and the Academy Awards conundrum it presents for Disney/Pixar – whether to submit the film for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category, or to aim their sights at Best Picture? I think Pixar has an opportunity to advance a number of goals if they shoot for Best Picture and ignore Best Animated Feature altogether.

For one, I don't think the Oscars should have a Best Animated Feature award, and Pixar agrees with me. It classifies animation as a genre, when it's really an art form. It separates movies into "made with cameras" and "made with animation" – a distinction that shouldn't enter into a discussion of quality, and a distinction that's getting harder and harder to make. Happy Feet had live action and Transformers had plenty of animation. It's great for animated film to be appreciated, but separating it into its own category isn't the way to do that. That just feels like a "Participant" ribbon.

In its brief existence, the Best Animated Feature award has been wrong nearly as often as it's been right. (* denotes winner)

2001
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Monsters, Inc. Shrek*	deeply, deeply wrong
2002
Ice Age Lilo & Stitch Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Spirited Away* Treasure Planet	fine
2003
Brother Bear Finding Nemo* The Triplets of Belleville	right
2004
The Incredibles* Shark Tale Shrek 2	proof God exists
2005
Howl's Moving Castle Tim Burton's Corpse Bride The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*	right
2006
Cars Happy Feet* Monster House	wrong

If Pixar backs out of the Best Animated Feature race, lesser films would pick up the awards, but that's actually a good thing. (See above; they've already got a few.) This signals that the Best Animated Feature category is designed for lesser films: movies that couldn't win in another category. Let someone else win the easy award; like Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On, I define "the best" as competing against the best and winning. Perhaps, in time, the Academy would discontinue the Best Animated Feature award. In that case, everyone wins. The Oscars continue to award the best films across all categories (in theory, at least), and there are plenty of other awards for animation. (The Annies are a big one, and they seem to have their head on straight.)

The article refers to the animation award as "easier to win," since the field is narrowed – submitting in that category, even as a "safety school" alongside your Best Picture submission, makes it seem like you're doing it for the award ("let's at least win something"). And we all know Pixar has no use for awards or money – they just want to delight audiences young and old with timeless, heartwarming stories that illuminate the human condition and tantalize the inner child. (Disney, however, is another story. They know an Oscar will boost DVD sales and they like money. I don't blame them; it's a business.)

Pixar doesn't make animated films; they make excellent films which happen to be created with animation. If they switch to Best Picture every year, it not only demonstrates the uselessness of the Best Animated Feature category, it underlines Pixar as the prestige brand. It may mean fewer awards, since the pool of competition is larger, but those awards will be more meaningful. Perhaps they fear the backlash Michael Moore suffered when he tried submitting Fahrenheit 9/11 for Best Picture instead of Best Documentary Feature – but if they're worried about that, this is the year to go for it. It's hard to seem arrogant when you're pushing one of the best-reviewed films of all time. There's no better candidate to win the first Best Picture Oscar for an animated movie – and, if you're Pixar, don't you want to do everything you can to grab that achievement?

Ratatouille has already accomplished so much. Wouldn't it be great if it could catapult Pixar into a Best Picture win, while also tearing down the wall between animation and live action? That would be a truly lasting legacy. (And, Academy, if you want to retroactively give that Million Dollar Baby award to The Incredibles and – most importantly – change the sign at the Kodak Theatre, by all means feel free.)

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