I think one can’t be 100% certain that HTTYD would be better than Cars 2 until one sees both, don’t you agree? But you made a good point on how the Academy might be biased on those aspects, especially the indy-arthouse-cinema-veritie bit (though a few epic escapist movies like Lord of the Rings and Gladiator have proven to be the exception). HTTYD already has the decks stacked against it for all the reasons you mentioned, not to mention it has stiff competition this year in its animated medium.
Great observation, as much I am a fan of movie spoofs and mash-ups, et cetera, et cetera, I do think it would’ve been better and more powerful if they had gone with simple screenshots from the movie like they did with Up last year. Not to mention comparing oneself to previous Winners might backfire and come off as pretentious to animation skeptics. HTTYD’s campaign comes off as more honest and direct: “This is one of possibly many beautiful moments from our film, and we implore you to consider our entry based on its own merits, without bias or prejudice.”
To be fair though, there was a breast hat joke or two in HTTYD, but at least it had meaning and poignancy (it hinted at Hiccup’s departed mum) compared to TS3’s throwaway ‘lincoln logs’ and ‘I’ve had too much tea’ gags.
I also agree that HTTYD’s world felt more immersive to me. TS3’s one is more of a ‘secret world’ in an everyday setting like ABL and Ratatouille, but somehow it felt very pedestrian to me after the great escapades of its predecessors. I acknowledge that it is difficult to have an epic storyline with the fate of the world hanging in the balance with preschool toys (or maybe you could, but it was clearly not done here). But since this is a comparison between the two movies, and I prefer such grand narratives, I’d have to go with Dreamworks’ adventure this time.
Wow, I wish I had a really awesome deep reason like you guys. I just thought “Dragons exceeded my expectations, and…TS3 didn’t”
I love them both, though. I don’t care who wins, I just don’t understand why 98% of this forum is so obsessed with TS3 winning. I’ll admit that last year I was up until 2 AM waiting for Up to win, but MVA stank, and I was going to be mad had Up lost.
I’m just so freakin’ proud that this year’s animations seems to be alot better than the live action movies that came out. If you ask me, the only movies I really enjoyed were Inception, Social Network, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A** and Deathly Hallows Part I. The rest were just completely forgettable. Honestly, Tangled, How To Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 are all wonderfully made and they are classic. Their respective studios should be so proud of their work.
You waited for Up to win the Oscars? Because MvA wasn’t nominated.
And speaking of Oscars, I really hope they do the same kinda Oscar animation interview thing.
But there were some seriously excellent contenders that year, to the point where deserving movies (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Ponyo, Mary & Max) had to get snubbed to make room. I was anxious waiting to hear who’d win it, because, while I really wanted Up to be champ, the other movies stood out a lot and deserve better than they got. I’m feeling it a bit this year, too, but a little less so.
Last year was a little iffy nomination-wise for me. I thought that Mary & Max and Cloudy were way superior to The Princess and the Frog, personally. There wasn’t much room, though, with so many good animated films that year. This year I’m not feeling it, not as many serious contenders.
I’m still in the minority who believes that Up’s double dip nomination was a farce and unfair to all the films that were in the Best Animated category because it pretty much indicated that the Academy had already come to a conclusion more than a month before the award show aired.
I sincerely hope there’s nothing on the scale of that blunder this year. Either the film(s) in question get a Best Animated nod or a Best Picture nod. Don’t do both.
Of course we won’t be having anywhere close to a real discussion on this until they eliminate the Best Animated category altogether and integrate the nominees with the Best Picture and give nods to the voice actors in their respective categories. But that’s so far-fetched I could probably get nominated for Best Original Screenplay just by typing out the scenario.
I agree, haven’t seen M&M, but CWaCOM was way better that PatF. I mildly enjoyed said film, but I never got what the big deal was, myself. Having that problem with a lot of this year’s picks…
aerostarmonk, do you mean that Up didn’t deserve best AF?
Personally I thought Coraline should’ve won. But that has nothing to do with my feelings with the double dip nomination strategy. Had Coraline been nominated for Best Animated and Best Picture I would’ve been just as upset.
No, what I’m saying is that by choosing Up as the only recipient of the category as a Best Picture nom made it seem like the Academy wasn’t even going to give any other film in the category a fair chance. If anyone at the Academy truly believed in Up they would’ve let it stand alone in the Best Pic category without the consolation nom/prize they gave it in the Animated feature. To nominate it in both was tantamount to nominating a Best Foreign nom in both categories as well, or Best Doc.
Once again it makes it seem like they actually don’t believe in the merits of the film they double nominated and for another thing it makes it seem like the “lesser” prize is a gimmie.
It’s okay, IV. I didn’t mean to come across so harsh. I’ve long had a problem with the inner politics at play at award shows. Though for some reason that’s never stopped me from watching them.
The Academy needs an overhaul in its thinking. But at least it isn’t as far gone as some of the other governing bodies in the industry. But that’s a whole other story for another day.
But you made a good point on how the Academy might be biased on those aspects, especially the indy-arthouse-cinema-veritie bit (though a few epic escapist movies like Lord of the Rings and Gladiator have proven to be the exception). HTTYD already has the decks stacked against it for all the reasons you mentioned, not to mention it has stiff competition this year in its animated medium.
) or any of the live action films, save for HP7, which I did 
