This was such a good year for animation. Last year it truly boiled down to “Encanto vs. Mitchells”, but the field is wide open, so let’s run it down with the help of Vareity!
With Disney/Pixar, we have Turning Red, a critical darling. Not commercial, because Disney didn’t give it a wide release….and Lightyear and Strange World, both of which did receive wide releases, flopped, and are non-entities in this race. Turning Red, which marks the first from Pixar to be solely directed by a woman, has received critical acclaim for Shi’s depictions of female friendships and the mother-daughter relationship.
OP Note: TR is still probably my favorite film of the year.
Netflix has quite a lot, including The Sea Beast, their most successful animated film to date. There’s also My Father’s Dragon, the latest from Cartoon Saloon, which hit the platform with a mild splash. Of course, there’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which is almost guaranteed to place in the nominations.
The article does not, however, mention Henry Selick’s Wendell and Wild.
OP Note: Sea Beast was fine enough, and GDT’s Pinocchio was really cool. Nice to see a multitude of stop motion available, sad W&W isn’t getting more attention.
GKIDS missed a nomination last year with Belle (tip: the soundtrack is amazing), but with Inu-Oh already being nominated for a Golden Globe, maybe they can take it all the way (and give us a US release, y/y?).
Did you, like most people, forget Dreamworks Animation had not one, but two films this year? The Bad Guys had a fairly slow rollout worldwide with it’s soft, almost Spider-verse-esque style for a bunch of criminals. It sadly seems to have sunk out of the public conciousness. Meanwhile, the sixth entry into the Shrek franchise, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, may be 11 years too late, but it was worth the wait, with very positive reviews, and a bombastic artstyle and story that stops just short of saying memento mori.
OP Note: Ok, maybe Puss in Boots is my favorite this year?
Welcome to the animation side, A24, and welcome Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. I didn’t like it. But I’m glad another stop motion/live action hybrid is making the rounds, and is winning a lot of smaller circuits!
src –> ft Apple and their John Lasseter film.
