Oscars 2024: ‘Best Animated Feature’ Spotlight
Ever since the Oscars introduced the ‘Best Animated Feature’ in 2001, with Shrek named as the inaugural winner, the category has largely been dominated by the medium’s proven heavyweights.
Of the 23 statues handed over so far, 15 of them have been won by either Pixar or Walt Disney Animation, with DreamWorks the only other production company that’s been responsible for more than one victor. Even at that, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit only brought the company up to two.
Netflix is the current holder after Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio took home last year’s prize, and the streaming service is back in the mix again alongside some very familiar heavy hitters of animation. There’s a clear favourite, though, but that doesn’t mean the five contenders don’t deserve to be shortlisted.
The ‘Best Animated Feature’ category is often a highly-competitive one, and even though there’s only going to be one name read out on stage at the Oscars, nobody would begrudge any of the five titles being celebrated as the best the artform has had to offer over the last 12 months.
The Boy and The Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)
Having scooped the corresponding trophies at the Golden Globes and the Baftas, The Boy and the Heron is the front-runner to see Hayao Miyazaki rewarded with his second Oscar for ‘Best Animated Feature’, more than 20 years on from Spirited Away.
The legendary filmmaker came out of retirement for the film, which finds 12-year-old Mahito struggling to adapt to his new surroundings following the death of his mother. When the titular bird informs the youngster his mother is alive, though, he embarks on an otherworldly adventure to find her.
Another Miyazaki masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron offers a heartfelt and thought-provoking rumination on chasing dreams, escaping realities, and holding on to hopes thought long lost, all beautifully realised through striking visuals and fantastic voice work in both its Japanese and English-language versions.
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
With 11 victories from 18 nominations in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ race, Pixar is undoubtedly the studio most closely linked with the award, but it would be something of an upset were Elemental to emerge victorious, given its status as a very good film that isn’t quite among the outfit’s top tier.
An entertaining adventure following disparate personalities falling for each other in defiance of societal and cultural norms, the way in which Peter Sohn’s movie eloquently weaves modern-day thematic resonance with classic Pixar-style buffoonery is undoubtedly its strongest suit.
And yet, Elemental still feels as though it’s missing that magic ingredient that’s seen so many of the studio’s productions become Oscar winners, firm favourites, and all-time classics. Immensely satisfying without being blow-away spectacular, mid-level Pixar is still significantly better than most.
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan, and Julie Zackary)
Initially set up at Blue Sky Studios, cancelled following Disney’s acquisition of parent company 20th Century Fox and then resurrected by Annapurna Pictures and Netflix, it’s a minor miracle that Nimona even exists at all, with the quality of the finished film the cherry on top.
A knight being framed for a crime he didn’t commit and then partnering up with a shapeshifter who may or may not be the monster he’s sworn himself to killing offers a subversive spin on the fairy tale fantasy as is, to say nothing of the deft way it handles such serious subject matter in so entertaining a style.
Political corruption, the fluidity of identity, attitudes towards homophobia, and a refusal to change with the times on a cultural and societal level are big concepts for a family-friendly animated romp to tackle, but Nimona accomplishes it with the greatest of ease, and with style to spare.
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé, and Sandra Tapia)
The rank outsider in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ race, writer and director Pablo Berger’s adaptation of Sara Varon’s comic also doubles as the most experimental by far, with the entire 102-minute movie containing no spoken dialogue.
Set in 1980s New York, a dog called Dog and a robot called Robot become the best of friends after the former assembles the latter, only for Robot to begin rusting up and become increasingly immobile during a whimsical trip to Coney Island in celebration of Labor Day.
Blurring the lines between reality, dreams, nightmares, and the passage of time, adopting man’s best friend and humanity’s cybernetic successor as the anchors for a story that’s hilarious, phenomenally rendered, and heartbreaking all at once pays huge dividends. Definitely the underdog, Robot Dreams and its ruminations on friendship, loneliness, love, and the spirit of exploration nonetheless pack plenty of underlying heft.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Joaquim Dos Santos)
In any other year, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would be guaranteed to replicate the success of its predecessor and go home with the Oscar for ‘Best Animated Feature’, but Miyazaki’s return to cinema has made the chance of that happening a lot slimmer.
The only real downside of the web-slinging sequel is that it’s technically only half a movie, with upcoming threequel Beyond the Spider-Verse set to round out Miles Morales’ story. That being said, the sheer visual inventiveness and infectious enthusiasm escaping from every frame has somehow set the bar even higher than it was the second time around.
Going bigger and bolder is a route that virtually every sequel is obligated to take, but rarely has it been done with as much heart, wit, warmth, and humour as Across the Spider-Verse, with Sony’s animated division standing so far above its live-action counterpart in the arena of Marvel Comics adaptations that they don’t even exist on the same planet anymore.
