There are ten Best Picture Oscar nominees this year? Big deal, nobody cares about Best Picture... what's really important is the Best Animated Feature, everybody knows that. This year there are five nominees -
- the first time five have made the cut since 2002 when Miyazaki’s Spirited Away won out over Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Treasure Planet. (No nom this year for Miyazaki’s gorgeous Ponyo; “okay, we’ve given you an Oscar, you can go home now.”)
A very interesting and for the most part expected line-up. For me the only surprise is Kells; where the hell did that come from? It only played for one weekend here in NYC in a children's film festival, no commercial release. (And I managed to miss it too; now I’ve got to track it down.)
So who's going to win in 2010? Up is also nominated for Best Picture - will its fans split their vote and make the picture lose in two categories? (Or will Pixar win yet again? One more time and they should just rename the award The Pixar Trophy and retire it.) Will they give the award to The Princess and the Frog for bringing back 2D, or to Mr. Fox for being the most offbeat animated feature in a long time/ever, or to Coraline for being a brilliantly realized tour de force of stop motion/replacement animation?
To quote Oogway in Kung Fu Panda, "I don't know."