Well you have probably all heard by now, Cars didn’t drive home with Oscar in the passenger seat. Instead, George Miller’s Happy Feet, tapped it’s way to the finishing line. Lifted didn’t bring home Gary Rydstrom another Oscar for his shelf, nor did Randy Newman receieve anything for Our Town in Cars.
As you are all probably aware, Cars was tipped as a winner at the Academy Awards, especially after winning at the Annies and Golden Globes. The Disney Blog says this…
Having not seen ‘Happy Feet’ I can’t comment on the quality of that film, but I got the feeling that the Academy wants to send a message to Pixar/Disney that they don’t have a corner on the market anymore and that the soft-in-the-middle reflective pieces like ‘Cars’ aren’t to Hollywood’s taste (despite being the second biggest box office earning in ’06). Not that John Lasseter, or anyone, should make films with the tastes of Hollywood or the MPAA in mind, but I’m betting the vote is intended as a shot across the bow.
There is also starting to be an uproar across forums and in comments on blogs, about how Cars should have taken it out due to the fact that they don’t see Happy Feet and Monster House, which are both motion-capture performances, to be strictly “animation”.
I think we should forgive and forget, as we all are entitled to our own opinions, and the Acdemey Awards are just the opinion of the members of the Academy. Anyway, congratulations to George Miller, and everyone who worked on Happy Feet, and also to Robert Zemeckis and everyone who worked on Monster House, and a big congratulations to John Lasseter and everyone who worked on Cars. Also congratulations to Gary Rydstrom and everyone who worked on Lifted on a well-deserved nomination, as well as congratulations to Randy Newman for his well-deserved nomination for Our Town. The Oscar’s have just come on TV over here is Australia, so I’m off to watch them.
Comments are most welcome.
BRING ON RATATOUILLE!
Last modified: February 26, 2007
I can understand a bit of bitterness, if one is a fan of Pixar films and they don’t win. To always directly accuse the academy of wanting to make a statement, however, is a bit far out, in my opinion.
As much as I loved Cars visually and in terms of the humour, I think it did have a rather weak screenplay and while Happy Feet certainly wasn’t perfect, storywise it was quite a bit ahead of cars and ALSO quite amazing visually (especially in terms of cinematography). So I think it is a deserved win and moping about it won’t make it any less of a deserved win.
As far as the shorts are concerned, I haven’t seen “Lifted” but judging from the excerpts at the AWN, “The Danish Poet” looks like a lovely little film with a lot of heart that also deserved the Oscar.
Even if we all love Pixar, we should still be able to acknowledge other great work. This ist just two cents from a random reader of this blog.
Happy Feet was just a collection of penguin dance videos–a cheap animation trick that was cute and clever but wore out its welcome halfway through its own film! The eco-message read more like agitprop and was tacked on to add faux meaning to an otherwise dreary film. Even my daughter the animation fan napped during the slow parts. (“Not another dance segment,” she was heard to say twice late in the film.)
Likewise, we went to see Cars 6 times in the theaters and each time found new layers, new meanings, and greater depth to the film. It is truly a classic that will be around decades after people stop remembering “that cartoon with the dancing penguins.” This is nothing more than the Academy choosing to “go green” and jerking Disney/Pixar, a twofer for those types who rarely know class and have made a career out of snubbing the best until it’s time for a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” Clownshoes. Cars wuz robbed!
Alex, I can acknowledge great work. Robots is an unsung classic–as deep and meaningful as any Pixar film or any of Disney’s best. (In fact, I thought it was the Eisner v. Walt story in robot form.) The Shrek series is funny and clever, even though it doesn’t run very deep it is tremendously entertaining. This year’s Haunted House movie was a lark–fun and visually clever. But Happy Feet took maybe 10 minutes worth of cleverness and moments and then simply recycled them over and over, just like Robin Williams kept recycling his old schtick from Aladdin.
Cars was the best of the three films, hands down. Regardless of why it didn’t garner the most votes, it was the best one nominated.
Incidentally, Randy Newman didn’t deserve an Oscar for Our Town. It was not his best effort, and even James Taylor’s excellent baritone could not rescue what is actually a banal song. Walking the cliche tightrope is a difficult task, and in the past Mr. Newman has been quite the acrobat with clever, layered songs that defy what at first only sounds like a simple tune and plain lyrics. Our Town lacked any lyrical or musical hooks and was truly background music, not a standout song.
The Occars are always political, very rarely is it just about how good a film is. That being said Happy feet deserved to win just as much as the others, hence the reason for it being there. Was iy a better film? Well that is the fun of it. We all have our opinion.
Cars should of won over Happy Feet. It makes me really mad cause the movie won cause of all the stuff about the enviroment. That’s NOT how a movie wins an Oscar. It has to be a GOOD movie. No, I’ve never seen Happy Feet, but its just about dancing penguins, right? If it wasn’t Cars, at least Monster House would have been fine. Cars DESERVED to win an Oscar, it was put well together and such, unlike Happy Feet, which was just probably decent, not great like Cars was >(….*dies*
I saw Cars ten times and Happy Feet once. I wanted Happy Feet to be a good film — I have always loved tap dancing (watching; I’m no good at it myself!) — but Happy Feet was not as well-crafted as Cars. One of the adages that good writers live by (I’ve been a writer for twenty-five years; I’m also a theatrical actor and director) is “Show, don’t tell.” Pixar’s films always show the story instead of telling it to us with voice-overs as Happy Feet did — that choice took away a lot of the potential power of the story.
Happy Feet also fell short in a couple of other essential areas. First, it didn’t make me care about the characters — and I wanted to. But there was something missing; I never connected with any of the characters the way I do in Pixar films. The reason we connect with animated characters — regardless of whether they are bugs, cars, toys, or penguins — is that, at heart, they are like us. Every animated character — the well-crafted ones, at least — is really a human in a costume. We identify with these characters because we recognize their humanity. When a character feels human to us (regardless of the appearance), we refer to them as “three-dimensional.” When a character falls short of that, we refer to them as flat or stereotypical, cardboard cutouts, puppets in the hands of the story’s creator. For me, the characters in Happy Feet never quite made it over the line into fully realized, three-dimensional characters. The characters relied too much on stereotypes (the breathy, Marilyn-Monroe-like mother, the Elvis-like father, the Robin Williams characters, the hysterical-diva voice teacher). Pixar has used stereotypes as well — but the secret to the dimensionality of Pixar characters is that the filmmakers will give the characters a twist that breaks the stereotype and makes the character real and human (Rex from the Toy Story films is a great example). The characters in Happy Feet never break out of their stereotypes.
Second, I didn’t buy the ending — mostly because it wasn’t set up in the beginning. The overfishing plot gets put in rather late in the story, and it was not strongly tied to Mumble’s dilemma of being different. Good stories have a “suspense plot” (in this case, the plight of the colony) and an “emotional plot” (Mumble’s differences and apparent deficiencies) that are tied strongly together. In Cars, Lightning’s quest for the Piston Cup (the suspense plot) is tied inextricably to the emotional plot (his change from selfish to selfless). They are interwoven too tightly to be separated from each other. This cannot be said of Happy Feet.
Also, Pixar does an excellent job of establishing the “rules” of the world of the story early on, and then sticks to those rules. Again, Happy Feet falls short on this. We don’t see any humans until late in the story, so it felt a lot like A Bug’s Life — a story set strictly in the world of animals. I found it rather jarring, then, when Mumble ended up in the human world — and his tap-dancing talent turns out to be the salvation of the colony. That possibility was not set up early on in the film, so it felt entirely too convenient and completely unrealistic. If this film was set in a world where humans could know about tap-dancing penguins (and where humans and tap-dancing penguins could co-exist), that should have been set up early.
Yes, I was disappointed that Cars didn’t win because I’m a huge Pixar fan and a huge John Lasseter fan. I really wanted to see him win for this movie, because it was so personal for him. But I disagree with the choice of Happy Feet not because of my love for Pixar, John Lasseter, and Cars (the film itself has numerous personal connections for me, as I’m a North Carolina native, originally from Charlotte), but because my training and background in writing, acting, and directing leaves me convinced that Cars is the better film.
I’M SO SAD!
I wish Cars could have won the Oscar!
But it doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop being a Pixar fan.
To John Lasseter, and everyone who worked on Cars…
YOU GUYS DID AN AMAZING JOB!
You know… does it bite that Cars didn’t take home the Academy Award? Yes, at least in my opinion. Still, you have to look at the scope. The AMPAS is not a guild or a society of critics. They do not have the best track record when it comes to picking the “best” movies, but they do have a very good one at being political and making statements. The best reason Happy Feet won last night? It had an environmentalist message, and that synced right in with the whole “Green Oscar” theme that was going on. Dancing penguins and the perils of overfishing is much more cozy with Al Gore (the maestro of the night, it would seem) than talking, gas-guzzling, emission-releasing vehicles.
This marks the first time that the Annie winner didn’t take the Oscar. I think it is a big snub towards the ASIFA most of all. These people are the life-blood of the animation industry and the Academy basically told them “hey, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” If anyone should be pissed, it’s them. To me, this reduces the credit of the Best Animated Feature Oscar a great deal.
Still, Cars certainly has its share of hardware. The Annie for one, which is THE top prize in the animation world, the FIRST EVER Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature, the PGA award, Critics Choice, NBR, People’s Choice, a Grammy… to name a few. The awards shelf for Cars is loaded up, moreso than Happy Feet. That’s nothing to scoff at.
So a way of looking at this is that two animated films got a lot of recognition this year. Happy Feet got the Oscar, but Cars got just about everything else.
When it comes to the Oscars, I root for the movies that I think deserve the prize. Taking the 2004 Academy Awards as an example, I was rooting for “The Incredibles” because it was a better movie (much better, as a matter of fact) than “Shrek 2” (I’m not even going to mention the “other nominee”, if you know what I mean. “The Polar Express” was robbed of a nomination), and not simply because it was made by Pixar. Sure, it just so happens that, as of this day, no other animated features are better than any of the Pixar flicks, in my humble opinion. The one that comes the closest is “Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit”, which I actually included in this thing I call my list of top films. The point is, I root for which movie is better, not necessarily the film which has the Pixar tag attached to it. There might be a year when I actually won’t root for a Pixar film to win Best Animated Feature, but that day is yet to come…
Speaking of the Oscars last night, I was rooting for “Cars” because it was a masterpiece IMO, and it was the only that I’ve seen out of the three nominees. I was also rooting for “Our Town” because I thought it was the best song out of the five nominees. It so happens that “I Need to Wake Up”, IMO, is the second best out of those five, so I wasn’t too disappointed about “Our Town”‘s “loss” (it’s somewhat inappropriate to call nominations “losses”, I guess).
Also, this is just my opinion, but as political as the Oscars may be to some, a lot of the films that made it to my list (or other films that I liked in general) are actually Oscar winners or nominees, so I would say that the Oscars have a pretty good track record when it comes to my personal preferences. So far, the only Best Picture winner that I’ve really, really been disappointed about was “The English Patient”. The other ones were either just okay (e.g., “The Deer Hunter”), good (e.g., “Shakespeare in Love”), or absolutely brilliant (e.g., “A Beautiful Mind”).
(NOTE: You can click on my name if you’re curious about my list of favorite films. Not that it matters to you because we all hold different opinions 🙂 )
I am dissapoited that Pixar didn’t win, but I have no doubt that RATATOUILLE will win next time. Just that shot with Remmy in a jar had me convinced.
Pixar, Thanks for another good set of films!
I must agree with you, CountSolo, on this topic of discusssion….
To tell you the truth, this is the first time I have ever rooted for an animated film that is not Pixar-related, but my reasons are the same as CountSolo‘s: the best (or better) film in the lot will get my vote, and Happy Feet was — in my opinion — the well-deserved winner.
Happy Feet really did blow me away — it had a solid story, firm characters, and many other intriguing factors that, overall, made it a fantastic film. Cars was loaded with the same details, but to me…they just weren’t as captivating for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the film; it’s just that it didn’t blow me away as much as Happy Feet did.
I must also comment on the fact that you can’t judge a book by its cover…especially if you’ve never read it. It’s fine to root for a particular film if you haven’t seen the others; but really, how can you judge correctly if you take that specific approach? If you have only seen Cars and neither Happy Feet nor Monster House, how can you say that Cars is the best if you haven’t even seen the other two. Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t seem to make sense….
But anyway…. Congratulations to the winners and the nominees who were left behind in the dust. Just because they didn’t win doesn’t mean they’re not masterpieces. A big round of applause to Happy Feet, Cars, Monster House, and Our Town! They all deserve an award, really.
— Mitch
I understand said “message”, but eventhough Cars wasn’t Pixars best outing [but very charming and memorable] it was definitely a better movie than Happy Feet. God that movie was awful…..
@Mitch: I fully appreciate what you say: Happy Feet was a good film, and it certainly had Oscar-worthy merits. I just prefer Cars, as its story was more enjoyable for me.
What bugs me about this turn of events is the way “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth won Best Song in conjunction. This leads me to suspect both categories were politicised, and that the merits of the winners, in the eyes of the Academy, came second place to the politically correct messages they relayed.
That’s what bugs me about these awards. The right statement can blind the Academy to actual film-making merit. It reminds me strongly of Brokeback Mountain. Yes, it didn’t happen, but it was strongly speculated that it would. That’s why I’m annoyed, rather than disappointed.
Eh, maybe the Shrek 3/Ratatouille battle won’t be as controversial. 🙂
I’m still pouting and shaking my head over this , how could we not win ?? It was practically in the bag . Maybe it’s just my love of PIXAR here , but I totally doubt it ! Happy Feet was majorly confuzzling to me , and DreamGirls ( since I’m guessing they won for best song ) , don’t get me started . That film was boring and I’m a fan Broadway . Even if I wasn’t as big of a PIXAR fan as I am , I would’ve still rooted for them
At least we won the grammy and the golden globe , tp me at the moment , that’s all that counts , since apparently the Academy doesn’t like good ol’ animation . After all , this was all drawn first , while Happy Feet and Monster House was mo-cap .
Well , maybe we’ll win he Kid’s Choice Awards , though I doubt it . We’re up against Pirates 2 for best DVD . I’m gonna vote like 50 times , how are they gonna know ?
RMS: Thanks for the support there. 🙂
Amen to what you said on the winner for “Best Song”. I was just…shocked. Really, we’re getting into the arena where….. Well, I won’t say it. Heheh. But yeah, it was rather disappointing. I thought for sure that “I Need to Wake Up” would be the last entry they would pick.
gottalovepixar: Heheh — it all depends on your preference, really. Some people loved Happy Feet and didn’t care for Cars that much, while with others…it is the other way around. That’s why they call them “opinions”. Heheh.
All I will say is this:
PIXAR HASN’T won every Oscar its been nominated . . . .
BUT: Pratically every movie and Short HAS been Nominated. Period.
The day that neither a PIXAR film or PIXAR short even gets NOMINATED, then either the Academy are just being jerks, or PIXAR lost their groove — which I seriously doubt will ever happen.
Though I agree that Cars should have went home with SOME Oscar, I congradulate “Happy Feet’s” makers.
And come on, Academy: If the Happy Feet win WAS “political” do you REALLY think your going to be able to scare the scooter-riding, paper airplane geniuses that is PIXAR?? I seriously doubt it.
PIXAR makes the films they know everyone’s going to love, without seeking a reward or big hit.
But when they DO get the awards and Box Office treasures, they are well deserved indeed.
And Luxo — I AM VERY TEMPTED TO SEE THAT WALL-E spoiler . . . but I haven’t . . . YET. 😛