The Academy has just narrowed its list of films eligible for their new animation Oscar, and Luc Besson’s troll doll movie Arthur and the Invisibles didn’t make the cut. Let’s face it though, it wasn’t going to win anyway.
Invisibles had been in the running. It made the Oscar committee’s original list of 16 eligible movies. But they’ve narrowed that list down from 16 to 15, and the movie adiosed was Invisibles. I’m not quite sure what it was doing there anyway. The award is for Best Animated Feature Film, and while Invisibles does contain animation, it mixes it with live action filming. If Arthur is eligible, then why not Pirates of the Caribbean too. That contained a lot of animation. Or did you think they actually went out and found a giant, mythical kraken?
Luckily, the Academy wised up and kicked it out of contention for just that reason. Their rule is that animation must comprise 75% of the film’s running time. Arthur and the Invisibles doesn’t even come close.
Of the 15 remaining films, only 3 will eventually be eligible for voting. Normally it’s 5, but according to their complex playbook when the number of eligible movies dips below 15 they’re only allowed to pick 3 to vote on. Still in contention to make the final cut is Cars, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Happy Feet, Over the Hedge, The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Curious George, Everyone's Hero, Flushed Away, Monster House, Open Season, Paprika, Renaissance, A Scanner Darkly and The Wild.
I’ve seen almost all of those, and of them only Cars, Happy Feet, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, A Scanner Darkly and Monster House really deserve a place there. If I had to throw out a prediction, I’d guess that Happy Feet and Cars spots are almost assured. A Scanner Darkly and Monster House will probably fight it out for the third position.
