A Spirited Valentine ...

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
I think that a major issue with the animation category is that there is very little structure in the voting guidelines. Are voters basing their votes for the most popular, best story, or best animation techniques? Look at this year's nominees- 2 were CGI based, 2 were stop motion (not sure about My Life as a Zucchini, but Kubo also employed CGI scenes), and 1 was traditionally animated. The most popular doesn't always win (Wallace & Gromit beat both Howl's Moving Castle and The Corpse Bride), but it seems to happen more often than not. Winning for the best story seems to be a mixed bag.
The Academy loves Aardman just slightly less then Disney. Wallace and Gromit racked up several Oscars before the movie and Chicken Run was one of the reasons they decided to finally create the animation category
 

the.dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
The Academy loves Aardman just slightly less then Disney. Wallace and Gromit racked up several Oscars before the movie and Chicken Run was one of the reasons they decided to finally create the animation category
Mel Gibson makes it really hard for me to go back to it.
 

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
Yea they took so much care they decided to merchandise an offensive costume with it. And didn't Pacific Islanders have issues with Maui's image and portrayal? Especially the lack of Hina who Maui couldn't do all the things he bragged about in the song You're Welcome without. As for the Kakamora, they were a real tribe of short statured people of the solomon islands and coconut is a somewhat a racial slur so trying those two together was rather bad taste on Disney's part to put those two things together.

Well, it was great they opened up a new culture to young children who may not have any knowledge or interest and helped put a role model for young pacific islander children, to say that it was sosphicated and they took care compared to Zootopia is very much not accurate.
1) While the Maui costume was an unforced error, it came from a completely different division (Consumer Products) than the film itself (Walt Disney Studios). It is well-documented the various divisions within Disney behave semi-autonomously and there was likely the filmmakers weren't even aware this product was being made.
2) While there was initial concern about a negative body stereotype being portrayed among some Pacific Islanders following the release of the teaser, much of that died down by the time the film was released. A wide assortment of body types were depicted, and to be frank, I never saw Maui as being fat, anyway.
3) Everything I've read about the Kakamora says they are mythical creatures, the Polynesian equivalent of trolls. While there are people who believe they are real (and even exist to this day) and often legends and myths have a kernel of truth, I just don't find your comment relevant.
4) I was impressed by the long list of cultural experts credited at the end of the film. I don't believe one puts together that kind of group to ensure little cultural details are presented accurately if there is no interest to be "sophisticated" or "take care."
 

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
I'm with you on both films. I think Big Hero 6 won since it was the only film from Disney or Pixar nominated that year, but it didn't deserve it. The only other film I had seen from that year's nominee list was How to Train Your Dragon 2, and that was a much better film.

I think that a major issue with the animation category is that there is very little structure in the voting guidelines. Are voters basing their votes for the most popular, best story, or best animation techniques? Look at this year's nominees- 2 were CGI based, 2 were stop motion (not sure about My Life as a Zucchini, but Kubo also employed CGI scenes), and 1 was traditionally animated. The most popular doesn't always win (Wallace & Gromit beat both Howl's Moving Castle and The Corpse Bride), but it seems to happen more often than not. Winning for the best story seems to be a mixed bag.
What I'm interested to find out is how they'll treat the upcoming "live action" Lion King remake. Since it's likely to follow the Jungle Book's precedent and use photorealistic CGI animals and sets, but won't have any real actors, would it then be considered animated?
 

aprincessatlasst

Active Member
This just in.... people are stupid

How did you equate that article to people are stupid? I mean are people stupid...well yeah but in particular to that article? I though it brought up some valid points. For those not into Avatar or really Disney I could see how that avatar was creepy. I also read one response about kids and the draw to large blue people. That was a valid point.

Personally I am intrigued to see which way this thing lands with Disney, it was a big risk on a dated film. Disney is good but they do not always hit home runs.
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Not sure what you mean. La La Land was always the clear favorite in the category and Moana winning would have been an "upset", at least a mild one. It certainly wasn't a "gimme" for Disney.

Disney won the three awards you'd expect them to have won going in. Best Song was a possibility but not likely. Rogue One was never going to win Sound Mixing. The reality is that Disney, for better or worse, doesn't release Oscar bait movies so they aren't going to win much of anything until they change their philosophy of which films to produce.

Disney makes films which people like to watch and by extension make money, They are not interested in the 'art house' Oscar bait films which lose the investors money.
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
The level of sophistication in synthesizing the disparate legends and beliefs of Traditional Polynesian peoples into a coherent story and plot was impressive. The unprecedented care they took with a culture that has constantly been misunderstood and misrepresented was landmark. The infusion of the different (from a typical Domestic/European worldview) into a realm that has become a little comfortable was fresh.

Moana was playing Chess while Zootopia was playing checkers.

Disagree, Zootopia deftly took on race relations without being preachy or judgemental and left viewers with a smile on their face at the end.
 

Rodan75

Well-Known Member
While I preferred Moana to Zootopia, both had a lot going for them in terms of technical achievements. Both had a crazy amount of detail (the water in Moana/fur in Zootopia), both had great stories (yet both had some flaws), and I think they were both great additions to the Disney canon.

So while I liked Moana more (I'm almost always going to like Disney musicals over their non-musicals), I'm not upset that Zootopia won.

I'm starting to feel the same way about City of Stars winning over How Far I'll Go. I read a few anonymous ballots by Oscar voters, and it looks like a lot chose the La La Land songs for originality. If Disney campaigned for We Know the Way, they might have won Best Song. Lin Manuel Miranda is going to have another shot (Hamilton pun intended) soon, he's not going anywhere.

I am super pleased that Piper and Jungle Book won in their respective categories.

We Know the Way is definitely the better song, and should have been pushed for consideration over How Far I'll Go. Definitely a misstep in Disney thinking.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
The songs in Moana just annoyed me. Not because they were bad, but because it seemed like all of a sudden Disney got self-conscious about making a musical film. And so for most of the running time, the songs didn't really end, they just stopped. Building momentum, crescendo, and ohlet'sstopsingingsowecanattendtothisbusinessthatdidnotmeritstoppingthesong. Not every time, but enough that it pulled me out of the film quite a bit.
 

csmat99

Well-Known Member
The joke was about 'the obvious'

You can write a story about people hating anything if your criteria is I need to find some quotes online and have a website to publish it on.
Yeah but people are missing the big problem. Who in Disney Marketing thought that was an Oscar worthy preview of a new land? It was horrible. I was shocked at how badly it was put together. And the AA is kind weird with those shark like teeth up close.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom