Furry Movie Award Watch: October 2012

This is a close year, ladies and gentleman. This year we are going to have to wait until November to know which movie will take the crown for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, as compared to the last five years, where it was Pixar/Pixar/Pixar/Pixar/the movie that came out in the spring. You could call it by February each of those years and not look completely stupid. Not so, this year.

crossie's Current Best Guesses

Front-runners

Remember a year and a month ago, when I said that there were a lot of film festivals with absolutely nothing furry in them? Well, that was not the case this year, as Rise of the Guardians has managed to play some fairly important film festivals. So, what does that mean, anyway? Tim Burton's not actually furry animated film Frankenweenie also managed to open a festival of its own, and guess what? One or the other of these two movies will win Best Animated Feature. Unless something else does, of course.

Playing the festivals like this is the way the two studios are saying they are playing the game; it is kind of like having a couple of special college courses on your resume. They actually mean jack squat in the real world, but an Academy voter who does not really have a horse in this particular race might choose the candidate with the festival credentials, because at least they were doing something, right? It probably doesn't matter in the long run, but in a close race, it's a smart first step. Hey, I literally got my first job reporting because the editor confused my A.P. (for Advanced Placement) English high school course with A.P. (for Associated Press). Never corrected him on that misapprehension. Whatever works.

As far as the two movies are concerned, I haven't seen one and am not very high on the other. Frankenweenie was okay, but I guess I have been spoiled by the last couple of years of animation. It was good; I want great. Story of the year. Still, it seems to be the movie most people who are not me liked. It has the most buzz of released movies; if nothing else came out this year, it would win.

As for Rise of the Guardians, it still remains the most anticipated movie of the year for me. Okay, actually, Skyfall has recently surpassed it, but that's off topic for a furry site, so never mind. DreamWorks seems to be raring to go; it has been putting out consistently good to great movies for the last couple of years, if you don't count Shrek Forever After, and most people don't. Trying not to count my eggs before they hatch, but I have confidence it will not be terrible, and in fact will be good, or maybe even great.

But what really makes it interesting is that DreamWorks seems to be selling itself rather than just the movie; there was that exhibition earlier this year right in the middle of Academy country. When you add in the fact that DreamWorks has historically owned the Annies (some would argue literally, admittedly), this could be their year. At the very least, you have to know Jeffrey Katzenberg wants as many Oscars as he can get; he was the one who put his money on Pocahontas over some some funny animal movie with a farting pig for a possible second Disney Best Picture nominee. Seemed like the smart money at the time, but that's got to hurt in hindsight.

The rest of the field

So Frankenweenie and Rise of the Guardians are obviously in the nominee list, but what else? Well, last year, other Oscar pundits were shocked when Cars 2 was not given a spot on the ballot just for having the Pixar titles in front of it. Hey, here's one category where you don't get to just rest on your laurels. But, actually, this year, yes, Pixar is probably going to be allowed to rest on its laurels, and the weak Brave will probably have no problems making the cut, especially with all around weaker competition.

All last year, I kept saying they won't allow two "fill in the blank" movies on the final ballot, just one, the blanks filled in with "DreamWorks" and "foreign film." Then the nominees were announced, and we got two of each. So, this year, I doubt the Academy will have much trouble allowing the blank to be filled with "stop-motion Halloween themed." ParaNorman is not so much a "love it/hate it" movie as a "love it/okay, whatever" movie, but the love-its seem to really love it, so I guess it gets a shot.

Finally, I think it might be a mistake to only have one of these, and you know I would love to knock Pixar out of the running two years in a row, but I just cannot do it. So, The Rabbi's Cat will fill out my ballot for this month, once again, just because it is the furriest of the foreign fare.

What about Madagascar 3?

The really sad thing about my list is that it leaves out my hands down favorite animated movie of the year so far, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. It just came out on Blu-ray and DVD, and I have gotten to watch it again, and this is one of my favorite movies of the year right now.

Honestly, if Brave's 78% on Rotten Tomatoes is a viable player, than Madagascar 3's exact same score is nothing to scoff at. I am not ready just yet to take the plunge and say this movie is going to the Oscars, but it could be a surprise dark horse nominee come January. I'm saying that based entirely on how much I like the movie; at the end of the day, you have to root for your own favorites a little bit. But, as mentioned before, DreamWorks still has a death grip on the Annies; that could be a big boost for this movie.

Could DreamWorks double dip for a third time in 2013? I can't see it happening, but I can see how it could.