{"id":234,"date":"2014-02-28T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/?p=234"},"modified":"2014-10-31T11:17:42","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T16:17:42","slug":"frozen-could-end-disneys-oscar-cold-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/2014\/02\/28\/frozen-could-end-disneys-oscar-cold-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Frozen’ could end Disney’s Oscar cold streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If, as widely expected, Frozen<\/em> wins the Oscar for best animated feature this Sunday\u00a0it will, believe it not, be the first time a Disney film wins the award.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m referring specifically to Walt Disney Animation Studios, the in-house animation factory of Walt Disney Pictures. In its partnership with Pixar, the studio and distributor Walt Disney Pictures can claim a piece of Pixar\u2019s seven best animated feature Oscars. But Walt Disney Animation Studios, the storied animation house that goes all the way back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs<\/em>, has yet to win an Oscar.<\/p>\n

That probably will change Sunday night. Frozen<\/em> is the overwhelming favorite to win the category. But you never can tell with the Oscars. Last year I thought Disney\u2019s Wreck-It Ralph<\/em> was the likely winner, but academy voters punched the Pixar ticket and gave the Oscar to Brave<\/em>. Once again, Disney animators couldn\u2019t escape the shadow of their in-house rival.<\/p>\n

This year that particular obstacle has been removed. Frozen<\/em> is not up against a Pixar movie because the academy declined to nominate Monsters University<\/em>. This must be interpreted as a snub reflecting Pixar\u2019s fall from critical grace. It cannot be read as a bias against sequels, because Despicable Me 2<\/em> was nominated. This year Pixar isn\u2019t standing in Disney\u2019s way, so absent a sudden Miyazaki nostalgia wave, Frozen<\/em> should be a lock. (In truth, Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s The Wind Rises<\/em> is easily the best film in the category and deserves to win. Frozen<\/em> is a superior Disney film, but The Wind Rises<\/em> is a masterpiece.\u00a0However, an animated biography of the man who designed the Zero, a plane best remembered for its role in the Pearl Harbor attack,\u00a0should be\u00a0a hard-sell for academy voters.)<\/p>\n

With Disney poised to win its first Oscar for best animated feature, it is strange to contemplate that the studio synonymous with animation has not won one before. After 1991\u2019s Beauty and the Beast<\/em> became the first animated feature to be nominated for best film, there was talk of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences creating a best animated feature category. But this was the period when Disney\u2019s animated movies were scooping up one best original song Oscar after another, and rival studios didn\u2019t want to create another category that would be an automatic win for Disney.<\/p>\n

Considering that the creation of this category was delayed for fear of a Disney dominance, why did it take more than a decade before Disney had a real chance to win the prize? The simple answer is \u201cPixar,\u201d and the more complicated answer is \u201cbad timing.\u201d The nomination rules peculiar to this category also come into play.<\/p>\n

The best animated feature category was created in 2000, with the first Oscar to be awarded in 2001. This was five years after Pixar stormed into America\u2019s consciousness with Toy Story<\/em>. Led by former Disney animator John Lasseter, the computer-animation house revolutionized the industry. Computer animation was the shiny new thing that dazzled audiences, but Lasseter followed lessons he learned at Disney and adhered to the maxim attributed to Walt himself: \u201cGet the story right first.\u201d Those early Pixar movies weren\u2019t just visual novelties, they were narrative marvels.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pixar\u2019s counterparts at Disney Animation Studios were experiencing turmoil. The Disney animation renaissance that started with 1989\u2019s The Little Mermaid<\/em> and peaked with 1994\u2019s The Lion King<\/em> was slowly losing steam. The animators knew they couldn\u2019t continue to churn out old tales with Broadway-style scores and were struggling to find a new direction. They focused on adventure stories to attract young male audiences, but only 1999\u2019s Tarzan<\/em> was a hit. Treasure Planet<\/em> was a disappointment, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire<\/em> was a costly dud. With every new computer-animated blockbuster from Pixar, Disney\u2019s traditional hand-drawn animation seemed increasingly pass\u00e9. Disney\u2019s animators were reluctant to abandon traditional animation, but finally gave up following the abysmal performance of the barnyard comedy Home on the Range<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The best animated feature, then, was created at a moment in film history when Pixar was in its ascendancy and Disney Animation Studios was floundering. Pixar was in prime position to dominate the category, and it has. But not right away. To its shame, the academy gave the first animated feature Oscar not to the worthy Monsters Inc<\/em>. but to\u00a0the sloppily animated Shrek,\u00a0<\/em>a darling at the time because it poked fun at the Disney empire. Shrek\u2019<\/em>s reputation has since suffered thanks to a run of terrible sequels, but Oscars can\u2019t be revoked, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

The standard number of nominees in most Oscar categories is five. When academy members created the best animated feature prize, they worried there might not be enough animated features each year to support a field of that number. It was stipulated that five animated films would be nominated only in years when 16 or more films are submitted to the category. Otherwise, only three films will be nominated. In the category\u2019s first decade, it yielded a full complement of five nominees only twice. All those years with only three nominees worked against Disney. One of the studio\u2019s best recent films, Tangled<\/em>, failed to get a nomination in a three-picture year. (The original Despicable Me<\/em> was passed over that same year.)<\/p>\n

In the early years of the category, Disney animators had a decent showing. In the category\u2019s second year, the studio landed two nominees: Lilo & Stitch<\/em> and Treasure Planet<\/em>. They lost to Miyazaki\u2019s Spirited Away<\/em>, which deserved its victory but probably would not have won had it not been distributed in America by Disney and championed by Disney and Pixar animators led by Lasseter.<\/p>\n

The following year, 2003, Disney\u2019s hand-drawn Brother Bear<\/em> received a nomination, but the studio would be shut out of the category for the next five years. The 2003 winner was Pixar\u2019s Finding Nemo<\/em>. This was Pixar\u2019s first victory in the category, and the studio would go on to win six more times over the next nine years. The only Pixar movie to get a nomination but not an Oscar\u00a0is Cars<\/em>. The only two Pixar movies to fail to get nominations are Cars 2<\/em> and last year\u2019s Monsters University<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The development that would put Frozen<\/em> on a path toward Oscar was Disney\u2019s purchase of Pixar in April 2006. As part of the deal, Lasseter was appointed chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios while retaining that title at Pixar.<\/p>\n

With Lasseter in charge Disney\u2019s animated films steadily improved, starting with Bolt, <\/em>which returned Disney to the list of nominees in 2008. It was Lasseter who insisted Disney\u00a0revive hand-drawn animation with The Princess and the Frog<\/em>, nominated the following year.<\/p>\n

Many animation fans complain that the quality of Pixar films has suffered since the Disney acquisition, but the decline has been overstated. Yes, there has been a dip, and it didn\u2019t start with Cars 2<\/em>. Neither Up<\/em> nor Toy Story 3<\/em> is in the same league as Ratatouille<\/em> or WALL-E<\/em>. Today Pixar is competing with its own formidable history, and when it makes another great film – and it will – people will come to realize Monsters University<\/em> was pretty good after all.<\/p>\n

With Lasseter in charge of both Pixar and Disney animation, a leveling off was inevitable. If Pixar dipped, Disney surged. The more confident animators poured their creativity and joy into\u00a0Tangled <\/em>(which I prefer to Toy Story 3<\/em>) and Wreck-It Ralph. <\/em>Both were big hits, but their success didn\u2019t prepare anyone for the blockbuster that would be Frozen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Frozen<\/em> has become a phenomenon. It opened strong with $67 million and maintained steady business in an era when even the biggest hits fade quickly. Three months after its release, it remains in the top 10. Frozen<\/em> had a bump over the Christmas holidays when millions of children were out of school and dragged their willing parents to see it again.\u00a0Little girls are crazy about Elsa and Anna. Little boys giggle over Olaf the snowman. YouTube is filled with videos of\u00a0everyone including your orthodontist\u2019s cat singing \u201cLet it Go,\u201d\u00a0which should score an Oscar for best original song.<\/p>\n

Frozen<\/em> is now the highest grossing Disney Animated Studios film and could well break the $1 billion worldwide box-office barrier before its theatrical run ends. Globally, the only animated film ahead of it is Toy Story 3\u00a0<\/em>(domestically, both films lag behind Shrek 2<\/em>, a statistic that baffles me).<\/p>\n

After roughly 15 years of groping for a new identity, Disney animation is enjoying another streak. It will need a few more hits to certify this as a third golden age, but at the moment, Disney is as strong as it has\u00a0ever been. Twenty-five years after The Little Mermaid<\/em> rescued Disney animation, another Hans Christian Andersen adaptation with a Broadway-worthy score has put the House of Mouse back on top. And this time, the studio that made animated feature films an economic reality will finally win an Oscar for one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If, as widely expected, Frozen wins the Oscar for best animated feature this Sunday\u00a0it will, believe it not, be the first time a Disney film wins the award. I\u2019m referring specifically to Walt Disney Animation Studios, the in-house animation factory of Walt Disney Pictures. In its partnership with Pixar, the studio and distributor Walt Disney…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,334,305],"tags":[50,318,470,315,319,473,317],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney","category-films","category-oscars","tag-animation","tag-best-animated-feature","tag-disney","tag-frozen","tag-john-lasseter","tag-oscars","tag-pixar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5foza-3M","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westhoffpws.com\/jeffreywesthoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}