The animated film category is one of the only where I’ve watched all the nominees and for the most part enjoyed them (sometimes a lot more than the Best Film picks to be honest) enough so that ranking them was a wee bit difficult but also…
I just really wanted to do a ranking.
Snubbed:
I really loved the Croods 2 when I finally watched it. Better than the first (which was still good) made me laugh several times, great animation, great performances and some good emotion.
I don’t know why this didn’t make the cut.
Frankly I’d sub it for…
Number 5
Shaun of the Sheep Farmageddon
Nothing against this perfectly pleasant movie. It’s about a farm sheep who meets an adorable little alien (that looks like a dog) and hijinks ensure. Everything is good. I just couldn’t help think… I’d enjoy it a lot more if I was a young kid, or had young kids, and I thought I was being unfair until I checked some reviews that were like yeah I watched it with my kids and grandkids.
And hey nothing against the movie if you did love it more power to you. I just don’t see how we got this… with the other options.
Number 4
Over the Moon
Number 3
Onward
Both of these movies deal with grief and the loss of a parent. And they were really, really close for me. It depends I suppose on how you judge movies and animation. I thought Over the Moon was beautiful, colorful (had a great music number) and cute animals while I thought Onward was pretty typical for Pixar for most of the movie.
Still story wise I knew exactly where Over the Moon was going and wasn’t surprised while the ending of Onward and particularly the choice Ian makes was a surprise to me but at the same time well-earned and had me in tears so I give an edge to Onward in the end.
Number 2
Wolfwalkers is an absolutely beautiful film about a girl whose father hunts wolves and she really wants to hunt with him (but considering she shots her bird at one point it’s probably not the best idea) anyway she meets another girl and learns that when she sleeps she becomes and runs with the wolves.
This is an Apple TV film and I feel like that’s one of the reasons so many people are sleeping on it. Beautiful music as well. It really feels like I’m watching a fairy tale come to life.
I wasn’t as in love with some parts of the animation but that was little and just nitpicking at this point.
If Wolfwalkers does an upset I wouldn’t be the least bit upset by it and much like Ted Lasso it’s worth Apple TV.
Number 1
I realize Soul is the popular choice but I give this story of a man who accidentally goes to the before instead of the beyond and meets a soul who doesn’t want to go to Earth an edge.
Mostly due to the imagination of the Before, the scene with 22’s previous mentors, the music and that ending.
So I think Soul is a should win/ will win kind of movie 🙂
I agree that Croods was snubbed. I saw it with my mom and brother and we had a blast. Shaun the Sheep is the obligatory stop-motion animated nominee. I understand that that kind of animation takes time, but Farmageddon was an average level of good. I do prefer Onward over Over the Moon. I just watched Over the Moon recently and I think the beginning and end was better than everything on the moon. I don’t know, it all felt very random to me. I’ve yet to see Wolfwalkers, but I’ve heard good things. Soul is of course the obvious winner.
I did like the musical number on the moon. I thought it was fun 🙂 Also it strangely reminded me of Candyland. Who knows why but that’s all I could think about the moon stuff!
My ultimate compliment is that the opening felt very much like Mulan. I just thought the moon stuff seemed very weird for the sake of weird. Literal biker chicks felt like an Emoji Movie joke. Though I will say that the ping pong song was pretty catchy.
I thought I’d love the Croods sequel, but I enjoyed the first one more. However, I can’t deny the animation was beautiful.