The Oscar race is now on. Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House are our nominees. Which one will take home the gold statuette? Here are my thoughts.
Thanks to Luc Besson's Arthur and the Minimoys (Arthur and the Invisibles in the USA) not having enough animation for Academy voters, there are only 3 pictures up for Best Animated Feature Film this year: Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House. So I'm putting on my Nostrodamus hat, looking into my crystal (or LCD) ball and deciding which movie will take home the gold this February 25th. And you, dear reader, can (a) marvel at my powers of prognostication (sp?) or mock me mercilessly when I screw it up. So, with that in mind, here's my cunning analysis.
I think we can safely dismiss Monster House from Oscar contention. Spielberg and Zemeckis' motion capture technology is a vastly different bird from most CGI features, but the movie didn't make that big a splash with critics or at the box office. Not only that, Monster House didn't look as good as some other movies that didn't get nominated this year (Flushed Away, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Over the Hedge to name just three).
Therefore, we're looking at a two-horse race here: Cars versus Happy Feet.
Yes, Pixar is the undisputed heavyweight champ of the CGI world. Yes, they have produced some unbelievable movies in the past decade, flicks like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and the Toy Story franchise. However, Cars is a B-level effort from a company that usually cranks out A-level material. The visuals were stunning, but the story simply wasn't as compelling as previous Pixar movies. Academy voters may want to send Lasseter and Company a message: don't rest on your laurels, boys.
This leaves us with Happy Feet. Not only did this movie rule the box office (beating out the strongest Bond movie in years), but it also made a big splash with its environmental message. Considering that climate change is big news this year (Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is the fave to win Best Documentary on Oscar night), the Academy will want to show its sympathy towards the environment, and to blow a giant, juicy raspberry at the conservative pundits who were outraged at Happy Feet's "hidden agenda."
So my prediction for 2007's Best Animated Feature Film winner: Happy Feet. You read it here first.
