SubscribeWill 'Wall-E' be nominated for best picture at the Oscars?
Four films now look like good bets for best-picture nominations in the Oscar derby: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire." What will get that fifth slot? Most Oscarologists focus on "The Dark Knight," "Doubt" and "Revolutionary Road."
But what about that sly, adorable, quiet "Wall-E"? I asked a slew of Oscarologists to pipe in. T.L. Stanley (Gold Rush, HollywoodReporter.com) isn't optimistic: "As much as I'd like to see it happen — "Wall-E" was one of my favorites this year — I doubt it will." Ed Douglas (Comingsoon.net) pooh-poohed the notion: "There are too many good live-action films vying for those five spots."
However, Sasha Stone (AwardsDaily.com) is optimistic: "It's possible with that fifth slot open." Mark Harris (Entertainment Weekly) and Scott Feinberg (Feinberg Files, The Envelope) both point to a key factor — how Oscar voting works, technically speaking. "Wall-E" has a lot of passionate supporters. "When I think about the importance of the preferential ballot, 'Wall-E' strikes me as a movie that's going to get a lot of No. 1 votes," Mark says. Remember, even if two-thirds of voters don't list it anywhere among their five choices ranked for best picture, "Wall-E" can still be nominated with a small percentage of No. 1 votes.
But academy members have an obvious bias against animated films. Only one has ever been nominated for best picture: "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). That means they had the audacity to snub "Snow White," "Fantasia" and "Toy Story"! Finally, in 2001, the academy couldn't take the embarrassment any longer and opted to create a separate race just for best animated feature. However, just like nominees in the foreign film race, movies up for best animated feature are also eligible in the top race.
Susan Wloszczyna (USA Today) admits, "Sometimes those films are better than the English-language ones, but they rarely cross over." However, they do — occasionally — cross over. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) and "Z" (1969) are two examples of films nominated for best picture and best foreign-language film in the same year. Other flicks competed in both races, but in different years because of discrepancies in U.S. and overseas release dates. "The Emigrants" was up for best foreign flick in 1971, for example, and landed in the over-all best-pic race one year later.
But some Oscar gurus believe that the bias against animated fare is too strong. Academy members seem to shrug off cartoon movies automatically as kids' stuff. Kris Tapley (InContention.com) asserts, "The argument that it should be relegated to animated without a second thought is and always has been silly. The award is best picture, not best live action feature." But Pete Hammond (Notes on a Season, The Envelope) is not optimistic that things will change imminently: "I doubt that prejudiced opinion of the animated form is going to change anytime soon."
Jeff Wells (Hollywood-Elsewhere.com) thinks Oscar voters look at movies like "Wall-E" like they're from outer space — or Mexico. Voicing their bull-headed view, he harrumphs: "There is no need for it to cross the Rio Grande and obtain American citizenship. It's fine as it is. It's a great animated film, and will win the Oscar in that category, and that's fine."
Here are the more extensive views of each of these pundits piping in on the subject:
MARK HARRIS, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Do I think it's possible? Yes, I do. I'm not saying that I think it will happen, but when I think about the importance of the preferential ballot, "Wall-E" strikes me as a movie that's going to get a lot of No. 1 votes.
I think a big difference between this year and last year is that at the end of 2007 the number of movies with some sort of passionate following was pretty staggering. There were at least three live-action movies that didn't get best picture nominations — "Into the Wild," "Sweeney Todd," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" — that I would imagine had a substantial number of No. 1 votes. This year, I don't sense that depth of support for that many movies. "Wall-E" is one of the few that I hear people discussing with real passion. It'll be interesting to see if that adds up to votes.
SASHA STONE, AWARDSDAILY.COM: Absolutely yes. It would be a protest vote that said they didn't like the year's live action offerings. The actors may be the largest branch, but they can still be outvoted. "Wall-E" is likely to be a one or two and not a three or four choice. It's possible with that fifth slot open.
PETE HAMMOND, NOTES ON A SEASON, THE ENVELOPE: Of course "Wall-E" can be nominated for best picture and it deserves to be. I would applaud the move. Academy members often mention it as one of their favorites, but most of those who do haven't seen many of the so-called real contenders. But as is often pointed out, the academy mind-set is that the animation category itself is the equivalent of a best picture for 'toons and unless they have recently admitted Mickey Mouse, Goofy and the cast of "Cars" as voting members, I doubt that prejudiced opinion of the animated form is going to change anytime soon.
JEFF WELLS, HOLLYWOOD-ELSEWHERE.COM: "Wall-E," to use a nationalistic metaphor, is a splendid Mexican classic. It stands tall on its own terms, and its makers have every reason to be proud. But it's a Mexican film and not an American one, and there is no need for it to cross the Rio Grande and obtain American citizenship. It's fine as it is. It's a great animated film, and will win the Oscar in that category, and that's fine. Did Luis Bunuel need to become an American citizen in order to feel complete as a film artist? As Sylvester Stallone said to Brian Dennehy in "First Blood," "Let . . . it . . . go."
ED DOUGLAS, COMINGSOON.NET: No, they created the animated category for a reason. Putting "Wall-E" into best picture race would create a weird situation because if it's good enough to win BP, then why even bother having an animated category? (Since it's obviously the best "picture" and it's animated.) There are too many good live-action films vying for those five spots.
SUSAN WLOSZCZYNA, USA TODAY: I agree with Ed. It's a similar situation with the foreign-language category as well. Sometimes those films are better than the English-language ones, but they rarely cross over. And with animation, you always have the problem that they don't really star actors, even if they do the voices. And in the case of "Wall-E" that is even truer for about two-thirds of the film. And as we all know, actors are the biggest voting bloc.
Besides, Pixar films usually rake in tons more at the b.o. than something like "Doubt" and "Rev Road" will. And that works against it too.
KRIS TAPLEY, INCONTENTION.COM: Can it be nominated? Sure. The L.A. and Chicago critics have given it a legitimacy it might not have otherwise had in the academy's eyes. And the argument that it should be relegated to animated without a second thought is and always has been silly. The award is best picture, not best live action feature.
That said, the academy thinks like Mr. Douglas and will try to squeeze as many films into its various categories as it can. So I think they would see nominating "Wall-E" for best picture as wasting a spot, rightly or wrongly.
T.L. STANLEY, GOLD RUSH, HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM: As much as I'd like to see it happen — "Wall-E" was one of my favorites this year — I doubt it will. Not to say that there's an animation ghetto, but there is a designated category for those films, and that's as it should be.
But it's not a second-class, also-ran category. It spreads the love!
There are top-notch films vying for that Oscar. (There should be five contenders, but that's sort of off topic). So, in my mind, there's more bang for the buck and more chances for great films to be recognized in having two separate categories for best film.
SCOTT FEINBERG, FEINBERG FILES, THE ENVELOPE: "Wall-E" can absolutely be nominated for best picture and actually comes up surprisingly often in conversations with older academy members, in particular, who still compose a significant percentage of the academy. Most of them don't care about weeding out animated or foreign films from the best picture category; rather, they just single out the films that they thought were the best or most enjoyed and submit them as their best picture choices. Unlike many of the late releases that voters may never go to see in a theater or watch on DVD (or that disappointed them if they did), "Wall-E" has been available in both formats for months, and even if the old-timers weren't particularly excited to see it, you can bet their grandkids made them. The bottom line is that once someone checks out the film, they can't help but be impressed — kids see it on their level, and adults see it as a modern-day "2001: A Space Odyssey" meets "Star Wars" meets "An Inconvenient Truth." It's the "Citizen Kane" of animation . . . and even though "Citizen Kane" was robbed of the best picture Oscar, it was nominated!
Photo credits: Sony Pictures Classics, Disney
hope WALL-E ends up on the Best Picture Nod. If it doesn't, I will not watch the oscars. Unlike Ratatouille and the Incredibles, WALL-E had a wonderful allegorial story.
If you complained that WALL-E was preachy, that shows how ignorant you are. Good movies are also here to give lessons out, not just to entertain. We can't expect entertainment all the time. WALL-E shows reality. To not accept the movie's message, is not accepting reality. To not accept reality means that you cannot accept reality.
WALL-E costed 180,000,000 to make, just as much as the Dark Knight. So many people worked so hard on it. Ben Burtt did amazing voice design, Stanton wrote his most daring script, the computer graphics were realistic (with the exception of the human characters), Newman did a beautiful themed score (WHY DID HE NOT GET A NOD FOR BEST MUSIC AT THE ANNIES?!), etc.,etc.
WALL-E is not one of the bloated romance films like the great, but overrated Titanic. Titanic did nothing but circled around Jack and Rose romance. There were many things going on beside WALL-E's and EVE's romance- There was a lethargic society, a polluted Earth, and machines discovering life. And WALL-E romance with EVE affected humanity.
WALL-E is certainly better than Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda only took 130 million to make. Kung Fu Panda is certainly funnier, but comedy is not enough to define a good movie. Kung Fu Panda had a excellent storyline, but it is what it is, it was only meant to make children laugh and enjoy it. Kung Fu Panda is not of the universal. Young children will love the cuteness of WALL-E, and teens and adults will love the allegorical story.
Dreamworks may be funnier, but Pixar succeeds in mixed comedy with out-of-this world storylines. Storylines matter more than comedy.
If you think comedy defines how good a movie is, you are one of those inconsiderate people who give no damn toward the hard effort.
What use is an Annie Award to WALL-E? WALL-E is no animated movie, it's a romance made by animation. Saying that WALL-E is an animated movie is discriminating.
If WALL-E doesn't show up on the Best Picture category, I will never watch the Oscars again. Mark my words.
I will also boycott the Oscars if the Dark Knight doesn't show up in the Best Picture nomination. Like WALL-E it has an entertaining allegorial story.
Posted by: skywalker007 | December 25, 2008 at 12:09 PM
As an animation fan, I'm so incredibly sick of the bias. WALL-E touched me like no other film ever has. It made me fall deeper in love with it than it makes sense for a film to do. If anything can finally break us through, it's this movie, and the Academy would be stupid to not nominate it. So stupid, in fact in my opinion, that I think the little respect I have left for the awards show would be gone.
I think WALL-E should win, but at the least it needs to be nominated.
Posted by: Netbug | December 23, 2008 at 04:35 AM
Wall-e should be nominated for Best Art Direction as well. I don't know if any other picture this year comes close in its ability to convey a story so clearly with visuals in what was basically a slent film. Great stuff.
Posted by: Janice | December 22, 2008 at 09:53 PM
Oh, just a quick addendum... I do have a feeling that Andrew Stanton will get nominated for Best Director, knocking out someone else, either Van Sant or Ron Howard... it just seems due that animation directors get credited and it seems that animation directors are just as worthy of credit.
Posted by: EDouglas | December 22, 2008 at 07:20 AM
I look at it this way. WALL-E will certainly be nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Score, Best Song, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects, and Best Animated Film, and will possibly be nominated for Best Art Direction. That would make seven noms. Any movie with six or seven noms automatically has a good chance of being nommed in Best Picture. In my predix for the Oscar noms (at http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-final-2008-academy-award-predictions.html), I have both WALL-E and THE DARK KNIGHT making the final cut. I don't believe FROST/NIXON, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, DOUBT, or THE WRESTLER have the heat to withstand the widespread love for these two films. MILK, BUTTON, and SLUMDOG will be their compatriots. I think predictors of the Oscar noms should once in a while go out on a limb to predict the unpredictable. Thus I am predicting WALL-E will rightfully land a best pic nod, even though I agree it isn't as good as the not-nominated TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 (TOY STORY, did however land a Special Oscar for John Lassiter, a feat that's only been matched by Walt Disney for SNOW WHITE and Richard Williams for WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT--just a little trivia sidenote there).
Posted by: Dean Treadway | December 21, 2008 at 11:11 AM
They missed their chance with Finding Nemo, Toy story 1 & 2, and Ratatouille. Those movies were all better than Wall-E in my opinion. They some did better box office wise and critcally wise. So personally I don't think Wall-E really deserves the nomintion because it's not better than any of those. I do however believe that the Dark Knight should be the first super hero movie to ever be nominated. Wall-e however will win best animated feature it has a 95% chance of winning that. Unlike Ratatouille which was nominated for best screenplay I doubt that for Wall-E due to lack of dialogue
Posted by: someone | December 20, 2008 at 03:16 PM
It'll be a tight call, but I think it has a shot. Pixar's writers have always been among Hollywood's best and its films are usually among the best reviewed, animated or not.
Though its chances are likely hurt by animation bias, I certainly understand how so many people would consider it among the best of 2008; I haven't seen it (perhaps because I don't have any kids), but I know enough about it to understand its strengths.
I don't think it can win, but I can certainly see it as a potential Best Picture nominee.
(Hans: The Academy publishes a "reminder list" of eligible films and actors every year; it not only includes animated films, but also their voiceover roles. This list hasn't been released yet, but you can bet "WALL-E" will be on it.)
Posted by: RBBrittain | December 20, 2008 at 06:13 AM
Well we're already hearing that Up (with a much much much more Academy friendly story) will be one of the best films of 2009, so will wall*e=Moulin Rouge! and Up=Chicago?
Posted by: AJ | December 20, 2008 at 06:13 AM
I enjoyed WALL-E, a lot. If the Academy is to stay true the the name of the category, "BEST PICTURE", WALL-E should absolutely be nominated. But it's a tough call, live action vs. animated: they are, after all, two completely different styles of filmmaking. But the Best Picture is the Best Picture, no matter where you find it.
Posted by: DVS | December 19, 2008 at 06:04 PM
I'm starting to think that, yes, "WALL-E" will be nominated for Best Picture. There are four solid bets for the nomination: "Slumdog Millionaire," "Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon" and "Milk." That last slot is up for grabs. "Revolutionary Road"? A decent shot, but with major snubs from critics groups and SAG, it looks like it's on the bubble. "Doubt"? Big showing from SAG, but the film has many detractors and I think few supporters as passionate as those for "WALL-E." That leaves "The Dark Knight," which is deserving but has to overcome an even bigger bias; the Academy has nominated only one animated film, but they've nominated exactly ZERO superhero movies. Capes and tights versus an animated film with snob appeal (the first thirty minutes is a Chaplin-inspired silent film) and Importance (it's a cutting satire of consumerism in a green age that demands conservation)? I give the edge to the cartoon.
Posted by: 742 | December 19, 2008 at 02:01 PM
I really would not be surprised if Wall-E AND The Dark Knight showed up on the Best Picture ballot. So far this season, Frost/Nixon hasn't won a thing and although there are many who will call it one of the best of the year I can't imagine it earning all that many #1 votes. Same goes for Revolutionary Road and Doubt. Dark Knight and Wall-E, meanwhile, will have supporters that will be willing to make it their #1 choice.
Posted by: Vance | December 19, 2008 at 02:01 PM
I lobbied for a best-picture nomination for Beauty and the Beast because it was a musical featuring talents like Angela Lansbury. But WALL-E doesn't do it for me. I'll be happy to see it get an Oscar for its achievement in animation, and I don't begrudge it a nomination in best picture, but I'm not a big-enough fan of sci-fi to get all thrilled about WALL-E.
Posted by: dude | December 19, 2008 at 02:01 PM
I honestly believe (and am pulling for) the possibility that both Wall-E AND the Dark Knight will get nominated for Best Picture. I don't think Frost/Nixon is as much of a lock as you might like to think. The critics awards have not shown very much love for it, and time and time again I've heard the notion that if it ends up in the Top 5, it will most certainly not win. That suggests to me that it may pull a Dreamgirls and end up in many voters Top 5's without very many #1's. TDK and Wall-E on the other hand, are films with passionate followers, particularly in the acting and tech branches, respectively. #1 votes from them I think could feasibly outweigh Frost/Nixon.
Also, how exactly is the ballot formatted? Is it just a simple write-in? Or is there a list of eligible pics?
Posted by: Hans | December 19, 2008 at 02:01 PM