DISNEY ENTERPRISES Last year was a great year for animation fans. With the creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, many people felt their beloved 'toons had finally been recognized as a legitimate art form, rather than just a form of children's entertainment. Oscar-mation
By Jason S. Yadao
jyadao@starbulletin.comFour of this year's nominees -- "Lilo & Stitch," "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," "Spirited Away" and "Treasure Planet" -- returned to traditional 2D cel animation styles, while "Ice Age" was a fully computer-animated production.
So which movie will claim Hollywood's highest honor? Here's a rundown on the aforementioned nominees and my thoughts on their chances. (The only nominee I have not seen is Disney's "Treasure Planet" -- its run in theaters was so short, I missed it. Judging by its domestic performance -- an estimated $38.1 million since its release in December, according to the Internet Movie Database -- not many other people saw it, either.)
Missed any of these films in theaters? "Ice Age," "Lilo & Stitch" and "Spirit" are all available now on DVD. "Spirited Away" is scheduled to arrive on April 15 and "Treasure Planet" hits on April 29.
'Spirited Away'
This Japanese import has to be one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to win this year. Baskets full of awards from critics and film festivals worldwide attest to that.The story of Chihiro's adventures in a bathhouse populated by a pantheon of Japanese spirits as she tries to rescue her parents was a triumph in innovative character design, from giant waddling duck gods to tiny, puffy soot sprites. But it's in its most subtle moments -- Chihiro shuddering after a "stink spirit" passes, or any scene in which a small mouse and bird show up -- that this movie shines.
If it were up to me, I'd give this film the Oscar. Its biggest obstacle, though, is that virtually no one's seen it. Perhaps it was because Disney's marketing machine never really got behind this film, or perhaps it was because audiences often associate anime with "cheap" animation.
Whatever the reason, many people missed one of the most imaginative movies to hit theaters in a long time.
20TH CENTURY FOX 'Ice Age'
With last year's trio of computer-animated nominees -- "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," "Monsters, Inc." and eventual winner "Shrek" -- it seems only natural that this movie would be an Oscar pick this year.Unfortunately, while this film has the pedigree to win -- animators Blue Sky Studios also produced "Bunny," a 1998 Oscar winner for Best Animated Short -- it's also stunningly mediocre.
It's your standard-issue "road trip" film, where a group of disparate characters -- in this case, a mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger and a sloth -- take on an important mission, helping a lost human baby get home. Along the way, the animals must face a host of standard-issue obstacles -- fiery pits of doom, icy slides, flocks of irate dodo birds and so on.
Yawn. It's certainly entertaining for children, but it lacks the creative spark that drove last year's computer-animated films.
DISNEY ENTERPRISES 'Lilo & Stitch'
Let's face it: The House of Mouse's animation division hasn't been bustling with much creativity lately. I mean, "Return to Neverland"? "Jungle Book 2"? If "Snow White and the Eighth Dwarf" ever gets announced, dump Disney stock immediately."Lilo & Stitch" was different. From the moment Stitch the alien wreaked havoc on scenes from other classic Disney films in the trailers, it was obvious that Disney gave this film creative leeway to tell an original story well. Lilo comes from a broken, nontraditional home and Stitch is an anti-hero, more prone to smashing a guitar over someone's head than stand around and perform Elvis songs all day. It was funny and it worked.
Add in watercolor-splashed backdrops of Hawaiian scenery and the memorable lesson of "ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind," and you have the best animated film to come out of a U.S. studio last year.
DREAMWORKS 'Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'
Audiences will always remember this film for three reasons: It had nice horses, it had the melodramatic line "You will always be in my heart ... Spirit ... who could not be broken," and its trailer was a 90-second speed bump on the way to seeing what audiences really wanted to see: "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars Episode II."A combination of computer and traditional cel animation, "Spirit" gives the impression of cartoon characters roaming the real world. Kudos also go to those who decided to let the horses "act" through their grunts and movements rather than give them voices.
But the plot's been done so many times before, it's easy to figure out its direction: See horses romp in the wild (yay!). See bad white men capture horses (boo!). See the native American and the horse become friends (yay!).
Periodic voice-overs by Matt 0 as Spirit's "voice" and musical interludes by Bryan Adams add an element of sappiness to a film that really didn't need it.
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